Here, we finally have Nicolas Cage starring opposite the man he is most often mistaken for, John Cusack. It's getting harder to rank these films, mostly because I may have overrated Gone in Sixty Seconds. Fear not, ConAir doesn't put on such airs of badassery, even as it presents an array of the most badass of prisoners, including cheese balls played by the likes of John Malkovitch and Dave Chapelle. I know what you're probably wondering, and the answer is 'yes'. Dave Chapelle does call people on their racist crud, landing in only a few of the film's deep wells of cringe.
By this time in Cage's career, he's already played several inmates, soldiers, and men with southern accents. In Con Air he is all three and a solid 'good guy', named Cameron Poe. Isn't it tough to be a good guy when incarcerated and on board a plane hijacked by the worst of the criminally insane? And the cops aren't all good, either! Cameron has to get home to his wife and child without hurting or incriminating himself. To top it off, he has to deal with Steve Buscemi as a creepy serial killer.
At least the bad guys aren't all bad. Con Air's pretty all right, despite some instances in which it tries to be funny. I respect the level of tact with which this film used its violent aspects. I'm however puzzled by some of Cameron's decisions. I guess he wouldn't be such a big hero if he let the the other convicts fend for themselves. What good is it to have a wife and daughter if he can't put his life on the line to take down the bad guys?
1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Adaptation
4. Birdy
5. Wild at Heart
6. Color Out of Space
7. Peggy Sue Got Married
8. City of Angels
9. Gone in 60 Seconds
10. Matchstick Men
11. Vampire's Kiss
12. Con Air
13. Face/Off
14. Honeymoon in Vegas
15. The Family Man
16. It Could Happen to You
17. 8mm
18. Ghost Rider
19. Next
20. The Weather Man
21. The Croods
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