Back in the 80’s early 90’s, producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were responsible for some huge hits. Having produced the movies Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, Days of Thunder, Bad Boys, Crimson Tide, Dangerous Minds and The Rock, the duo had their finger on the pulse for action films. The movies were high octane and heavy on the testosterone. The same was said on how Simpson lived his life and passed away while The Rock was being filmed. Jerry Bruckheimer, who was the voice of reason of the two, went on to make the same type of movies him and his partner were known for. Which brings us to today’s FBF: Con Air.
The movie is about Cameron Poe who gets sent to prison for killing a guy while defending his wife. Normally, he probably would’ve gotten a slap on the wrist but because Poe is an ex Army Ranger and has some skills that could kill a motherfucker (like he did earlier) he gets sent prison. While in prison, his daughter is born and Poe does his time and is eagerly anticipating to meet his daughter who he never sees while in prison because prison not a place for children to see. To get home, Poe has to hitch a ride on a plane with other convicts and so the Marshals office can save money on the plane rides, they put the worst of the worst on the same plane. The bad guys take over the plane and it’s up to Cameron Poe to show us God does exist and save the day.
The movie is pretty far out there and unbelievable. That’s the charm of the movie. At a time when Stallone and Schwarzenegger (who was in Batman and Robin the same month this came out) were fading from the spotlight, Con Air was a breath of fresh air and played against type with the type of actors that the movie employed. You’ve got Nicolas Cage as the hero, who was really not known for action at the time, John Malkovich as bad guy Cyrus the Virus, Steve Buscemi as Garland Green (you have to see his performance in this) and we also have John Cusack running around helping Poe save the day. It was a hipster cast inside of a big blockbuster movie and everyone was enjoying the ride.
Cyrus the damn virus.
As far as the good guys go, Nicolas Cage and John Cusack are really damn good in this movie. Cage really beefed up for the role and really embraced playing the hero. You can tell he was probably enjoying every minute of this movie running in slow motion, getting the cool one liner before he takes back the plane and getting shot in the arm without even reacting. In a different movie, it would’ve been very, very cheesy but it works in this movie. Cusack on the other hand is also good. Playing US Marshal Vince Larkin, he wants to make sure the plane gets brought down safely while also bickering with DEA asshole agent Malloy (Colm Meaney) who wants to shoot it down. Cusack fits in nicely and should’ve definitely embraced these types of action movies.
The bad guys in this movie are something else. John Malkovich playing bad guy Cyrus is a scene stealer as well. He matches Cage’s straight up hero with a crazy af performance that Cage would probably play now. At one point in the movie Cyrus gets double crossed by a convict and while said convict says Cy-, Cyrus finishes it with -anara and burns the motherfucker down! How cool is that for a bad guy? Look, we know Heath Ledger is probably the best villain of all time in films to alot of people but we should give Malkovich another look because in my opinion, Cyrus is up there as one of the best. Rounding out the bad guy cast, we get Ving Rhames as Diamond Dog, Danny Trejo as Johnny 23 who just wants to get his fuck on with guard Bishop (Rachel Ticotin) and make her number 24 on his tattooed arm. And last but not least we have Steve Buscemi as Garland Green. Buscemi plays the character the creepiest he has ever played. While the plane is going down and destroying alot of Las Vegas he starts singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” while holding a Ken doll. Very weird but perfect for this kind of movie.
With a movie this big, it’s surprising that it was helmed by music video director Simon West. For it being his first feature, West did a really good job here. West films and stages his movie with camera angles that make his stars look larger than life and that’s what you need every now and then with movies like this. West’s career after this one hasn’t matched Con Air, except for Expendables 2, so it would be nice to see Bruckheimer and West team up again and do a throwback to these kinds of movies again.
Con Air is one of those movies that isn’t on “fresh” on Rotten tomatoes and most people who follow that shit probably turn their nose up at this movie, but if you watch a movie for what it is, you might have some fun with it. And Con Air is alot of fun.
Till then, enjoy movies, maddafakkas. Till then-enjoy movies, madafakkas. Catch Mando on Twitter at @manbat33 when he’s not co-hosting the @TalentedSlacker podcast!