Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14397 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-07-02
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Dutch
• Dubbed in: Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Con Air is proof that the slick, absurdly overblown action formula of Hollywood mega-producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Rock, Crimson Tide) lives on, even after Simpson's druggy death. (Read Charles Fleming's exposé, High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, for more about that). Nicolas Cage, sporting a disconcerting mane of hair, is a wrongly convicted prisoner on a transport plane with a bunch of infamously psychopathic criminals, including head creep Cyrus the Virus (John Malkovich), black militant Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), and serial killer Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi, making the most of his pallid, rodent-like qualities). Naturally, the convicts take over the plane; meanwhile, on the ground, a US marshal (John Cusack)and a DEA agent (Colm Meaney), try to figure out what to do. As is the postmodern way, the movie displays a self-consciously ironic awareness that its story and characters are really just excuses for a high-tech cinematic thrill ride. Best idea: the filmmakers persuaded the owners of the legendary Sands Hotel in Las Vegas to let them help out with the structure's demolition by crashing their plane into it.--Jim Emerson

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
DVD 9
French\Italian
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Dolby Surround French Italian
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Surround
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Dutch\English\French

Synopsis
Nothing makes good-guy non-recidivist offender Cameron Poe happier than the thought of returning to society, where his angelic wife and the equally angelic little girl he's never known are waiting. And nothing makes him angrier than the passel of psychopathic murderers and rapists aboard his prison transport plane--especially when, under the direction of ringleader Cyrus The Virus Grissom, they revolt and hijack their own plane. Fortunately, our hero's been trained by the Army as an elite one-man-fighting-machine, and a dogged Justice Department agent waits on the ground to help him bring the fanatical fly-boys in for a bloody crash landing--in Vegas! A hyperactive Molotov cocktail blended from the frenetic efforts of high-octane action producer Jerry Bruckheimer (The Rock), hipster-schtick screenwriting specialist Scott Rosenberg, and music video director West. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Original Song (How Do I Live), and Best Sound.

Customer Reviews

Con Air
I'm generally not a fan of action movies, the repetition of explosions, crashes, shoot outs and bloody death tends to leave me bored rather than thrilled. So it was with some reservations I sat down to watch Con Air but I can happily report that I was well entertained for the duration of the film.

The storyline of ex-con coming good is not a new one, but when its been twisted to place all the action on board a high security "prision plane" it certainly should make for interesting viewing.

Nicolas Cage as the hero Cameron Poe is actually very good which suprised me as he's not a favourite actor of mine. His doleful hang-dog eyed expressions suited the role of a man just desparate to see his wife and child excellently whereas someone like Bruce Willis would have killed off any poignetcy available in the part.
John Malkovich is superb as twisted murderer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom and brings a real malovanch to his role. Ving Rhames does well as the muscle bound "Diamond Dog" Jones and some of the other cons are excellently played by great character actors. Stealing the show in this case is Steve Buscemi as the Hanibal Lector-like Garlkand Greene complete with face mask. His cute one-liners and philisophical insights are a hoot and the eerily frightening scene in which he confronts the little girl are seat-edgingly scary. It's not a surprise that you actually cheer the escape of the man who once "worn a girl's head as a hat over three states!"

The reason it lost one star was the over-long drawn out ending, as I've said I'm not a fan of smash-crash action but I'm sure the ending would test the patience of even the biggest action fan. It simply went on too long and was too unbelievable and lost a lot of the credibility the film had previous built up. Seeing John Cusak leap onto a Policeman's motobike with Cage whilst still wearing sandals was a tad silly as well!

All in all though very worth watching.

"Put..the bunny...back...in the box."
This is a truly superb film, and deserves easily 5 stars. Dont be put off if action movies are not your thing, there are many subtle differences that set it apart from the rest. It is full of fantastic oneliners, especially from Syrus "the Virus" Grisssom, (John Malkovich)the con you love to hate. It makes an interesting change to see the film from the bad guy's point of view, and there are truly awesome special effects in the destruction of Las Vegas.
"Are you insane?!"
"According to my last psych evaluation... yes." (Syrus Grissom)
Classic.

Great mind-numbing entertainment.
This film has an absolutly great cast, Nicolas Cage (Face/Off), John Malkovich (In The Line Of Fire), John Cusack (High Fidelity), Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) and Danny Trejo (Heat). The entire cast give outstanding performances but for me the one who really stood out was Steve Buscemi as Garland Green, The Marrietta Mangler, a Hannibal Lecter style madman. Malkovich is superb as the criminal genius Cyrus The Virus and Cage as usual is on top form as the hero. This film isn't exactly mentally challenging or emotionally involving but if its a loud, dumb and entertaining film you're after you can't get much better than this.