Official Synopsis:
From the hit-making producer of The Rock and Crimson Tide comes the hard-hitting blockbuster Con Air, starring Nicolas Cage (National Treasure, Gone In 60 Seconds, The Rock), John Cusack (Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity), and John Malkovich (In The Line Of Fire, Dangerous Liaisons)! A prison parolee (Cage) on his way to freedom faces impossible odds when the maximum security transport plane he's on is skyjacked by the most vicious criminals in the country...led by the infamous murderer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (Malkovich)! Buckle up and hang on tight as explosive high-flying action soars to spectacular new heights in this must-see Unrated Extended Edition!
Our Take:
In 1996's The Rock, Michael Bay transformed Nicolas Cage into an unlikely action hero. Unfortunately, this meant that people thought he could become a regular action hero, and the result was 1997's Con Air. Whoever thought it was a good idea to give Cage flowing curly locks and an accent that results in poorly written dialogue being delivered as "Whah couldn't yew jus' puht tha bunny back in tha bawx?" should have their Hollywood license revoked.
As much as I disliked Con Air the first time I saw it, I thought it would be fun to go back and see if it was still a completely unredeemable film. Surprisingly, it's not all bad; but it isn't great, either. Cage is misplaced as Cameron Poe, a convict on parole who finds himself on the wrong plane at the wrong time, and his accent is patently ridiculous. When will Hollywood learn that giving actors accents when they don't need them is NEVER a good idea? The movie is filled with Michael Bay-style action sequences and a horribly painful heavy metal/prog rock/screeching guitar score, but there were things I liked better this time around, such as John Cusack's character. Con Air is probably the closest we'll ever get to seeing Cusack in a true action role, but he plays it well and it worked for me this time around.
Now, I've only seen Con Air once before this, so I'm not an expert, but I didn't see much in this new Unrated Extended Edition that wasn't there the first time around. Judging by the running times, there's about six minutes of extra footage in this cut, but to call it unrated when it would still just as easily have garnered an R rating is a bit disingenuous. The real kicker is the fact that this new edition, with its shiny cover box and all, still doesn't have any extra features. Was it really worth double dipping, just to put in six minutes of footage and nothing else? At least throw us some EPK's or a commentary or something.
Ultimately, if you love this movie and you don't already own the DVD, then this is a decent purchase. Otherwise, there's nothing special about it as far as special editions go.
Overall Picture:
Movie: C+
DVD: C
- Mike Spring
Editor
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