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Con Air
Buena Vista Pictures

Con Air reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 52 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.3 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Steve Eastin, Ving Rhames, David Chappelle, and Monica Potter

A prison parolee (Cage) on his way to freedom faces impossible odds when the maximum security transport plane he's on is skyjacked by the most vicious criminals in the country. (Buena Vista Entertainment)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Adventure  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Scott Rosenberg  
DIRECTED BY: Simon West  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 25, 1998 
Video: August 13, 2002 
Theatrical: June 6, 1997 
RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Con Air, a summer blast of a movie, teaches us many things: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer never met an explosion, a car crash or 20 tough guys talking trash he didn't like. Nicolas Cage is one of our most enjoyable screen heroes. As long as you're funny, you can literally get away with murder in a movie.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Rita Kempley
Preposterous, predictable, but excessively entertaining, this frenzied thriller draws both story and characters from such action classics as "The Fugitive," "Die Hard," "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Silence of the Lambs."
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Director Simon West hits just the right note between self-conscious silliness and real dramatic intensity in this 1997 action thriller, which uses typecast actors to make the characters' one-liners and predictable behavior resonate.
Read Full Review
80
Empire Caroline Westbrook
Yes, disbelief is required not so much to be suspended as removed altogether, but it barely matters as this is an adrenaline blast of the highest order.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is a movie that knows it is absurd, and does little to deny it.
Read Full Review
70
Variety Todd McCarthy
Apart from not knowing to quit while it's ahead, Con Air provides quite an exciting flight prior to its crash and burn.
Read Full Review
70
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
The colorfully written Con Air is a solid chip off "The Rock," pumped up and very well cast, with the prettiness and polish of advertising art.
Read Full Review
70
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
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.
Read Full Review
60
Salon.com Charles Taylor
How's the movie? Big, loud, brutal and stupid, that's how it is. But then, you don't need a critic to tell you that -- anyone with a grade-school education who's seen the previews can figure that out.
Read Full Review
60
Film Threat Ron Wells
This is a big, silly film. Is it full of explosions and one-liners? Of course. Is it entertaining? Of course.
Read Full Review
60
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Con Air is entertaining in an extravagantly decadent sort of way. It just isn't a movie.
Read Full Review
50
Newsweek David Ansen
The saving grace of Con Air is its sense of its own absurdity.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
This movie is a perfect example of what's wrong with many big-budget films today: no characters, no intelligence, and, worst of all, little fun.
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50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Mega-budget action extravaganzas don't get much sillier than this.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
From scene to scene, the tone shifts from supposed sincerity to arch and amused, until the picture begins to seem like some mad, desperate, scattershot attempt to hold an audience's attention from moment to moment, by any means.
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50
San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser
Director Simon West makes an impressive feature debut in this relentless action-comedy that is, more than anything else, about how funny it is to see hundreds of people exploded, shot, knifed, propellered and burnt to death, and how to land a plane on the crowded Vegas strip.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's so shameless, so psychotically nervous about keeping you ''thrilled,'' that the phrase over the top won't do it justice. It's like a drug designed for people who've done every drug and now want to be jet-propelled into numbness.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
There's nary a hint of suspense in West's film, though, mainly because he loudly trumpets the upcoming disasters so early in the film.
Read Full Review
38
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Con Air has all the signs of a hit. That's depressing.
Read Full Review
25
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Nicolas Cage, Ving Rhames, and Steve Buscemi are among the few performers who emerge with a shred of dignity at the end.
Read Full Review
20
Dallas Observer Andy Klein
While tyro director Simon West fills Con Air with all the slam-bang action and well-honed wisecracks that were the more positive qualities of its predecessors, the film brims even more with all their worst qualities.
Read Full Review
20
Slate David Edelstein
Con Air is boring to the marrow.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Doug gave it a10:
This movie is just good fun! What is wrong with that? I can be watched over and over and really never seems to get old!

Sam gave it a7:
I partially agree with Rolling Stone. Con Air has most makings of a hit, but it's still a fun movie plagued by by poor performances and terrible music.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
Not the brightest plot, but what this movie lacks in smarts it makes up for in fun. And Las vegas...you gotta see that scene.

Evening Sun gave it a 6:
Con Air might not exactly be the most thought-provoking motion picture out there, but it's definitely entertaining. That, however, doesn't prevent it from being disappointing. The concept of letting a plane full of hilariously violent and completely different criminals is a fun idea, but no matter what this movie tries to be - a little more character development wouldn't hurt here. Con Air is a fun ride, but in the end - it's not mean enough, even for an action flick. For superior gun blazing goodness of the highest order, check out John Woo's Face/Off.

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