Review of Oxygen (1999) by Therese O — 15 Aug 2010

Solid B-level stuff, but still a somewhat interesting flick - due to its second-rate sampling of "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Vanishing" plotlines as well as 1970ish NYC copper chase-scenes and location-shoots.

Act I ends with kidnapper Brody in a police station sweatbox after his poorly conceived ransom pick-up and a wimpy car-chase down Park Avenue and the roadways orbiting Grand Central Station.

Then it's copper Tierney and Brody playing out their extended interrogation headgame. Tierney, the sexual masochist, and sadistic Brody find each other emotionally and intellectually bonding during her gaming for the location of Brody's buried-alive, time-running-out victim.

Technically speaking, Act III does deliver some plot twists, but lowered expectations regarding such are well advised.

Also, viewers shouldn't expect much in the way of true sexual content out of Tierney, this being made-for-late-night Cinemax stuff. Rather, it's implied through Tierney's cigarette burn-marks, whimpering semi-submissive phone calls and such.

Tierney here delivers a mildly titillating and otherwise uninteresting characterization; Brody's got his toes right up on the edge of the fine-line defining ham.

This could have actually been a more interesting, more enduring product - with stronger dialogue, acting and chase choreography.

RECOMMENDATION: Lifetime coughed this puppy up one summer Saturday afternoon, making it the best basic cable cinema available at the moment; recommended to others only under similar circumstance.