Con Air

For most of the movies that have made it on to Multiplex Confidential, I knew that I was going to write about them within the first thirty minutes of watching the movie. There’s just this innate feeling that I get where I know I’m going to like the movie a lot, have a lot of thoughts on it, and immediately start taking mental notes. For Con Air, I didn’t even need to start the movie to know that this would happen. It’s an action movie from 1997 starring Nicolas Cage, featuring a star-studded cast that perfectly complements him – why would anyone not want to write about this movie? It is perfect in every way, except for a lot of ways, which makes it perfect. Are there plot holes? Absolutely. Some gross stuff that really, really didn’t age well? You bet. A score that didn’t know it’s place and literally wouldn’t shut up for two minutes the entire film? Roger that. We’ll touch on all of those imperfections in a little bit. But you know what else it had? Nicolas Cage, with long flowy hair, in dad jeans and a tucked in muscle shirt, with a southern accent, in jail on a plane. I don’t know why I have to keep telling you this; it’s a perfect movie.

Shea Serrano wrote about Cameron Poe (Cage’s character) in Action Hero Scouting Report, where he gives a scouting report (just like in sports) for a bunch of action movie heroes, with Poe receiving a score of 71 out of 100. Shea does a fantastic job of breaking down Cameron Poe as an action hero and you should go buy the whole book¹ and read it, but I really like this one sentiment that he brings up. “He has just enough anxiety in him that he never feels fully super-heroic, and he has just enough nastiness in him that he never feels like his resounding morality would ever cause him to pull any punches. I don’t figure there’s any other actor who could’ve done with this role what Nic Cage did with it.” Poe wasn’t the strongest, or toughest, or craziest person on that plane, but he was the smartest, the bravest, and the most convicted (double-entendre), which is why he makes it out not only alive, but as the hero who saved the day. It’s a nice little break from the extravagance and over-the-top-ness of the rest of the film, which makes it perfectly fun and enjoyable to watch.

While Poe himself may have only gotten a score of 71, I would be curious to see what score the film itself would get in comparison to others. Some would argue, as Bill Simmons did with Shea on The Rewatchables, that Con Air belongs on the Mount Rushmore of action movies. I would have to sit down for a while and really think it over, along with watching a lot of movies I have yet to see, but I definitely think it would be up there; Mount Rushmore I’m not so sure, but it would be up there. I think off the top of my head, it would probably be The Matrix, Die Hard, Enter the Dragon, and then maybe Terminator 2: Judgment Day? I don’t know, I don’t feel confident in that at all, but I know that The Matrix and Die Hard are for sure on there, and Con Air is definitely in the same conversation as The Predator, The Terminator, Goldfinger, The Bourne Identity, and the like. Not quite the tippity top of the mountain, but certainly high above most others.

Let’s touch on that star-studded cast real quick. This was one of those perfect situations where they caught a lot of big-name guys, before they were all truly big-name guys. Obviously you have Nicolas Cage at the helm, who was coming off of an Academy Award winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas and another stellar showing in The Rock, before making Con Air and then Face/Off. John Malkovich had multiple Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations before Con Air, so he was the other big-time player. Then we get to guys like John Cusack – a household name at this point, but in 1997 he was mostly known for being in coming-of-age dramadies; Ving Rhames had shown up in Dave, Pulp Fiction, and the first Mission Impossible movie, and was caught right in the middle of his rise. Steve Buscemi had his breakout in Reservoir Dogs, but this movie caught him before he became better known for his roles in movies like Armageddon, The Big Lebowski, and the HBO Show Boardwalk Empire. Filling out the edges, we have Colm Meaney, Mykelti Williamson, Dave Chappelle, and Danny Trejo. Again, all household names in 2024, but guys you probably hadn’t seen much of in 1997.

One other thing about this movie I wanted to briefly touch on, was the fact that above all, it was fun. It feels like that can be the missing ingredient in a lot of movies (especially action flicks) these days that prevent them from getting to that next level. A lot of movies can take themselves too seriously or will just shoehorn in some poorly written one-liners to try and add comedy that just doesn’t make any sense within the context of the film. I think that might partly be why Everything Everywhere All at Once was such a breath of fresh air in 2022, because it was a great action movie that also had fun with itself – it had its serious parts for sure, but the lightheartedness and comedy shone through and allowed the audience to truly enjoy the viewing experience. Con Air really knocked it out of the park in that regard, and part of the reasoning might honestly be because they hired real, dramatic actors to play these roles, instead of these bulky athletic guys like Stallone or Schwarzenegger who were desperately trying to prove that they had acting chops. That’s no shade to them – Rocky, Predator, Rambo, and Terminator are all incredible films in their own right, but they’re also just not as fun as Con Air. It’s a choice that may go initially unnoticed but was key in this movie’s ultimate success and long shelf life.

With that being said, let’s fly into some categories!

By the Numbers

• • Release date: June 6, 1997

• • Budget: $75 million

• • Box office: $224 million

• • Run time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)

• • Letterboxd rating: 3.4 ★

• • My Letterboxd rating: 4.0 ★

• • Rotten Tomatoes: 58% (Rotten)

• • Accolades: 18 total nominations, 7 total wins
    • • 2 Academy Award nominations, 0 wins (Best Original Song, Best Sound)
    • • 2 Golden Raspberry Award nominations, 1 win (Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property)

• • One: This was Simon West’s directorial debut

Best Scene

Con Air has quite a few memorable scenes, and we need to figure out which is the best. Is it the funniest scene, the coolest scene, the scene with the best action, or something in between? Let’s take a look:

• • Opening Scene: The linked video doesn’t show the entire opening scene I am referencing here, but it’s basically the first five or so minutes of the movie. It perfectly introduces us to Cameron Poe and his military background, his pregnant wife, and the fight gone wrong that landed Poe in jail. It’s got action, we get all the exposition we need, and shows us that even though he is mild mannered, Cameron Poe can absolutely put someone in the dirt with one swift punch.

• • Prisoner Introduction: This is where we get the rundown of the majority of the prisoners traveling on the Jail Bird, as if you were choosing your character on Street Fighter. Menacing shots of all of them leaving the bus and being patted down, while having their rap sheets read aloud by Cusack – it’s just a great way to introduce us to all of the characters of the movie, and I honestly wouldn’t have minded if they made this scene a full five minutes longer.

• • “Welcome to Con Air”: One of the more heart-pumping scenes of the movie, we get the prisoners taking over the plane and Cameron Poe realizing it won’t be an easy ride home anymore. This scene is great – we see how meticulously Cyrus had planned the takeover, and they execute it to near perfection.

• • Bone Yard Ambush: Arguably the biggest scene in the movie, we have the prisoners ambushing the DEA/FBI/police/I don’t even know who all is part of this crew but it’s a lot of people in uniform in the bone yard of the fictional Lerner Airfield. It’s got the electric guitar wailing in the background, tons of action, and is probably the second biggest set piece in the whole movie.

• • Helicopter Attack: The DEA is hot on the tails of the Jail Bird in attack hueys, ready to take it down with everyone inside. Cameron Poe musters up every ounce of “get out of my way” he has left in him, and re-takes control of the plane. Poe is just taking everyone out with his bare hands, gets shot in the arm, and calmly enters the cockpit and tells the pilot to land the plane, because “I’m the captain now.”

• • Landing on the Vegas Strip: The final, and largest, set piece of the film, we have the Jail Bird making an emergency landing right in the middle of the Vegas Strip, filled with pedestrians, cars, and casinos. They somehow manage to land the plane without killing a single civilian and were able to use the real-life Sands Hotel that was to be demolished later that year anyway.

A lot of great options, but the winner here is the Helicopter Attack. We have John Cusack over-acting his butt off while screaming bloody murder at Duncan Malloy to hold fire from the other chopper. Somehow his reasoning of “he just wants to get home to his wife and kid” actually wins this guy over, even though it means landing the plane in the middle of an incredibly busy and highly populated area that would undoubtedly cause significant harm both in damages and loss of human life. Cameron Poe is trying to save his friend who was just shot and tells him “I’m going to show you that God does exist” and then that wailing guitar makes its most glorious entrance of the entire film. Poe takes down the guy armed with a broken glass bottle, gets shot in the arm and literally has no reaction to it whatsoever, takes the gunman down with his good arm, and then seals the doors behind him before entering the cockpit and taking back control of the plane. It’s just incredibly badass- Nic Cage has never looked cooler in his life (don’t forget he’s still in the dad jeans with a tucked in muscle shirt and flowing locks), and for once the score actually fits perfectly with what is happening in the scene.

What’s Aged the Best

I mean Nicolas Cage’s hair has absolutely aged incredibly well, no questions asked. His entire look for the majority of the film, in fact, has aged phenomenally well. Nicolas Cage on a whole has aged really well, too. We all have followed the rollercoaster that is his career, and we have finally arrived in the era of actually appreciating him and giving him his flowers (along with guys like Keanu Reeves and Brendan Fraser). It’s always nice when a talented actor finally gets the credit and love that they are due for the great work they’ve done throughout their career. The title, Con Air, aged like fine wine; I can’t think of a better title for the movie, and it just sounds like a movie where you’re like “Yep, that movie sounds awesome. Count me in.” The effects have surprisingly aged well too – thanks to a lot of practical effects and steering clear of CGI, which you know I’m a big fan of. The casting of this movie, as mentioned earlier, also top notch. Catching all of those guys before they would have demanded a higher pay or credit in the movie allowed this to actually age better than when it initially came out. Not a ton of people probably thought much about seeing Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, John Cusack, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, Steve Buscemi, and Danny Trejo all in the same movie, but that would be considered an absolute mega ensemble cast today.

What’s Aged the Worst

The entire Sally Can’t Dance character is just horrible – luckily, it seems to be a thing of the past now, but any movie about or taking place in a prison prior to like 2014 had a character like this and it just was never funny and was always incredibly cringe-worthy. Not bringing any guns onto the plane – what are we doing here, folks? A plane is transporting some of the most hardened criminals in the entire country, and your plan is to have a bunch of guards keep the peace with their words and maybe their fists? Terrible judgement call there. In the same vein, not shooting the plane down when it was over the desert in Nevada was a bad call too. Obviously, it makes sense within the movie because Nic Cage needs to survive and be the hero and blah blah blah, but logic and reality would absolutely have shot that plane down the moment they had their missiles locked. Johnny 23 was also a character that would never make the cut now, either. It would be a sad thing to cut Danny Trejo from anything he’s a part of, but having a character whose entire story is just all about sexual assault is questionable even for 1997. It would have been so easy to just switch his story from being a serial rapist to being a killer or thief or arsonist or anything of the sort and still have the tattoos on his arm mean something and be creepy. Of course, with this being a movie from the 90s, there is some unnecessary racism sprinkled throughout that just adds nothing to the plot or story or dialogue; at least this time around we don’t have someone dropping the n-word!

The Jason Clarke Award (What’s Their Name Again?)

This one is pretty easy, seeing as how I’ve gone on and on about how the majority of this cast is a who’s who of the 90s and 00s. José Zúñiga plays DEA Agent Willie Sims in Con Air, and I immediately knew he would be today’s winner when he popped up on my screen. I’m guessing you probably don’t recognize his name either, but I bet you might recognize his face – Zúñiga has well over 100 credits to his name, including Twilight, The Dark Tower, Law & Order, and Mission: Impossible III. Congrats, José!

The Jack Nicholson Award (Big Impact, Small Role)

This one always comes down to who had the right amount of screen time – it can’t be too much, or else it loses the meaning of the award. But it can’t be too little either, or else their impact probably isn’t as big as it should be in the spirit of the award. So, for this one, we have a couple of candidates: MC Gainey as “Swamp Thing”, the prisoner who ended up flying and landing the plane, Dave Chappelle as Pinball, and Steve Buscemi as Garland “The Marietta Mangler” Greene. Swamp Thing is great, but he doesn’t quite knock it out of the park in this one – it’s just a solid, un-noteworthy performance (which is exactly what it needed to be). Buscemi crushes it as Garland Greene, but I feel like we would’ve needed either five more minutes of him in the movie, or for him to have done something other than give multiple TED Talk lines on the plane to Cameron Poe. It’s an incredible performance, but not quite the heat check we are looking for here. That leaves us with Dave Chappelle as Pinball, who is the rightful winner. Despite what you may think of Chappelle now, his performance in this was spot on, and entirely improvised as well! There are one or two racist jokes he makes that didn’t age well, but outside of that his performance garners him the Jack Nicholson Award.

The Roger Deakins Award (Best Cinematography)

This may be controversial, but I don’t care. By far, the best cinematography of the entire movie, is when Cameron Poe walks off his bus before getting on the Jail Bird. He feels the warm breeze and sunlight on his face for the first time in years, and takes it all in. It also ended up birthing one of the more legendary memes of this century. See for yourself.

Best Quote

• • “Put the bunny back in the box.”

• • “Sorry boss, but there’s only two men I trust. One of them’s me. The other’s not you.”

• • “Define irony. Bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash.”

• • “What if I told you insane was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years… at the end of which they tell you to piss off? Ending up in some retirement village… hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time. Wouldn’t you consider that to be insane?”

• • Billy: “Have you lost your mind?” Cyrus: “According to my last psych evaluation…yes.”

• • “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have the only gun on board. Welcome to Con Air.”

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

• • Nicolas Cage: 2 (Cage appeared in Fast Time as Ridgemont High with Forest Whitaker, who appeared in The Air I Breathe with Kevin Bacon)

• • John Malkovich: 1 (Malkovich appeared in Queens Logic with Kevin Bacon)

• • John Cusack: 2 (Cusack appeared in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil with Bob Gunton, who appeared in JFK with Kevin Bacon)

• • I checked all the major acting credits for this movie, and the highest number was two. The theory lives!

Concession Stand

This is an action movie from 1997, so it’s one of those movies that you can get away with practically anything. Want to have a movie theater experience? Grab some popcorn, a coke, and some sour patch and have a blast. Want to watch this while eating dinner? Go for it, you’re not gonna miss anything over the sound of your own chewing (except for maybe a couple of killer one-liners from our guy Nicky Cage). Not hungry at all? Totally fine, you can just enjoy the movie like I did! You truly cannot go wrong.

Conclusion

Con Air is a perfect movie. It might even be the greatest movie ever made. Nicolas Cage brings us along on an absolute thrill ride in one of his best movies, while the supporting cast of Rhames, Malkovich, Chappelle, and Buscemi keep us on the edge of our seats for what creepy thing they will say or horrible thing they will do next. It’s an incredible concept for a movie, it’s well executed, and most importantly, the movie just has fun with itself. I think the Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes actually put it best: “Con Air won’t win any awards for believability – and all involved seem cheerfully aware of it, making some of this blockbuster action outing’s biggest flaws fairly easy to forgive.”

1. https://sheaserrano.gumroad.com/l/kvbiwb ↩︎