Plot: What’s it about?
“Cyrus, this is your bar-b-que and it tastes good.”
Yes, that’s about the caliber of dialogue you can expect from “Con Air” but when seeing a Jerry Bruckheimer movie that’s what we expect. Suspend your disbelief for a few hours and pretend that hardened criminals can actually be likeable, that Nicolas Cage can actually reproduce an Alabaman accent and that Dave Chappelle could be considered scary and you’ll be entertained. “Con Air” was mainly Nicolas Cage’s follow up to “Leaving Las Vegas” for which he won a Best Actor Oscar and another re-teaming with Bruckheimer from 1996’s “The Rock” (a much better movie, by the way). That equaled success and anything that’s successful in Hollywood – it’s the formula to do it again. The cast is stellar, with Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich and John Cusack leading the way. The ensemble cast also includes Dave Chappelle, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi and Mykelti Williamson. And now the moment everyone has been waiting for…the plot!
Cage plays Cameron Poe, an Army Ranger who accidentally kills a man in a bar fight. He’s sentenced to 8 years in prison where he watches his daughter grow up through a series of letters. Upon his release, he’s hitching a ride aboard “The Jailbird”, an airplane carrying the worst of the worst criminals to a new maximum security prison. But the criminals, under the mastermind of Cyrus (John Malkovich), have a plan to hijack the plane and live the life in some exotic country. Naturally U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack) is watching their every move and locking horns with DEA Agent Duncan Malloy (Colm Meany). Things go from bad to worse as the hijack is successful, a riot ensues and Cameron has to keep his identity under wraps (he’s set to go free, remember). The effects are special, the action huge and most of it not really that believable, but like I said – you don’t see this type of movie looking for a coherent plot, just to have a good time.
I’m truly amazed that this movie is now 9 years old, it doesn’t feel particularly dated, but looking back I can see how corny it really is. Director Simon West is probably better-known for his other efforts, “The General’s Daughter” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”; but “Con Air” was a box office hit. The hard part comes when recommending this as a purchase. “Con Air” was one of Disney’s first releases on DVD (back when the movie was only two years old) and featured a lackluster non-anamorphic transfer and zero features. Little has changed in the 7 years since its initial release, this contains some “unrated, additional footage” that has been added back into the movie. I caught a few instances where some deleted scenes were shown, but they added little if nothing to the movie.
Video: How does it look?
The transfer is about the only reason to upgrade to this new DVD as the first one had a non-anamorphic transfer that left a lot to be desired. That said, this new 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer looks noticeably better, but seems to be plagued by some edge enhancement. It’s quite possible that I’ve already become spoiled by HD-DVD where the edge enhancement isn’t a problem or it could be that this really does have a problem with it. It’s not too bad, mind you, but I did notice that most of the outdoor scenes had at least a little enhancement. Colors are bright and vivid and West has stylistically given us some pretty cool-looking scenes. On the whole, it’s much better than the initial DVD, but as I said – this is the only reason to upgrade.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is the same that appeared on the first disc and it’s very active. The dialogue, corny as it may be, is very lively and surrounds are active for most of the movie. As we might expect, there are plenty of gunshots, explosions and just about everything else that makes a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. The LFE gets a lot of use here as well. Suffice it to say that if you’re looking for a great sounding movie, this is it.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There are two trailers for “Enemy of the State” and “Crimson Tide” and that’s it. We do get about six minutes of added footage in the movie, but it’s mainly bits and pieces here and there. As mentioned earlier, it’s nothing that sufficiently changes the storyline of the movie. The transfer is better, but still not great. It’s a tough call to recommend this or not. If you don’t own the DVD, this is the one to get otherwise the choice is yours.
