Con Air

A movie by Simon West

With Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, John Cusack

Monika says:

Given all the things I heard and read about this movie my expectations were pretty low when I went to see it. The story is as simple as you would expect in an action movie. A dozen criminals are to be flown to a maximum security prison. Among them is Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage), the only one of them who has already served his time and is now to be released on parole. After 8 years in prison he will be reunited with his wife and see his little daughter for the first time who was born a few months after his trial.

Well, as you may have guessed already the plane has barely left the ground when one of the criminals (John Malkovich) manages to free himself and seize control. Welcome to Con Air! At this point hell breaks loose and a wild shootout begins (which actually isn't a very - err - smart thing to do on a plane). One of the dead bodies is thrown from the plane and lands on the car of an elderly couple. Poe even managed to write a message on the shirt of the stiff so the police knows what's going on. The plane lands on a lonely air field in the desert and is met by the military in order to give the pyrotechnics something to do. A few things go up in flames, but that is nothing compared to the showdown in Vegas where the heavily damaged airplane tries to land on one of the boulevards. The plane lands safely, leaving behind a trail of totaled cars and debris. Happy ending à la Hollywood.

So much for the story. The characters are all in all rather dull. Nicolas Cage is good for a laugh whenever he graces the scene with his Messiah hairdo. About half way through the movie he changes into action hero uniform, i. e. an undershirt à la Bruce Willis. Naturally he is just as tough as his role model. Even a bullet in his arm won't stop him. John Malkovich is a nice vile villain Cyrus the virus, but the script doesn't allow him to elaborate on the character. A waste of good actors. Steve Buscemi secured the best part in the movie, a psychopathic serial killer. The few scenes he has are the only highlights the dull script has to offer. It's not even good for a few cool quotes, or maybe I'm just getting old :-)

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Monika Hübner