Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Parolee about to see his beautiful blond wife ends up on a hijacked airplane full of the deadliest convicts in the Federal prison system.
Biased, pithy comments: I'm probably alone in liking this movie (and certainly among my viewing group, I was). Bruckheimer's lush productions filled with wide-angle lenses, vision so clear you can see the individual sweat beading on the brow of our (totally cardboard) hero, needless jingoism, hot sun, and explosions leave me somehow satsified, like eating a big slice of cheap wedding cake---yeah, you know it looks better than it is, but it's still fun to eat. Most people will agree (as will I) that this is a stupid movie at so many levels---stupid because the prison system would never be that dumb, stupid because (in case you missed it) supporting actors helpfully point out how stupid this is, stupid because a Las Vegas chase teleports 40 blocks from the strip to Fremont Street, then through a completely fictional tunnel for a few miles that ends on...Fremont Street, stupid because it hits every cliche in the ``Die Hard'' genre without parodying it, and stupid because things like this just couldn't happen. Fortunately, director West puts all the truly ludicrous moments (outside of a few lines here and there) at the end of the film in one big gulp, so it slides down your throat and leaves you with the taste of some of the better moments in your mouth as you walk home. Malkovich can play a wisecracking psycho perfectly, Buscemi is clearly having fun as Ted Bundy, Cage is reliving his accent from ``Raising Arizona,'' Rhames is a solid actor, and Cusack is fun as the thesaurus-mouthed cop who, despite the institutionalized stupidity of his peers, realizes what the game is and single-handedly tries to stop it. Potter is eye candy, but it's not her fault; she had nothing to work with. (She's nice eye candy, though.) Don't rent this, don't organize your life around it, but if it's on cable or TNT and you've got some papers to grade or bills to pay, let this roll in the background and enjoy it.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Colm Meaney, Mykelti Williamson, Rachel Ticotin, Monica Potter, David Chappelle.
Directed by: Simon West