Review by Leonard Norwitz

Studio:

Theatrical: Touchstone Pictures

DVD: Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Video:

Resolution: 1080p / AVC

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

115 minutes

10 chapters

Supplements: mostly 480i

Audio:

English 5.1 Uncompressed (48kHz/24-bit)

English DD 5.1 Surround

French DD 5.1 Surround

Spanish DD 5.1 Surround

Subtitles:

Feature: English SDH, French & Spanish

Extras

Backstage:

• A View From Above

• The Destruction of Las Vegas

Theatrical Trailer

Presentation

BD-50

Standard Blu-ray case

Release Date

January 8th, 2008

Con Air ~ Comment

Nicholas Cage followed his new action hero status created the previous year in The Rock with this popular menagerie that, for all its hard-hitting action, seems to me to a thinly disguised comedy, and best appreciated as such. Drama or Comedy – and I know this will strike many as heresy –the film's greatest weakness is the casting of John Malkovich.  Just because he struts around like a petulant eight-year old uttering pseudo ironies doesn't make him tough or even believable.  The same characterization that worked so well for In the Line of Fire couldn't compel a bunch of Boy Scouts, let alone a plane full of hardass cons.  Cusack is lightweight for the part, but he's a much more interesting actor - and he knows he's doing comedy here. Cage's rockabilly accent borders on insulting. Buscemi, as the world's most dangerous serial killer, is brilliant, especially in his ersatz Frankenstein scene with the little girl.  Meany is pointlessly – well, meany. The movie's subplots are all over the map and not to be taken as seriously as the director would have it.  Not satisfied with using downtown Las Vegas for a landing strip, a car chase follows, heaping ending upon ending.  All the same, Con Air is a good time if you can put your brain on hold for the in-flight movie.

 

Con Air

The Score Card

The Movie : 6

Nicholas Cage plays Cameron Poe, a Ranger and basically good guy with a macho temper, returns home (why is his wife only 3 month's pregnant, I wondered?), gets into a brawl, kills a man, and does 10 years.  On release, Poe is transported home by special plane, along with the country's worst convicts on their way to a new maximum security prison.  Apparently the same precautions do not apply to the plane, for the bad guys, led by Malkovich, soon take over the contraption in a prearranged effort to flee the country.  Poe wants to get home directly so he can reunite with his wife and daughter, but his creed of leaving no man behind gets in his way: there are innocent and endangered people still aboard.

Image : 9 (8.5-9.5/9)

The score of 9 indicates a relative level of excellence compared to other Blu-ray DVDs on a 10-point scale.  The score in parentheses represents: first, a value for the image in absolute terms; and, second, how that image compares to what I believe is the current best we can expect in the theatre.

This Blu-ray represents a substantial improvement in all areas, not least the dreaded edge enhancement, which the Disney SD had much too much of.  There are moments of excellent sharpness that stand out oddly from the general OK-ness of the overall image.