Plot: What’s it about?
What do you get when you cross John Malkovich/Nicolas Cage/and John Cusak? Well, I don’t really know. But all of them star in this action-packed, Jerry Bruckheimer shoot ’em up, two years before “Armageddon” movie. Well, that about says it…
Cage plays Cameron Poe, an Army Ranger who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The wrong place being a bar with his wife and the wrong time being after a few locals had a few too many drinks. Poe, using his ranger skills, accidentally kills one of the locals and is sentenced to 7 years in prision. All this before his little girl is born.
All this is just leading up to the point of the movie, though (yes, it does have one). Poe is set to be released and is on a flight back to “civilization” with probably the most horrid human beings ever known. There’s Cyrus “the Virus” (Malkovich), Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames) and Garland “The Marietta Mangler” Greene (Steve Buschemi) just to name a few.
Anyhow, one things leads to another and the “bad guys” take control of the plane and want to all retire to a tropical island and will kill innocent people unless their demands are met. Admittedly, it isn’t the most original plot, but it does have a storng cast (namely Malkovich and Cage) to back it up and make it enjoyable.
Video: How does it look?
This was one of Buena Vista’s first releases and was not enhanced for 16:9 TV’s, well, ok, not much has changed there…but the image is good and sharp and better than some of the other 16:9 ehnanced movies that I’ve seen out there. Remember, 16:9 doens’t always necessarily mean good. However, I can’t stop thinking how much better this would look if it were anamorphically enhanced. Oh well, it’s a good sharp picture, with good saturation and color.
Audio: How does it sound?
Sound plays a very important part in this movie (which it does most every movie). With my new sub woofer, it literally shook the room. Plenty of explosions and action to keep all of your speakers plenty busy. The soundtrack as a whole is great, too. I will now use this as one of my demo discs for sound. Outstanding!
Supplements: What are the extras?
Aside from a trailer and some cast bios, there isn’t anything else, unless you count foreign languages and subtitles (which I don’t). Too bad, too…anything more about this movie is good…
