The 90’s, a decade of great film making. Con Air, a classic action film about a man, Cameron Poe, who is just trying to get home to his family after serving a sentence for manslaughter.

Seemingly innocent and the good guy, Nicolas Cage does a brilliant job of portraying a hard as nails military trained individual. His fighting skills throughout are superb and coupled with the convicts varying levels of insanity, it makes for rather a fun ride. Heavily focused on the air plane journey, the convicts are led by John Malkovich, also an excellent actor, who plays Cyrus “The Virus” Grissom, a crazed criminal looking for freedom. It’s tense, it is close quarters and once the pilot is killed, you know it’s all downhill from there.

Again another good actor is John Cusack, hot on the tail of Grissom, uses all his power to try and establish Poe’s allegiance and do everything he can to bring them down safely. It isn’t stopping there though, once landed at their destination airfield an insane action scene follows, the battle between the feds and convicts and subsequent task of digging and escaping on their hijacked plane ensues. The film doesn’t rely heavily on guns, but it certainly uses them and other more creative ways to kill off the characters. Throw in the mad Steve Buscemi, and it becomes surreal.

The ending sequel, a hair raising crash landing over Las Vegas and vehicle chase between Poe and Grissom makes for an awesome ending, a very satisfactory way of keeping the audience on edge. You think it’s over after they crash and then it carries on another 10 minutes!

One man, Cage, trying to get home on a plane hijacked full of criminals and feds trying to shoot them down anyway they can. What more can you want from an action thriller? It satisfies good characterisation, each individual with a goal and clear path, each with their own secrets. Complimented by a stunning cast and fantastic acting and heavy on suspense and violence.

The film is a must see and is on the list of my personal greatest movies of all time.

It deserves: 5/5