Oxygen

Alexandre Aja and sci-fi? It sounds like an oxymoron :D But in the end, it works brilliantly. Films with a single actor are always a gamble, as everything relies on their performance. Thanks to Mélanie Laurent, Oxygen succeeds remarkably—she’s an incredibly talented and versatile actress. I was a bit worried that the film might slip into a slower pace, given that it’s set in a single location in a cryo-chamber, but the opposite is true. The unsettling atmosphere, permeated with sheer helplessness, was excellently portrayed. The smartly written dialogues between the protagonist and the AI were engaging and occasionally offered a gripping pace. The mesmerizing audiovisuals also had a lot to offer. And the few twists the creators threw at us could definitely be described as "jaw-dropping." This term perfectly captures the essence of the film. I didn’t expect it, but Oxygen turned out to be a genre gem. Fantastic. For me, it’s 8/10. P.S. And for fans of more horror-oriented moments, don’t worry, Aja hasn’t forgotten you (the needle scene is quite intense). (2021-07-17)

Alexandre Aja has already shown many times that he is a good filmmaker. He directs purposeful genre films, but he does it very well. In addition, I like how he has moved from horror to sci-fi, and even to intimate sci-fi. I really appreciate that. It's really an art to film a story about how one astronaut wakes up in a cryo chamber and maintain tension for an hour and a half. The film is not only played by the excellent Mélanie Laurent, but also the music, which, accompanied by the visuals, works wonders with the film. A good piece! (2021-05-14)

The first “point” occurs to you in the first few minutes, in a one-second flashback from the hospital, and the second comes about an hour later. Overall, the film is a jigsaw puzzle of familiar sci-fi and thriller motifs in which you will also find improbabilities in the logic (the development of the dialogue with artificial intelligence). Or, rather, you would find them if you wanted to seek them out, which you don’t, because it’s quite nice to watch – Aja’s directing is at a high level as usual, Mélanie puts in the work, and the last quarter of the film is a sci-fi visual caress. (2021-05-16)

Alexandre Aja serves up an intimate, smart, and thrilling survival drama in a cryochamber for Netflix. It is solid, and survival fans will definitely enjoy it. I would have preferred to see something like Aja's High Tension or some other massacre, but I'm glad for this as well. There is a certain inspiration from the film Buried, so if you liked that one, there's a great chance that Oxygen won't disappoint you. I could complain that it's slower, it could have been more intense and maybe twenty minutes shorter, but on the other hand, I can't really imagine anyone being able to get more out of this premise. Mélanie Laurent performs excellently, the central twist is fantastic and quite unexpected for me, but I also found the other plot surprises to be very well thought out. And surprisingly, Aja managed to include three decent jump scares – one of them even gave me goosebumps! I hate needles and rats, so this part of the film made me uncomfortable. Overall, it's a nice one-off, which I would give 3 or 4 stars, but survival films don't come out at a rate of twenty a year, but rather a maximum of two, so I don't see a reason why I should hold back. 7/10. (2021-05-13)

Unless I'm forgetting something (and I don't think I am), Oxygen is definitely the best sci-fi film the VOD networks have offered us so far this year, which, with competition like Outside the Wire and Chaos Walking, doesn’t say much, but still... Alex Aja proves once more that he has the a knack for the craft, but again with a screenplay that is a bit off, so it again doesn't reach the red colour on Filmbooster. When you start breaking it down and analyse it, you get, to put it mildly, problematic moments in logic. On the other hand, the film can surprise, some of the twists were unexpected (although in hindsight they might have occurred to me), Mélanie Laurent is excellent and there are few uncomfortable scenes with mice and needles that were a delight. A nice little movie. (2021-05-15)