Con Air (1997)

Gosh, has it really been nine years since this mayhem was released, but this movie still proves inexplicably entertaining.  There are times when only a popcorn movie will fill the bill and this is a fine example.  Falsely convicted con Nicolas Cage leaves prison after eight years, looking forward to seeing his wife and the daughter he never met and accepts transport on a prison plane.  Next time he should take a bus, since the cons take over the flight, led by a totally unscrupulous John Malkovich as Cyrus the Virus (!)  Being a Jerry Bruckheimer production everything is writ large -- the destruction, the violence, the anarchy.  The end section of the airplane taxiing down the Strip in Las Vegas has been designed for maximum damage and effect, but we never forget that it is really only a movie.  There is one section concerning mass murderer Steve Buscemi eyeing up a young girl which made this viewer feel queasy, but fortunately that line was not taken to its logical conclusion, but to an unrealistically feel-good ending for Mr. Buscemi (a lovely actor).  The only thing I really couldn't accept, assuming one believes in Cage as an action hero at the best of times, was the fact that he hadn't bothered to tidy himself up before meeting his daughter, but I guess it he looked any more reputable, the other cons might not have believed that he too was being transferred to a maximum security lock-up.  Leave your brains at the door when viewing this one.