I think there's only one way to make an action film successful, and that is to not present the story as something to take seriously and to incorporate a sense of satire. In its most basic form, "Con Air" is just as mindless and over-the-top as every other action blockbuster, but it follows this rule perfectly and thus it works.
The film opens with a painfully generic setup we've seen countless times before. The main character, Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage), a military officer, returns to his Southern home to visit his pregnant wife, but gets into a bar-room brawl that ends up sending him to prison. Although this might not be the best way to set up the story, it's forgivable because it only lasts 10 minutes. This is minimal storytelling, but at least it's not meant to be serious drama.
After seven years, Poe is released and sent home on a routine prisoner transfer flight, but considering the movie's title, there isn't anything "routine" here. And so, after the plane takes off all Hell breaks loose as the prisoners, as lead by the vile Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), and Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones (Ving Rhames), manage to break free of their shackles and over-power the guards through some violent, but surprisingly believable, means.
What's original is the fact the prisoners are quite clever and entertaining. They're not easy-to-hate villains as they have individual personalities. We do get some one-liners here and there, but the things they say are pretty funny. Also, they don't just blow away the guards and fly to freedom - they have an intricate, detailed plan that doesn't require jargon and rhetoric to be explained.
Once the film really gets in gear, it develops a tense atmosphere. Poe is a likable character and we're hoping he'll return home safely, but the way things go it doesn't seem like this will happen. The scenario gives the film a unique twist as we're almost hoping the prisoners will outsmart the authorities, because if they don't, Poe will be shot down with the rest of them.
Of course, in a movie like this there has to be the other-hero-who-no-one-believes-has-figured-out-what's-really-going-on-until-it's-too-late, and that character is U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack). Through a very uncanny method, Poe manages to get a message to Larkin about the situation, but no one believes him and he has to take matters into his own hands. It's surprising seeing Cusack here, but I believe his presence just reinforces the satirical atmosphere. He manages to bring life to the character, while adding suspense to the story, and yet he doesn't upstage Cage (unlike the rivalry between Cage and Sean Connery in "The Rock").
The majority of the film consists of the action it promises and delivers well. The story isn't concerned with a general plot, but with many individual sub-plots that each have their own build-ups and payoffs. This allows for lots of shoot-outs, explosions, and out-running of fireballs. The pacing flows smoothly and the story always remains interesting. The satire is consistent and provides for a "self-aware" atmosphere, so we get lines like: "I'm going to save the day;" and "Somehow they managed to pack every freak in the world on this plane;" and (after seeing a Corvette dangling from the plane by a rope) "On any other day that might seem strange."
I'll admit "Con Air" isn't the most intelligent film ever made. Sometimes the action is exhausting and the cliches are lame, but for the most part it is enjoyable - and isn't that all we really want in a movie?
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