CON AIR
A film review by Michael Redman
Copyright 1997 Michael Redman
*** (out of ****)
When talking about summer films, it's a cliche to suggest that the audience leave their brains at home because the movie is all action and fun but low on thought. There's a reason why some phrases become overworked. They're true.
Nicolas Cage plays a convict headed home to his family in "Rambo III: In The Clouds"...no, that's "Die Hard Behind Bars"...err, whatever they're calling this year's buff lone wolf defending the helpless against all odds film. Cage has much depth as an actor than Stallone has ever shown, but here he does a credible Sly.
Cameron Poe (Cage) is an Army Ranger in the wrong place at the wrong time who accidentally kills one of a group of men intent on raping his pregnant wife. After hiring what must be the worst attorney in the western hemisphere, our hero ends up setting out the next several years in a federal prison pining away for his wife and Casey, the daughter he's never seen.
When it's finally his day to go home which just happens to be Casey's birthday, for some reason he's put aboard the "Jailbird", a plane loaded with the most dangerous scum of the earth. (Of course the "some reason" is that without that plot element, we would have no film.) Loaded with such luminaries as Cyrus The Virus (John Malkovich) and Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), the craft is a traveling freak show of depravity.
Unknown to Poe, the rest of the cons have hatched a plot to hijack their air taxi. During a scheduled stop to pick up new travelers, he has the opportunity to safely leave but doesn't since his buddy is about to slip into a diabetic coma because he has no syringe for his insulin. "You don't leave a fallen man behind."
The latest guest of honor is the ultimate mass murderer Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi) who once wore the head of a little girl as a hat on a drive through three states. Trussed up like Hannibal Lector, soft-spoken Greene is easily the creepiest of the bunch.
Then everything blows up and crashes and gets shot and bursts into fireballs just like you knew it would.
On the ground US Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack) is trying to recapture the plane while engaging in absurd jurisdiction disputes with a gung-ho DEA agent who wants to solve the problem with missiles.
There are a few weak moments in the energy. Poe's extended search for a set of works for his ailing friend gets in the way of the heat. He spends his time looking through boxes and cabinets while a firefight rages outside and the medical authenticity for the insulin need is iffy.
Other than that, the explosions are non-stop and it's a thrill-a-minute excursion. The effects are spectacular especially during the crash landing.
Cyrus is the most interesting of the characters as Malkovich once again is the evil mastermind or as he says "the poster child for the criminally insane". Although Cyrus gets more screen time, the most unsettling scene goes to the smiling Greene and a young girl having a nice little tea party in a decrepit abandoned swimming pool. It's also the most puzzling piece of the movie as the reason for the resolution of that moment is left to the imagination of the viewer.
All the actors are in fine form although in the best of all possible worlds, they would have had more to work with. Everyone's playing the same characters that they have before and Cage even looks a tad bored occasionally.
Oh well. It's a good looking movie with a lot of "wow"s. Just the thing to luxuriate in on these hot dry summer days. That is, if we ever make it to that season.
[This appeared in the 6/12/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ]
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