"Put the bunny back in the box..."      

CON AIR (R) 

Ah yes, Jerry Bruckheimer strikes again!

In Con Air, Nicolas Cage stars as Cameron Poe, our military-trained protagonist who, after inadvertently killing a man in a bar fight, gets sentenced to prison.  Eight years later and Poe is finally paroled.  Eager to go home to reunite with his wife and daughter (whom he has never seen), Poe gets on a transport plane along with a number of the hardest boiled criminals in the country.  Home free, right?

Wrong.  No sooner does the transport plane take off when a number of the convicts on board execute a highly coordinated plan to hijack the aircraft and lead them to freedom.  One person shot.  Two people shot.  Bang, bang, more death.  Hey, let's rape the female guard, shall we?  And Poe is sitting right in the middle of it all.

Welcome to Con Air!!  As with prior Bruckheimer productions (The Rock, Days of Thunder, Top Gun), Con Air definitely delivers in the action department.  With John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, and Steve Buscemi each playing bad guys, and John Cusack as a U.S. Marshall trying to avert disaster from the ground, Nicolas Cage's Poe character has more than enough to work with to make this movie interesting.  Much more than enough, as it turns out...

If there's anything that makes Con Air less entertaining than it could be, it's the excess.  Slightly too many characters, slightly too many action sequences, and slightly too many acts of gratuitous violence.  Enough already!!  Fortunately, Cage's engaging performance keeps this film from falling apart completely, but even then it could easily have done without the last 15 minutes (and three actions sequences) of footage.  Con Air is entertaining to a point, but excessive to a fault...it just keeps going, and going, and going, and going...I really wish that guy would've just put the bunny back in the box (you'll have to see the movie to know what I mean)...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!!

Eoakwell@BTInternet.com gives this movie  stars: "Well acted and exciting action scenes " (12/12/00)

Mia_Han@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "This is one of the best action movies I've seen, but the real truth of the matter is, that I only watched it to see John Cusack. He's so cute :P ." (9/8/00)

evil_the_cat@thespark.com gives this movie  stars: "one star for Nic, one star for John, and three for Steve. ;) Garland rocks." (5/11/00)

Chemical Junky gives this movie  stars: "This is enjoyable but goes on too long. The last scene in Vegas is a bit pointless" (1/20/99)

pvjames007@aol.com gives this movie  stars: "Nicolas Cage is one of the greatest actors ever. This movie had a good story line and great special effects towards the end and at that old abandoned air field. I give this film 5 stars for it's great casting job and because it stars Nicolas Cage what else can I say the man is a natural." (1/12/99)

eapoe@cistron.nl gives this movie  stars: "A good movie...good actors...good humor... Bad end... ever seen a big plain land downtown and lost its wings on a trafic-light? whahaha" (10/29/98)

destiny2079@goplay.com gives this movie  stars: "This movie was great and featured an amazing cast. I think Steve Buschemi did an awesome job and really was the tension breaker that made the movie really catching." (10/16/98)

otton@tig.com.au gives this movie  stars: "I thought it was a great movie, beautiful song and My boyfriend loved it also." (10/4/98)

newtond@baxter.com gives this movie  star: "After suffering through the badly done southern dialect, I got to see a move that strained credibility in so many ways it was obnoxious. The whole thing was poorly written, with supposedly trained people completely unable to deal with fairly simple situations. "Contingency plans for this were never written" Say Cusak... Umm... anytime you are transporting prisoners, you'd think that plans for what to do if they escape would be standard. The national gaurd/ U S marshalls willing walk into a death trap when there is perfectly open terrain all around the airport. Nothing that happend made any sense. Bad dialects, bad story, paper thin plot. What was there to like?" (10/2/98)

Bobbi gives this movie  stars: "I thought Con Air showed how easy things can go wrong in our judicial system. It is all to easy to end up in prision when all you are actually did was defend yourself. Con Air was action packed and I think it gave a pretty accurate account of what extreme felons can go to. Also I liked the nick names that were used for the felons. I am a big N. Cage fan and I hope he continues to crank out the movies. Thanks, Bobbi" (9/18/98)

Ben Coppola Wainwright gives this movie  stars: "I LOVE IT!!!!Since Nicolas Coppola is a friend of mine we talk about it all the time. And others of course, but I love this one the best.To you Nic!" (9/15/98)

Ashley0726@aol.com gives this movie  stars: "I love this movie! I've seen it over 50 times. I know every word. I could never get tired of Nicolas Cage." (9/7/98)

cus55@yahoo.com gives this movie  stars. (7/3/98)

Mark_Healy@stgeorges.edu gives this movie  stars: "If you're a guy and you didn't like this movie, you are gay. End of discussion." (4/22/98)

Andreas Bjornestad gives this movie  stars: "the movie was wery good it was one of the best movie I had seen in many years." (1/31/98)

David gives this movie  stars: "A very good movie! I think Nick Cage is a brilliant actor. The movie, unlike some action movies, was not over-the-top, but had a great plot, great characters and great suspense and a romantic ending. Ohhhh ! This movie was one of the great action films due to the fact that it has a brilliant story." (1/24/98)

rwjr96@pi.net gives this movie  stars: "The begining is boring, but the end is great." (1/10/98)

reesed@infinet.com gives this movie  stars: "Great movie!!! I've seen it twice now and each time I see new things happen. Just a great film! Go see if you haven't." (6/24/97)

winonino@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "The best action flick since Terminator 2." (6/22/97)

dreeves@cpis.net gives this movie  stars: "One of the finest action movies I've seen in some time. Rather predictable, but quite enjoyable. I must say however, that there was some strange character development done by the script, director, and Nick Cage. He plays a Forrest Gump action movie hero. Go figure." (6/15/97)

ktancuan@holly.colostate.edu gives this movie  stars: "A little over-the-top but some very funny performances and hey, I had a good time." (6/10/97)