Amazon.com video review:
Con Air is proof that the slick, absurdly overblown
action formula of Hollywood mega-producers Don Simpson and Jerry
Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Rock, Crimson Tide)
lives on, even after Simpson's druggy death. (Read Charles Fleming's
exposé, High
Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, for
more about that.) Nicolas Cage, sporting a disconcerting mane of hair,
is a wrongly convicted prisoner on a transport plane with a bunch of
infamously psychopathic criminals, including head creep Cyrus the
Virus (John Malkovich), black militant Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), and
serial killer Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi, making the most of his
pallid, rodent-like qualities). Naturally, the convicts take over the
plane; meanwhile, on the ground, a U.S. marshal (John Cusack) and a DEA
agent (Colm Meaney) try to figure out what to do. As is the
postmodern way, the movie displays a self-consciously ironic awareness
that its story and characters are really just excuses for a high-tech
cinematic thrill ride. Best idea: the filmmakers persuaded the owners
of the legendary Sands Hotel in Las Vegas to let them help out with
the structure's demolition by crashing their plane into it. --Jim
Emerson
Amazon.com video review:
Con Air is proof that the slick, absurdly overblown
action formula of Hollywood mega-producers Don Simpson and Jerry
Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Rock, Crimson Tide)
lives on, even after Simpson's druggy death. (Read Charles Fleming's
exposé, High
Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, for
more about that.) Nicolas Cage, sporting a disconcerting mane of hair,
is a wrongly convicted prisoner on a transport plane with a bunch of
infamously psychopathic criminals, including head creep Cyrus the
Virus (John Malkovich), black militant Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), and
serial killer Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi, making the most of his
pallid, rodent-like qualities). Naturally, the convicts take over the
plane; meanwhile, on the ground, a U.S. marshal (John Cusack) and a DEA
agent (Colm Meaney) try to figure out what to do. As is the
postmodern way, the movie displays a self-consciously ironic awareness
that its story and characters are really just excuses for a high-tech
cinematic thrill ride. Best idea: the filmmakers persuaded the owners
of the legendary Sands Hotel in Las Vegas to let them help out with
the structure's demolition by crashing their plane into it. --Jim
Emerson
