Main storyline is pretty incidental, it's the subplot that makes this so great

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2004)

I must admit, I have a real fascination with this movie, of all movies.
Yes, it's basically a montage of compiled footage featuring large-scale explosions, endless destruction and loads of guys running around with their shirts off (mmm, chick flick!). It has 'camp' written all over it, but at the very least 'Con Air' is refreshingly cool with being that campy and, via its own playful sense of self-awareness, manages to elevate itself to a whole new level of post-modern thrill-ride. There's something about CA which makes it strangely difficult to dislike - it's fast-paced, flowing with catchy dialogue and sharp one-liners, and the entire cast is clearly having a ball. It's good fun in the guilty pleasure sort of way, and were you really expecting a serious, prestigious prison drama?
Nonetheless, if this was all that CA consisted of, I'd still have issues with it. You don't really feel for the hero, played by Nicholas Cage, at any point, which is always a setback, and the means by which they manage to insert him into the scenario, while still keeping him a law-abiding man who just happened to be the 'wrong place at the wrong time', are completely contrived. The editing is often really, really bad, ranging from the dynamic to the just plain choppy and confusing, entailing so many things which just don't add up. It's also an example of one of those action flicks where it simply isn't enough to let your major bad guy die swiftly and gracefully with a single gunshot - good grief no, you gotta have him handcuffed to a speeding fire engine, thrown against some power lines for good measure and, finally, crushed head-first and screaming on a junkyard conveyor belt. If you can't call that OTT, then I don't know what to say.
BUT, this criticism is irrelevant anyhow because, the way I see it, it wasn't really the point of CA. The wanton destruction may be what occupies most of the screen time, but its real purpose is to provide contextual depth for something much more subtle and involving.
Bear with it for the first two fifths or so and you'll start to see a very different kind of story emerging from amidst the mindless rabble. It's the compelling, unnerving, and ultimately very charming story of a notorious serial-killing (but perfectly civil) sociopath named Garland Greene (aka the Marietta Mangler) who, while supposed to be headed for Maximum Security Prison after killing thirty-odd people, instead gets to wander round a trailer park and have a chance meeting with a sweet young girl enjoying a tea party with her dollies. A situation which would make any viewer cry out in dismay, and the guys behind the camera really know how to play on those feelings of appal, but the outcome proves to be unexpected, hilarious, and even a fair deal poignant if you read between the lines.
What's so eerily disarming about Garland Greene is that he seems worlds apart from anything else around him. Infamous enough to make even the most vindictive of those cons tremble, he's happy for the most part just to sit back and make wry observations on this unexpected in-flight entertainment. He's twisted alright, and deeply disturbed (about as much as the handle 'Marietta Mangler' implies) but so charismatic at the same time. If you didn't know advance what he'd done, and what he was still capable of doing, would you see him as anything other than an innocuous, witty, lonely man who perhaps lacks a few basic social skills? A lot of it comes down to the sheer brilliance of his portrayal. Steve Buscemi was the PERFECT choice for this role - I can't imagine anyone else who could've handled it better. He nails the part right down to every last eye movement and facial twitch, and this movie is a telling testament to his genius.
I know that a lot of viewers were puzzled by Garland's presence in the movie. He doesn't really contribute much to the main storyline, in spite of getting first dibs on the best lines, and the whole thing with the young girl at first might seem like little more than a weird tangent designed to punctuate the airfield showdown and build up extra tension while it's at it, but I beg to differ - I think the writers knew full well where they were going with this. First, we have Garland admitting to the girl straight out that he is indeed 'sick' (this rather goes against what he previously told Cameron on the flight), then, the beautifully ironic moment where he reveals that he already knows the lyrics to 'He's got the whole world in his hands' (it's beautiful in its own way). I like to think that, while the other cons were off waging their high-testosterone civil war on the airfield only metres away, thanks to the openness of this unsuspecting kid, Garland was able to recapture a moment of his own lost innocence - a brilliant contrast and probably the greatest irony of it all.
And that's what I love about CA. It's one of those movies that seems to be making its point by having the subplot intentionally better than the main one. A lonesome search for stability in a milieu where there is no compassion, logic or control - it's a unique and interesting approach that makes the entire picture well-worth your time, and definitely my favourite movie to have Bruckheimer's notorious name on it.
In short, this is guilty pleasure popcorn viewing at its most entrancing, and with the Mangler on board it adds more than just a sprinkling of substance and extra reason to watch. Personally I was very pleased with the last few moments, which proved a subversively feel-good surprise. A little unconventional, but I guess it's Garland's reward for making this otherwise standard action romp such compelling viewing.