Product Description

TouchStone Con Air (Blu-ray)
From the hit-making producerof "The Rock" and "Crimson Tide" comes the hard-hitting blockbuster "Con Air," starring Academy Award(R)-winner Nicolas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas," Best Actor, 1995; "The Rock"), John Cusack ("Grosse Pointe Blank", and John Malkovich ("In The Line OfFire")! A prison parolee (Cage) - on his way to freedom - faces impossible odds when the maximum security transport plane he's on is skyjacked by themost vicious criminals in the country ... led by the infamous murderer Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (Malkovich)! Buckle up and hang on tight as explosive high-flying action soars to new heights ... and delivers high-caliber motion picture entertainment!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2829 in DVD
• Brand: Touchstone
• Released on: 2008-01-08
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com
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

On the Blu-ray disc
The main bonus features on the Blu-ray disc are two routine promotional featurettes in standard definition: "A View from Above" and "The Destruction of Las Vegas" (about eight minutes combined). Blu-ray-specific is the Movie Showcase, which jumps to three different scenes (each a minute or less) intended to show off the sound and picture. And they do: appropriately for a Jerry Bruckheimer production, the 1080p picture and 48 kHz/24-bit uncompressed sound are spectacular. Note that the cut of the film is the 115-minute R-rated one that played in theaters, not the 122-minute unrated version that was also released on DVD. --David Horiuchi

Review
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Customer Reviews

Conair
I ALREADY OWNED THIS MOVIE ON DVD SINCE THE PICTURE QUALITY WAS NOT VERY SATISFACTORY SO i BOUGHT THIS BLUE RAY DVD THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE PICTURE QUALITY EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOT AS GOOD AS THE RECENT MOVIES

Cage & Malkovich go ballistic!!
Following "The Rock", Oscar winner Nick Cage turned into a deadpan performance, phony southern accent (you should hear his quasi-Italian accent in "Capt Correlli's Mandolin"!!) in this popcorn action flick which is saved by 3 elements: a witty script by Scott Rosenberg, great performances by the Johns, Cusack and Malkovich. Also the supporting cast is also fine with Ving Rhames and Steve Buscemi being the standouts. It's over the top, typical Buckheimer fare but this is enjoyable trash and it looks great in Hi-Def, so check it out!!

One of the best action films of the 90s...in fact...one of the best ever
The 90s were full of Die Hard rip-offs and few of those managed to stand on their own two feet. Con Air (along with Ronin [Blu-ray], Army of One (aka Joshua Tree) and Die Hard With a Vengeance [Blu-ray]) is everything an action movie and a summer movie should be. It's bursting at the seams with fire, explosions, blue skies and sunshine and never fails to excite.

Jerry Bruckheimer's production style rarely makes a good movie but Con Air is one of those rare exceptions in which all the OTT mayhem and full-on action make a film so exhilarating it scorches when you watch it.

Nic Cage (in a typically bad performance) is Cameron Poe, a US Ranger who is sent to prison for accidentally killing a thug who attacks his pregnant wife. After 8 years of porridge he is freed and hitches a ride home on a prison plane called The Jailbird. But this is no ordinary flight.

On Board are a small army of America's toughest crooks including Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom (John Malkovich) a man on death row for murder, robbery, kidnapping and extortion. Nathan 'Diamond Dog' Jones (Ving Rhames), a black militant inside for murder. Billy Bedlam (Nick Chinlund), inside for killing his cheating wife's family and dog. Pinball Parker (Dave Chapelle), a pimp and drug-dealer. Swamp Thing (MC Gainey) a pilot who knows a few things about a good hijack. And finally Garland Green AKA The Marietta Mangler (Steve Buscemi) a serial killer in for killing a zillion people and crossing 2 state borders wearing a girl's head as a hat.

As you can tell, with such a eclectic bunch of psychos on board it's only a matter of seconds before all hell breaks loose. As soon as the plane is in the air the cons have taken over, restrained or killed the guards and have changed the destination from prison to South America.

Poe, being the good-hearted sort of chap that he is, doesn't rat out as his best pal needs his insulin shot and no one else will help. It's up to Poe to sneakily round up the baddies until US Marshall Larkin (John Cusack) and the cavalry can get there. Easier said than done, as double-crosses, suspicious cons and incompetent authority foul everything up. The result is action overload as the film blazes through to it's anarchic, devastating climax upon another anarchic, devastating climax. At the end you'll be left breathless and your senses stinging with over-stimulation.

Steve Buscemi steals the whole show. His deadpan, bug-eyed and dare I say 'innocent' portrayal of a deranged killer is the centerpiece of the whole film. The scene where he sings with a little girl (and continues later on) will either freak you out or steal your heart. And the ending is the best you could hope for.

Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin provide a loud, blaring score of thrash-metal and acoustic guitars with the usual Media Ventures flare. It's brilliant stuff and I suggest you hunt down the (sadly incomplete) Con Air: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. And this film really did deserve the Best Original Song award over that pansy Titanic one.

Superior to both The Rock [Blu-ray] and Face/Off [Blu-ray], Con Air is Nic Cage at his (worst) best as an action hero and Bruckheimer at his best as an action producer. See it, for the love of God, see it.

The Blu Ray looks brilliant in 1080P and sounds just amazing.