Starring: Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Colm Meaney
Directed by: Simon West
Studio: Touchstone Home Entertainment
Video: 2.35:1 anamorphic/enhanced for 16:9 widescreen, 1080p HD
Audio: English Uncompressed PCM 5.1; English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: Two featurettes (“A View From Above” and “The Destruction of Las Vegas”); theatrical trailer; movie showcase; previews
Length: 115 minutes
Movie Rating: **** AV Quality Rating: ****
Ex-Army Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) has finished serving his time for a manslaughter charge (Poe accidentally killed a man while trying to defend himself and his pregnant wife). Poe is excited about seeing his daughter on her seventh birthday and he heads home aboard a prison transport plane to do so. This plane is also transporting a collection of dangerous prisoners who are being relocated to a new maximum security prison. These prisoners manage to overtake the plane and then re-route the flight to Nevada. A U.S. Marshall (John Cusack) intensely pursues the hi-jacked flight and finds an unlikely ally to assist him. That ally is Poe, who is secretly attempting to thwart the prisoners’ plan and help authorities re-establish control over the volatile situation. This is a great movie especially if you enjoy big-budget, high-action films. As with most Jerry Bruckheimer-produced flicks, there are plenty of scenes with explosions, chases, and weapons. What I particularly like about Con Air is that there is also clever dialogue that takes place among the big-name cast, helping make for some fun and memorable scenes. With plenty of replay value, I can easily recommend Con Air.
In terms of high definition video quality, this Blu-ray DVD is very good. Images are clean with a fine amount of detail. Black levels are uniformly dark throughout the film. Colors are bold and vivid with well-saturated hues. Picture defect mastering is solid with no major flaws or compression problems. The audio quality is excellent on the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The soundtrack actively incorporates all of the discrete channels into its mix. Dialogue is crisp and natural sounding. The surround channels, which include several split rear effects, are very active and aggressively utilized for sound effects and the music score. The low frequency effects channel is deep and explosive.
– Calvin Harding Jr.
