Silver Screen
by Eddie Armani
Summer is finally here, and with it comes the long
awaited release of "summer blockbusters" like Con Air and
Speed 2, Cruise Control. Movies like this are not really meant
to be anything more than exciting roller coaster rides, and as
such, can be fun as long as the audience is willing to dispense
with mundane considerations like plausibility.
Having said that, Con Air deals with a diverse group of
highly intelligent psychopathic killers who manage to take
control of their prison transport plane in an organized escape
plan. Inadvertently caught in the middle is Cameron Poe,
played by Nicholas Cage, a man on his way home after just
completing his sentence for accidentally killing someone in
self defense. A former military man, he's determined to protect
the lives of everyone he can from the criminal ring leader
Cyrus Grissom, (John Malkovich) and his merry band of
sociopaths that includes Ving Rhames and Steve Buscemi.
What differentiates this action thriller from its
counterparts is the fact that Cage's character is not the 2
dimensional macho-man, we've seen so many times before,
but a principled family man that's not too tough to be human.
Best of all, he's not just using his brawn to save the day, but
his brains as well. By mentally manipulating the bad guys, he
manages to conceal what side he's really on, and save lives in
the process.
But the cons are no mental slouches either. John
Makovich's usual intensity is in full force here as an articulate
(and therefore much more menacing) thinking man's villain.
Steve Buscemi as a Hannibal Lector-esque serial killer
makes quite the entrance when loaded on the plan by the
authorities. He appears to be wearing an entire dungeon of
restraint gadgets. He has the hauntingly disturbing line, "I
drove through three states wearing her head as a hat". Yikes!
In a scene with him staring at a little girl with dazed
anticipation, the creepiness gauge is off the scale!
Even though the film does degenerate towards the end
to more of an over the top stunt-fest, it's good overall.
Speed 2, Cruise Control, picking up shortly after the
original left off, finds our hero and heroine in (Jason Patrick as
Alex and Sandra Bullock as Annie) enjoying an ocean cruise
vacation after their harrowing experience. Their reprieve from
danger is short-lived as a very disgruntled former employee
(played by Willem Dafoe) takes over the ships computer
system with a passion that would impress any postal worker.
Although the idea of a group of people at the mercy of
an insane hacker controlling their surroundings is a good one,
it's an idea that they fail to make the most of in terms of
suspense. Instead, we're forced to watch the characters rush
from one death-defying situation to another as almost all of
the humor falls flat. (The film actually resorts to using
overweight people as comic relief).
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