Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have the only gun on board. Welcome to Con Air.

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2010)

Hummingbird Humdinger.
Con Air is directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. Plot sees Cameron Poe (Cage), a parolee on his way home to his wife and daughter after serving years in prison for manslaughter. He's travelling on a plane full of the most dangerous criminals currently being held in America, they are being transferred to some new super prison. Inevitably something goes wrong and the cons take over the plane, with only Poe standing between them and freedom.
No doubt about it, Con Air is one of the most over the top action film's you are ever likely to see. But it knows it is, it embraces it - and positively revels in it. What we have is a bunch of sicko's and psycho's on a plane, their roll call of crimes as gargantuan as the excess of explosions and quips are. Down on the ground are a frantic John Cussack and an angry Colm Meaney, the play off between the two almost as funny as the shenanigans on the plane - where characters called Billy Bedlam (Nick Chinlund), Cyrus The Virus (Malkovich) & The Marietta Mangler (Steve Buscemi) push mania to a new level.
Enter director West, who clearly under orders from Bruckheimer, unleashes a barrage of explosive set pieces, each one more outrageous than the last. It's neatly edited and paced like a good action movie should be. There's also no small amount of tension to sidle along side the white knuckle thrills. As Cage strips down to his Bruce Willis vest we have a real likable hero to get on side with, yes it's played tongue in cheek, very much so, but his character has been so well written by Scott Rosenberg we really forgive the ridiculousness of each heroic act. Also along the for the ride are Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, M.C. Gainey & Rachael Ticotin, the latter of which does admirably well as the lone female surrounded by 800 tonnes of testosterone.
Junky nonsense as a story for sure, but just like the cast are having a blast of a time with it, so too should the discerning action comedy fan. 7.5/10