Con Air

"They were deadly on the ground. Now they have wings."

1997 1h 56m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🥫

59%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 4,896🥫59%Rotten Tomatoes●52Metacritic★6.9IMDB · 334,216

ActionThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" taking the “worst of the worst” prisoners, a group described as “pure predators”, to a new super-prison. Poe faces impossible odds when the transport plane is skyjacked mid-flight by the most vicious criminals in the country led by the mastermind — genius serial killer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom, and backed by black militant Diamond Dog and psychopath Billy Bedlam.

“They were deadly on the ground. Now they have wings.”

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Cast

Nicolas Cage
Cameron Poe
John Cusack
Agent Vince Larkin
John Malkovich
Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom
Ving Rhames
Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones
Mykelti Williamson
"Baby-O" O'Dell
Dave Chappelle
"Pinball" Parker
Colm Meaney
Agent Duncan Malloy
Monica Potter
Tricia Poe

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Simon West
Writers: Scott Rosenberg, Matsune Suzuki, Alex Hillkurtz
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

240+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Simon West, shot by David Tattersall. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Mancina. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Glen Scantlebury shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nicolas Cage and John Cusack and John Malkovich carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They were deadly on the ground. Now they have wings.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Simon West directs. David Tattersall behind the camera. Mark Mancina scores. Glen Scantlebury cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
229 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3240+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Simon West, shot by David Tattersall. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Mark Mancina. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Glen Scantlebury shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Nicolas Cage and John Cusack and John Malkovich carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "They were deadly on the ground. Now they have wings.".
9IMDB entry: tt0118880 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 26 themes, including "undercover", "ambush", "war veteran", "psychopath".

The technical file

Cinematography: David Tattersall
Original score: Mark Mancina
Editing: Glen Scantlebury
Costume design: Bobbie Read
Makeup / hair: Erma Kent
VFX supervisor: David Goldberg
Sound: Matthew Wood
Stunt coordinator: Kenny Bates
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $75,000,000
Box office: $224,012,234
Return: 299% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Con Air (1997)
Rotten Tomatoes: 59% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 52/100
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 334,216 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 2 Oscars. 7 wins & 11 nominations total

Also by

Simon West

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Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dark Jedi2014-08-24
★ 8/10
This is one of those movies which are simply good solid entertainment. The fact that I do like Nicolas Cage, even though he is at times really lousy at choosing which movies he participate in, is of course an additional plus. Naturally I do like the performance of Nicolas Cage in this movie but John Malkowich is also great as the main bad guy and Steve Buscemi is perfect as the nutcase although his role could have been a bit more expanded upon. The rest of the actors are doing nicely as well although it always saddens me to see Colm Meaney playing a dumbass and/or bad guy after his role in Star Trek. The story is not really bad although it has the usual Hollywood mistakes here and there. The ease by which they pick locks in this high security flight is somewhat laughable and I seriously doubt that they would have been able to haul the plane out of that desert junkyard in flyable condition in real life for instance. Still, it is not a bad story and it works for moving the movie forward. There are plenty of action and it is mostly quite entertaining. Sometimes it is a bit silly and rather unrealistic of course but, as I wrote, mostly it is quite entertaining. The ending is definitely a bit on the silly side with the plane touching down on the Las Vegas Strip. This bit felt like the producers realized that they had some FX budget left and just had to burn it. Anyway, on the whole a quite entertaining movie.
John Chard2020-05-18
★ 8/10
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have the only gun on board. Welcome to Con Air. Hummingbird Humdinger. Con Air is directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. Plot sees Cameron Poe (Cage), a parolee on his way home to his wife and daughter after serving years in prison for manslaughter. He's travelling on a plane full of the most dangerous criminals currently being held in America, they are being transferred to some new super prison. Inevitably something goes wrong and the cons take over the plane, with only Poe standing between them and freedom. No doubt about it, Con Air is one of the most over the top action film's you are ever likely to see. But it knows it is, it embraces it - and positively revels in it. What we have is a bunch of sicko's and psycho's on a plane, their roll call of crimes as gargantuan as the excess of explosions and quips are. Down on the ground are a frantic John Cussack and an angry Colm Meaney, the play off between the two almost as funny as the shenanigans on the plane - where characters called Billy Bedlam (Nick Chinlund), Cyrus The Virus (Malkovich) & The Marietta Mangler (Steve Buscemi) push mania to a new level. Enter director West, who clearly under orders from Bruckheimer, unleashes a barrage of explosive set pieces, each one more outrageous than the last. It's neatly edited and paced like a good action movie should be. There's also no small amount of tension to sidle along side the white knuckle thrills. As Cage strips down to his Bruce Willis vest we have a real likable hero to get on side with, yes it's played tongue in cheek, very much so, but his character has been so well written by Scott Rosenberg we really forgive the ridiculousness of each heroic act. Also along the for the ride are Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, M.C. Gainey & Rachael Ticotin, the latter of which does admirably well as the lone female surrounded by 800 tonnes of testosterone. Junky nonsense as a story for sure, but just like the cast are having a blast of a time with it, so too should the discerning action comedy fan. 7.5/10
Andre Gonzales2023-05-08
★ 8/10
Great movie. One of my favorites growing up. Action packed with a great storyline. Great cast too.