Cheesy Action Flick

Rating: 4/10 (8 September 2008)

I personally do not like Con Air, not seeing it as a good movie. I think that its premise it is too silly and I did not believe it as a film.
The plot of Con Air is that ex-US Ranger and war veteran Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage) protects his pregnant wife from two drunks, and accidentally kills one of them. He pleads manslaughter, but gets the maximum sentence. He ends up going to the maximum security prison San Quetin in California. When Cameron serves his sentence he goes on a prison plane back to Alabama, with dangerous criminals including terrorists, murderers and rapists. One criminal, Cyrus The Virus (John Malkovich) leads the criminals to over take the plane and negotiate with the FBI to let them go to a foreign country and disappear. But Cameron is on hand to help stop this, and works with the FBI to get the plane back on track.
I don't have a great knowledge of the American legal and prison system, but I find that some of the aspect of the film too silly. Examples are that Cameron gets the maximum sentence considering his case, that the US prison system would transport a lot of prisons on plane, which in itself is dumb, but also use idiotic that there were only a few guards, with no major weapons. The plot of the film too implausible. I don't see why the Americans needed to transport the prisoners, and why when the prisoners took over the plane that the Americans didn't just send the Air Force to shot it down. I know that it wouldn't have made a very romantic film, that's what would have really happened. There is a lot that happens in this film that feels that you need to suspend belief to accept it, like the plane clash landing in Las Vegas. The writing is very weak, I did not believe in the film and some aspects of the story are force, especially Cameron's relationship with his daughter. I also doubt that the writer did much research for this film and it may as well have been written by a computer. The biggest problem was the character Cyrus the Virus and John Malkovich pretty much stole the show. He was good in this film and I thought that he should have been used as a villain in another film. It is high to sympathy with some of the characters, considering the crimes they committed. But at the same time Cyrus is the best think in this film There was also a good cast in this film, having good actors like Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, John Cusack, Danny Trejo and of course Malkovich. But that is not enough to save this film.
All in all, one to miss.