Con Air
"You tell her, I love her. She's my Hummingbird. But I couldn't leave a fallen man behind."
An amazing movie to begin September with, truly cinema.
This was such a fun and enjoyable movie, it has action, likeable characters, a damn good plot, explosions and Nicolas Cage being extremely paternal over a bunny plush. It's beautiful.
The biggest highlight of this movie is without a doubt the cast, who deliver phenomenal performances as the cons or the few law enforcers, but there's definitely a few that stick out.
Nicolas Cage is brilliant as Cameron Poe both with his desire to see his wife and daughter but also the wit and threatening side he is able to exude in certain scenes is genuinely awesome. When he goes on a rampage and even tanks a gunshot? Genuine cinema.
But my god is he supported by an amazing cast, the antagonistic nature by Ving Rhames as Diamond Dog, the second-in-command of the cons, and the disgusting performance by Danny Trejo as Johnny 23 truly cement just how vile the passengers on board are. Another outstanding performance is John Cusack, who plays Vince Larkin, I found his determination and resilience really shining throughout the movie. Simultaneously with his increasing lack of zen as by the end he's full-on screaming and shoving a firehose into the front of a fire engine, drowning the con driver out. Cusack also pairs extremely well with Cage with their limited interactions, and the display of mutual respect at the end is really appreciated.
With the exception of Cage though, the star of this entire movie is John fucking Malkovich. Malkovich delivers a chilling and terrifying performance as Cyrus 'the Virus' Grissom. He excels as the movie's primary antagonist. A methodical, authoritarian, vicious and intelligent criminal, Malkovich truly embraces his role and delivers one of my favourite villain performances of all time. Malkovich in general just has this amazing ability to not be known (in my eyes) for one single performance like certain actors can be, he is truly a jack of all trades and this movie is no different.
The action scenes are not too overwhelming, perhaps with the exception of the final act where the plane crashes into Las Vegas but the subsequent crash between Cage's/ Cusack's characters and Malkovich and Rhames was such a good final confrontation. Malkovich ripping a whole ass pole out of his leg to continue the fight was terrifying, and his death being by a fucking hydraulic press to the head? A fitting end for one of the most commanding presences throughout the movie.
I appreciated the wholesome ending, with Cage finally reuniting with his wife and seeing his daughter for the first time after eight years, he deserved it.
This was just such a brilliant movie, not one point was I bored or confused, I saw a review make this claim and I will repeat it - the movie excels at making motherfucking sense despite all the chaos going on.