What I've Watched: Up in the Air

The Campbell holiday tradition continues, this time with the Clooney flick, Up in the Air.

Like most movie-going folk, I am a Clooney fan. He's fantastic when being in serious films like "Good Night and Good Luck" or when hamming it up and being a good sport like in "Oceans Eleven." This movie has a bit of both going through it. There are a fair share of humorous moments sprinkled throughout this movie, but it mainly centers on the serious, the moments (primarily quiet moments) when you see how good an actor he is and how he sells the character he's playing.

Up in the Air has him playing a professional hitman, but of the corporate type. He goes into firms and fires the employees because the bosses are too chickenshit to do it themselves. These scenes of how he handles it, from one victim to the next, show his ability to be both humorous and reactive without seeming fake. The main thrust of his character and the story is that because of our shitty economy, his services are in high demand, and this feeds his desire to be traveling and alone at all times.

This lifestyle, which seemed really nice in my opinion, gets a wrench thrown into it when he encounters two distinctly interesting women. First is Natalie, a new firebrand sidekick he must show the ropes to. She's got plans to use technology to usurp his usefulness, but their scenes are fantastic as she realizes that the flashiest and sexiest tech isn't going to always solve the world's problems; you need the human touch sometimes. That human touch comes in the form of the second woman, Alex, who challenges Clooney's character for frequent flier miles and need for on-the-road desire. They hit it off, and you just love seeing them together and their interaction. I subscribe to the belief that there are not enough good women roles in Hollywood. So seeing her kick ass against him in this movie was a welcome sight to the typical wet blanket stuff normally shown on the screen.

There are a few key plot turns, but I saw them coming, and only one of them truly disappointed me because I was hoping for the movie to buck convention on one moment but it didn't. I only point it out because the Up in the Air defies other plot conventions that make it a welcome addition to the movie theaters. It's just not always done, and when it is you can't help but be pleased to see it.

Up in the Air, in the end, is a movie that wants to be about making connections to other people and how they can affect the way you live and the course your life can take. I appreciated it, but also saw the film that respected the ability for people to be happy in the quiet and solitude that you inevitably run into now and then. Check out the movie, you don't need to be depressed when you leave, although you might want to, it's not the message.