Airborne

Airborne opens with the UK gripped by severe storms: shop fronts blown out, transport networks gubbed – typical summer weather basically. It’s the only convincing element in a plot that groggily veers from post-9/11 terrorism to ancient Chinese vase-demons, with minimal sense of threat, tension, or excitement. A bunkum storyline needn’t be a problem in a film like this, of course, but a couple of effective stingers aside, the results are dull, as a curious cast of soap stars, B-movie regulars and, er, Mark Hamill struggle gamely with thinly-sketched characters and unconvincing dialogue. The ex-Skywalker stays grounded in a largely pointless role – an aviation chief on (would you believe it?) his last shift before retirement – but on the plus side he gets to deliver a bizarre introductory voiceover reminiscent of a paranormal anthology series like The Outer Limits. “It’s a universal truth that sometimes we see things that can’t be explained,” he wearily intones; we wholeheartedly agree. [Chris Buckle]