We've seen it before, and just the way I like it.

Rating: 7/10 (3 October 2009)

My Take: An action-packed guilty pleasure action movie loaded with thrills.
Try DIE HARD meets AIRPORT with several elements borrowed from FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, THE DELTA FORCE and SPEED and you got the idea behind CON AIR, a completely implausible but nonetheless entertaining action adventure team-up with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Simon West (in his directorial debut). It's not exactly art, but then again that may guarantee that's pure not-to-be-taken-seriously fun.
The plot concerns the hijacking of a prisoner transport plane by one of the nastiest criminals on the planet, led by Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich). The rest of the passengers read like a who's who of the criminally insane, like the cast of AIRPORT in hell. We have black militant leader (played by Ving Rhames), a Hannibal Lecter-like psychopath (Steve Buscemi), a rapist (Danny Trejo), a loudmouthed black stereotype/comic relief (Dave Chapelle) and down to a transvestite inmate and all mass murderers as far as the eye could see. Back on the ground, US Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack) must rely on paroled ex-convict Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) to cease control of the plane. With already such a cast, I was expecting George Kennedy to show up somewhere.
Part of the fun is seeing who the movie plays with several clichés of the genre. The clichés are age-old, some dating back to the days of AIRPORT with such a big all star cast (but this time, mostly with character actors). At some point, Cusack tells Cage that "he's at the wrong place at the wrong time", which will immediately remind anyone of DIE HARD. CON AIR is not exactly strong with plot, with an ending in Las Vegas that could only be described as implausible. (Plus, after all the action, the movie even has time for Trisha Yearwood to warble the theme song "How Do I Live") Not that it matters, the whole film is not exactly art but it's loads of fun, and I'd be damned if I say I wasn't entertained.
Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.