Con Air (1997)
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55% of critics liked it
(62 reviews) -
77% of users liked it
(390,278 ratings)
Former war hero Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is sentenced to eight years in prison when he accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl while defending his pregnant wife. When his release comes through, he's eager to see the daughter he's never met. However, Poe's original flight is… More Former war hero Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is sentenced to eight years in prison when he accidentally kills a man in a barroom brawl while defending his pregnant wife. When his release comes through, he's eager to see the daughter he's never met. However, Poe's original flight is delayed, so he's put aboard a flight transporting ten of the most dangerous men in the American penal system to a new high-security facility. One of the criminals, Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), is a serial killer and insane genius who has hatched a diabolical plot: with the help of several other hoods, including Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), Johnny 23 (Daniel Trejo), and Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi), Cyrus and his men will hijack the plane and fly to a neutral nation where they can live as free men. Poe finds himself stuck in the middle; he has to find a way to get home, keep himself alive, look after his cellmate Baby-O (Mykelti Williamson), who will die without proper medicine, and try to help the cops on the ground, including agent Vince Larkin (John Cusack). Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's first film after the death of his partner Don Simpson, Con Air shows he learned well how to assemble the formula all by himself, with plenty of action, stunts, and special effects and not a lot of story to get in the way. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Simon West
- Written By
- Scott Rosenberg
- Genres
- Action & Adventure
- In Theaters
- Jun 6, 1997 Wide
- On DVD
- Mar 24, 1998
- Studio
- Disney
Critic Reviews
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Todd McCarthy, Variety
Rosenberg's sarcastic, tough-guy dialogue is full of lean-and-mean one-liners, and the superbly cast actors know how to milk them for all they're worth.
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, Time Out
Very cool, but also very cold.
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
They're 'the worst of the worst.' So's the movie.
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Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Numbing but not boring, it's finally more dispiriting than exhilarating, like a wild night of debauchery that leaves only a fearsome hangover for a souvenir.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
All of the principals normally work in films more interesting and human than this one, which gives Con Air a touch of the subversive and turns it into a big-budget lark.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Nicolas Cage
as Cameron Poe
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John Cusack
as Vince Larkin
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John Malkovich
as Cyrus (The Virus) Grissom
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Steve Buscemi
as Garland Greene
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Ving Rhames
as Diamond Dog
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Colm Meaney
as Duncan Malloy
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Mykelti Williamson
as Baby-O
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Danny Trejo
as Johnny 23
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Jesse Borrego
as Francisco Cindino
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Dave Chappelle
as Pinball
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Nick Chinlund
as Billy Bedlam
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M.C. Gainey
as Swamp Thing
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John Roselius
as Devers
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Rachel Ticotin
as Sally Bishop
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Jose Zuniga
as Sims
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Angela Featherstone
as Ginny
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Renoly Santiago
as Ramon "Sally-Can't Dance" Martinez
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Mario Roberts
as Mongoose
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Landry Allbright
as Casey Poe
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Monica Potter
as Tricia Poe
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Pete Antico
as Guard Garner
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Mongo Brownlee
as Ajax


