Con Air (1997)

A big-budget action movie is a very tough beast to master. If you put the proper amount of time into every aspect of the film you get something that has a great plot and special effects, as well as usually some pretty good actors. If you get the balance wrong, you get movies like Con Air.

Con Air is the sometimes-intentionally, but mostly unintentionally hilarious tale of a group of convicts who steal the plane transferring them between super max prisons, led by Cyrus the Virus (a ridiculously hammy John Malkovich). On the other side of the coin you have recently paroled ex-U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage in a role indicative of his future performances) hitching a ride on the plane to get to see his daughter for the first time trying to stop them, along with U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack).

As the picture attached would lead you to believe, this movie is all about excess. The all-star cast including John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, and Ving Rhames really ham it up, giving ludicrously over-the-top performances. Dave Chappelle, in one of his earlier roles, gives a hilarious tone to his cameo as well. The fake southern accent of Cage is one of the things which really got to me as I watched this, begging him for whatever reason to go back to a normal voice instead of continue on with the ridiculous charade.

The writing in this film is a real hoot with lines such as "I got a bad feeling, son. I'm feeling like maybe I'm not supposed to make it" from a man who just got shot are hilariously bad, along with the necessary melodramatic scenes being hammed up by the actors to give them an even more humorous touch than usual. The plot is predictable to a tee, equal parts "Die Hard" and "Commando", with other '80's plot devices thrown in for good measure.

The special effects and cinematography are perhaps the strongest point of the movie, with some really convincing explosions, gore and flying shots, mixed with some competent cinematography keeping things going along nicely. The piece of special effects wizardry that was really brilliant was the dead body of Dave Chappelle falling off the plane to land on a car in the middle of a city. the falling looked very good, as did the subsequent crunch on impact.

As I watched it, I wondered if director Simon West was trying to create a loving homage to earlier movies, something new and original, or a spoof of earlier action movies. My gut feeling is that it was a homage that comes off seeming like a spoof because of how over-the-top it is. The direction shows a lack of balance, with a lot of time put into the effects but little into the writing, creating a film that looks good but is even emptier than the average Hollywood action movie.

Perhaps the worst part of this movie is that has actually influenced future directors, with Michael Bay's movies feeling uncannily similar with the ridiculous explosions and lack of plot. Other movies, such as Snakes on a Plane seem to have taken the idea and gone even further, not even bothering to try and seem like a serious film.

Overall a 2 out of 5, but most of that is given to the unintentional hilarity of the whole thing than to the quality of the movie.