Turn down the bone-rattling Dolby Digital soundtrack of ``Con Air,'' and you'll hear the sound of the assembly line that produced it.
It's taken years to refine the process of building a blockbuster and the ``Con Air'' team don't deviate from the standard procedure. After all, originality might get in the way of the pyrotechnics.
The formula is thus: Cast actors with a bit of box-office clout, such as Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich; hire a director (in this case, Simon West) smart enough to shoot each explosion with several cameras, so it can be shown multiple times from different angles; find a script with all the depth and complexities of a coloring book. And ``Action!''...
``Con Air,'' which is much better produced than it is written or acted, spins a wild and wooly yarn about a prisoner-transport plane that's hijacked in mid-air by the inmates. These cunning cons are helpfully described by one officer of the law as being ``the worst of the worst,'' and in Scott Rosenberg's screenplay, each of the primary heavies comes with his own tagline.
For instance, leader Cyrus ``the Virus'' Grissom (Malkovich, all but sleepwalking) is ``a poster child for the criminally insane.'' The crimes of Hannibal Lecter wannabe Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi) make ``the Manson family look like the Partridge Family.'' Militant Nathan Jones (Ving Rhames), aka ``Diamond Dog,'' wrote an autobiography and ``they're talking to Denzel about the movie.''
Also onboard is Cameron Poe (Cage), an ex-Army Ranger who has served his time and is supposed to be on his way home to his ever-loving wife (Monica Potter). Looking startlingly pumped-up and sporting locks that would make Michael Bolton envious, Cage reverts to a ``po' folks'' accent and drops phrases like ``makes no never-mind'' to assure us that Poe is true-blue, despite his sordid surroundings. Convention dictates that Poe will end up serving as a double agent, appearing to assist Cyrus and company while secretly betraying them.
West's shoot-it-in-slow-motion style owes more to MTV than to director Sam Peckinpah, who pioneered it and knew the key to using undercranking effectively was to employ it sparingly. West simply doesn't seem to have any other technique.
Fresh moments in ``Con Air'' are few, although there's an inspired bit of sick humor incorporating a falling body, bird droppings and Percy Faith's Muzak masterpiece, ``A Summer Place,'' as well as an odd nod to exotica, in the form of a Hispanic transvestite passenger (played by the androgynous Renoly), who takes time out from shooting cops to vogue about in a form-fitting sun-dress.
The rest of the movie is less concerned with pushing the boundaries of its genre than in pushing the buttons of its audience, something West and Rosenberg do surprisingly well: For all its calculation and predictability, ``Con-Air'' should appease the action-starved. The picture delivers most of what it promises, although unlike the first two ``Die Hard'' movies or ``Terminator 2,'' there's no extra spin on the material.
In fact, Rosenberg doesn't waste a minute on building Cusack's character, ground-bound U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin; as a result, Cusack, who often gives his roles an eccentric edge, can do little in this film except run from fireballs and duck when flying debris comes his way. Dumpling-cheeked Irish character actor Colm Meaney (``The Commitments,'' ``The Snapper'') is squeezed into the thankless role of a braying DEA stooge.
Compared to Disney's action extravaganzas of the past two summers, ``Con Air'' has none of the suspense of ``Crimson Tide'' or ``The Rock,'' although it does get off the ground faster than either of those predecessors. As some would say, if you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like.
James Sanford
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