Con Air (1997)

It's been almost four years ago since I first heard of Con Air —I remember it so well because it was a popular pick for one of my first weeks of Thursday Movie Picks and I joined the series in 2015— but I never gave it a try because, being honest, Nicolas Cage is not my cup of tea. 

The story follows United States Army Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) who, after serving eight years in prison for manslaughter, is getting out on parole and goes home to his wife (Monica Potter) and the daughter (Landry Allbright) he has never met. Unfortunately, Poe has to share a plane with some dangerous criminals and when the prisoners, led by Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), take control of the plane, he must find a way to stop them while playing along.

Needless to say, the plot to Con Air is beyond far-fetched and it gets to a point where it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever as it alternated between plot holes and "what the fuck" moments. There's also a subplot involving the most badass of the criminals, one Garland Greene, played by Steve Buscemi, that goes pretty much nowhere. However, it's all so over-the-top, the fast-paced plot ends up being somewhat engaging and entertaining.

The characters too are pretty badly written. They are indeed incredibly thin with their lack of characterization and development —I can't even remember these guys' names— and they all are over-the-top; however, it's the way they are introduced to us the worst thing about them —we are given a quick, sloppy description of each criminal which makes each of them look like very dangerous fellas when they actually aren't that dangerous.

And don't even get me started on the dialogue which is some of the most dreadful and idiotic my ears have ever heard. However, the actors, specifically Nicolas Cage, have a way of delivering their lines that the dumb dialogue ends up being funny. Not as funny as Cage's hilarious southern accent though —apparently, he travelled to Alabama to "perfect" his accent. I guess he travelled to an inhabited place. Or he was high and travelled with his mind only— or Cage's long hair blown by the wind. There are also a few good-ish performances in there, from John Malkovich who is brilliant as the evil Cyrus the Virus, and Steve Buscemi who makes a very creepy criminal —I wish he had more screen time.

Buena Vista Pictures

The action is also tremendously over-the-top —from explosions to fighting to guns fire, everything is overdone and exaggerated, all the time. The special effects aren't particularly good either. The songs never, I repeat, never fits their scene —okay, this is not entirely true as the song in the ending fits very well— and they have quite a comical effect because of this, not to mention how cheesy some of them are. 

All of that being said, Con Air is a lot of fun to wach.