A breath taking action classic

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2014)

Con Air is one of those movies for me that I am certain when I first saw it...it was a ten. A huge flat out ten. It has incredible performances, tons of action, a great story, incredible actors and memorable moments for an action film. It is in a league of its own in the genre and could be considered an action "epic." Now I have seen the film dozens of times and I'm entertained by it every time but eventually it does have to wear thin so its dropped down a tiny peg for me and now sits comfortable forever with a solid 9. Con Air is perfect in its simplistic concept. A war hero accidentally kills a man defending himself and his wife, spends many years in prison and when he is moments from being released he inadvertently ends up being the last hope in stopping a group of terrifying ruthless villains. The best thing to come out of Con Air is the characterizations of the villains. There are so many great actors and performances that it would take a skilled film maker to make sure no one gets lost in the shuffle and everyone gets their moment. Ironically I felt watching it this time that the most underdeveloped character is actually the hero himself. We know he's a former soldier, trained to kill, and adores his family. He's soft spoken but steadfast in his morals. Outside of that we don't know a lot about him. Its almost like he's not the focus of the film. Regardless, each scene, each moment, the music, the characters...everything falls together in one of the most entertaining films in this genre.
Nicholas Cage was flying high at this point coming from his Oscar win and having a truly epic trilogy of action films in 96/97 with this film, The Rock and Face Off. This was Cage at his best in my books. He is understated but full of strength as Cameron Poe and you just root for this guy because much like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, he is literally in the wrong place at the wrong time and just wants to get home. The rest of the good guys are also very good. John Cusack is terrific as the fast talking Vince Larkin and the scenes towards the end with him and Cage are just awesome. Colm Meaney is also a lot of fun as Duncan Malloy who is constantly at odds with Cusack and ends up being the butt of a lot of...damage. Now how can I talk meaningfully to this incredible cast of villains. First of all John Malkovich as always is stunning. No one does villainy like this guy and his portrayal of Cyrus The Virus is untouchable. He is perfect period. But that doesn't take away from the truly outstanding performances from Ving Rhames, MC Gainey, Dave Chappelle (and I can't stand this guy normally), Nick Chinlund and Danny Trejo. Now some of them have very small parts but Rhames, Chinlund and Gainey are truly fantastic. And then you have in my opinion was the best performance ever from Steve Buscemi as Garland Greene. This performance haunts me because he does it so well. He is truly twisted and just gives off this aura that is sick and twisted. Entire films could be based just on his character alone.
This is truly one of those films where everything just works. Director Simon West knows action. He is actually one of my top action director favourites because of films like this The Mechanic and The Expendables 2. I think he just is truly a fan of action films because he seems to have a style in his direction that is reminiscent of classic actioners like Die Hard and Rambo and films like that. There is nothing that you won't find in Con Air if you love the genre. Car chases, air-plane scenes, gun fights, "cops and robbers", explosions, crashes, hand to hand combat...this film literally has everything. But the reason it is so great is because it has all that AND amazing performances AND a terrific story too. If you haven't seen this you are truly missing out and if you have its time to watch it again. This is one way you are always guaranteed entertainment. 9.5/10