Disappointing. Falls foul of the Celine Dion Factor

Rating: 5/10 (9 October 1998)

Disappointing to me, as I am a big fan of some of its closest relatives within the burgeoning action film canon (The Rock, Face Off, Bad Boys, Die Hard with a Vengeance in particular). What distinguishes these films, is that they have a certain style about them: you can look at any number of scenes or shots within them and think 'that's cool'. You cannot do this with Con Air. There are no shots to match those of the Bridge or Alcatraz Island in The Rock for aesthetic and photographic quality; it lacks the choreographed, balletic style of Face-Off and the orchestrated precision of, say, the break-in in Die Hard.. ; and compared to its sibling chase scenes in The Rock and Bad Boys, Con Air's final reel is less a scintillating, grippingly visceral rollercoaster and more a sprawling, unravelling mess. Symptomatic of the film's stylistic failure (and all of these films, with the exception of Face Off, can only be exercises in style) is its (mis)use of music. Whereas Die Hard with.. and Face Off used music at times to remarkable effect, Con Air simply adds Celine Dion in a crass and reprehensible attempt to intensify its romantic scenes. No film worth anything would ever feature Celine Dion in its soundtrack, and no action movie can ever neglect the effect of its soundtrack and retain the sense of style upon which films in the genre must be judged.