Con Air
The 1990s created an atmosphere among action films that bigger is better, the more over the top and flamboyant the setpieces and characters were, the more audiences would be drawn in and enjoy it. Where these movies usually went wrong was with the lame scripts and stories as well as the uninspired acting that went with it. However, this entry from 1997 was no doubt the best of the era, telling the story of a parolee hitching a ride home on a prisoner transport flight who gets caught up when the hardcore criminals take control of the plane on a mad voyage into mayhem. The exaggerated elements start right at the top with the casting: Nicholas Cage as the ex-Army Ranger turned convict is given a succinct backstory as he uses his deadly skills to fatally subdue a particularly nasty redneck who was harassing his wife (how any jury would convict him is a particular question mark but more on that type of story element later) and his overall appearance with long hair and beard stubble gives him a bit of a fallen messiah look, plus the fact that Cage had just won an Oscar, and at that time (before he descended into self indulgent mediocrity) was considered one of the best actors in the world shows that they went the extra mile in giving us our grand action hero; Then there’s John Cusack as the corrections official overseeing the prisoner transport, with his shirt, tie, and sandals attire, along with his penchant to wax philosophical about prisoners and the way society creates them, which means we get a wicked parody of the real life liberals who populate our penal bureaucracy and handle things in such a way so that no prisoners’ human rights are violated; that in turn is offset by Colm Meaney as the DEA agent who takes charge of the matter for personal reasons once the siege begins, as he is cocky, profane, and very very loud as he continuously belittles Cusack and screams at the top of his lungs about the gung ho way he wants the operations carried out. BUT that is nothing compared to the all star cast of rogues who play the prisoners themselves, starting with John Malkovich as the genius master criminal who has planned the whole takeover down to the most tiniest detail; Steve Buscemi as a bloodthirsty butcher of a serial killer clearly inspired by Hannibal Lecter; Ving Rhames as a violent black militant so ferocious that he would give Huey Newton pause; Nick Chinlund as a psycho who went out and killed all his in-laws as revenge on his wife for cheating on him; Dave Chappelle as a scrawny little black prisoner with a penchant for humorous remarks and who plays a major part in the plan to take over the plane; Danny Trejo as a multiple convicted rapist who takes great delight in keeping score of his “conquests”; and M.C. Gainey as the oversized redneck who takes over the controls of flying the plane while wearing a crash helmet; Obviously with this much insane testosterone on one film, the results should be expected to be over the top, and indeed they are, as the film develops into a guilty pleasure classic for the ages with the way events play out, logic be damned, because a realistic prisoner transport film was NOT what they were going for here, so even when things happen that make absolutely zero sense, the viewer is able to sit back and accept it as part of the hyper realistic yet fun comic book-like world that the story takes place in, and the ridiculous action scenes are smartly tempered by good character development, with the emotional levity of the film provided by the dynamic of Cage being on his way to reunite with his beloved wife and their eight year old daughter (whom he has never met), and in that respect, the gorgeous Monica Potter as Cage’s wife does maybe the best acting in the film with her small part, becoming more emotionally anguished as time goes on and the crisis with her husband’s plane continuing as we see Cage turn down a chance to get off the plane so he can stay with and protect his best friend from prison (Mykelti Williamson) who’s suffering from diabetic shock due to lack of insulin and a plucky yet tough female guard (Rachel Ticotin) whom when taken hostage is instantly in danger of all kinds of harm, particularly from the lecherous Trejo. The petal stays to the metal all the way to the end, becoming one of the ultimate roller coaster rides of the genre for all time, and doesn’t even stop after the plane is brought down, giving us a rollicking chase scene involving police motorcycles and a firetruck before the final emotional payoff, which works just as well in eliciting a response from the viewer as any drama would, because we’ve come to CARE about the main characters, so much so that this helps this movie go down in the history books, combining comedy, drama, and some of the greatest stunt-filled sequences ever witnessed into a potent combination that makes for a cinema classic, and whose cartoonish, over the top style puts it in that rare category of being a comic book style action movie that never actually was a comic book…
10/10