Con Air with John Malkovich

Con Air with John Malkovich

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" - Hamlet

Therefore, there are two ways to look at this motion picture.

First, one can dismiss this show of pyrotechnics as just a silly fireworks...

Which is what this viewer did.

But second, as Shakespeare said, thinking can change all things...

"The mind is its own place, it can make hell out of Heaven or heaven out of hell". Paradise Lost

So let us just mention a few aspects that you may, with considerable effort, enjoy.

Most important, we have John Malkovich in this mega production and in a supporting role Ving Rhames.

There wonderful skills are not used properly, but they are a joy to watch.

John Malkovich plays a credible, if necessarily loathsome villain.

Then there is the super hero Played by Nicholas Cage.

One can be biased by details that come from off the production set.

And it seems Cage is as obnoxious as a celebrity can get.

Nevertheless, the problem for this film is his acting.

It is over the top, even in those "evil, self conscious" looks he keeps throwing around.

This action hero had been a very good fighter and a defender of the nation, until he has gotten into trouble.

Even this problem with the law was not exactly his own doing.

Feral individuals have attacked this championship and he killed one.

Or was it a few of them?

The sentence has been harsh and apparently unjust.

This superhero is anyway on the road to redemption.

When given the chance to get off this Plane of Vilains, the protagonist refuses.

He wants to save the world.

If not the whole planet, at least a friend, the prison guard and his image in front of his daughter.

He takes on the forces of evil, jumps through fire, fights some "real bad hombres" and does the usual super action figure stunts.

And then some more.

This is where much of the problem with this typical Hollywood fare lies.

They are overdoing it with gusto.

The acting of most of those involved is also super hyped.

As a personal view, anyway.

John Cusack and others confronting the cons have an artificial feeling in their acts.

The lines used to draw the prisoners are also heavy and too cartoonish.

Oh, but let us mention one feeble, less failed moment:

The killers place a transponder in a recreational, small airplane.

It is meant to confuse the possy sent to get them.

And the authorities, after argument and much stupid, useless hubbub in the economy of the film, decide to attack Conair.

Only they chase with a mighty force, Apache helicopters and heavy guns, the wrong target.

As they come on top of a cliff, they are aghast to see that they have been tracking a small plane...

If they have forty fugitives in that, then I am Elvis Presley!

To end this note, let us just consider two other positive, if not triumphant aspects:

Sweet home Alabama is part of the soundtrack.

More important, Steve Buscemi has a role in this and he plays with restraint and mastery.

However, he has a very short time on the screen.

If not a total waste of time, Conair could still be replaced with other, more meaningful entertainment.