It's so 90s, but in the best way possible

Rating: Null/10 (25 February 2020)

Nicolas Cage plays Cameron Poe, a former US Army Ranger, who has been locked up behind bars for years after he accidentally killed a man while defending his wife. But now he's about to be freed. There's only the last remaining prisoner transport flight left. What could go wrong?
The whole idea of Con Air is ludicrous. You have all these over the top bad guys in one airplane. Each of them almost worthy of joining Batman's Rogues Gallery. And then you have the one good guy, who just happens to be there by pure luck and it's up to him to save the day. But you know what, it works. Perhaps I'm more forgiving because it is from the 90s or perhaps they simply knew how to make these plots work back then. Nevertheless, in Con Air the ludicrous tone is a source of strength, not a hindrance.
Especially when it comes to John Malkovich. He plays a character named Cyrus the Virus. What a great name and what a great performance. It shouldn't work. This sleazy, smarmy, snobbish piece of over-articulating rhetoric shouldn't work. But in Malkovich's hands it just flows so naturally. Because it's Malkovich.
I also like Cage's odd accent. I like Steve Buscemi's completely nonsensical and distracting character performance. I like the clichédness of John Cusack and Colm Meaney's characters. I like the stunts.
What I don't like is the completely unnecessary fourth act after one of the best ending action scenes I've seen in a while. But that's about the only flaw the film has.
Con Air is pure 90s macho popcorn entertainment. Kick back and enjoy.