This has nothing to do with sports or journalism or sports journalism. Sorry. I just wonder if anyone has an opinion on this.
Nicolas Cage seemed to have a lot of promise, back when he began his career. “Leaving Las Vegas,” and all. Into the middle 1990s, he looked like a guy who could amount to something.
Then he made this really weird, presumably economics-driven move into the “action hero” genre. Which never seems to work for him, even if he does look as buffed up as he can possibly be.
I know he has made a ton of wretched movies over the past decade and change. I know he has wasted much of a career.
But is “Con Air” his worst movie? Ever?
I bumped into the second half of “Con Air” last night, and I remembered seeing it once before and being vaguely entertained on some level … so I watched it till the end … and was staggered by how awful Cage was. Maybe the worst Southern accent in the history of phony Southern accents. Entirely unbelievable as the manliest of men. Wooden and fake and … just massively awful. Memorably awful.
He is so bad, he almost destroys the collective efforts of some of the thuggiest/looniest/creepiest villains (John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Danny Trejo, etc.) ever assembled in one movie. So bad that he drags the typically impressive John Cusack into the dumpster with him.
Just wondering. It was so bad, we got into a discussion over which was worse, “Con Air” or “Snakes on a Plane” and we had to go with “Con” — because it takes itself seriously, and “Snakes” does not.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Ian // May 24, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Con Air isn’t even close to his worst, and I agree it’s horrible.
But “Wicker Man,” “Ghost Rider,” “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,” “Lord of War” and “The Weather Man” are all exponentially worse. And these are just the ones I’ve seen.
2 Nate // May 25, 2009 at 7:35 AM
Sign me up for “8MM”, the one about snuff films. I hear “Snake Eyes” also was bad (speaking of wasted careers, Brian De Palma, anyone?).
I give “Con Air” a pass solely because of the presence of Buscemi and Rhames. And Malkovich ain’t bad, either.
3 Doug // May 25, 2009 at 10:27 AM
“Bangkok Dangerous” is terrible.
4 CJ // May 25, 2009 at 11:02 AM
I agree, “Wicker Man” and “8MM” are far worse movies than “Con Air,” which gets points for Buscemi’s serial killer and Malkovich devouring all the scenery.
5 Mike Rappaport // May 26, 2009 at 10:02 PM
I love “Con Air.” Seriously, it’s tough to ignore the great performances of Steve Buscemi (always great) and John Malkovich, and Rachel Ticotin does a pretty good job too.
Don’t forget Dave Chappelle getting dropped out of the sky, and then there’s the classic line —
“Put the bunny down.”
Not as good as “The Rock” — hey, no Sean Connery, but not nearly as bad as you’re saying.
It’s a guilty pleasure.
6 Jimmy James // Jun 5, 2009 at 7:46 PM
This movie was absolutely terrible. Every Nicolas Cage movie has been downright awful. This one however wreaked of horrible acting, mostly on Cage’s part. The music, the special affects, the set, and worst of all, Nicolas Cage’s acting and incredibly horrible southern accent. I was disgusted with this movie.
7 Ryan // Sep 13, 2010 at 10:53 PM
ConAir might be one of Cage’s worst, and on top of that is just plain one of the worst movies ever made, period. But he has done so many bad ones it’s really hard to say. I loved Cage in Raising Arizona, and thought he was okay in Matchstick Men and Adaptation. I haven’t really liked him in anything else. But…. the one guy who thought Lord of War was worse than Con Air…. really????? Lord of War was actually pretty decent I thought. My film teacher must have a agreed as that was on our required viewing list. I can’t imagine any college course with Con Air in the curriculum.
8 Gordon Ace // Dec 20, 2010 at 10:25 PM
What are you guys talking about Con Air is in Cage’s best days with the Rock, Gone in 60 seconds. The Bruckheimer Cage Duo was one of the best of the late 90’s early 2000’s. This new junk like Sorcerers Apprentice, Kick Ass, Season of the Witch, Drive Angry are all junk or will be garbage when they come out. Cage the action man is better than the dumb lame wizard type roles he’s doing.
9 Chris Hood & Jessica Legender // Jul 25, 2012 at 11:30 PM
This is one of the greatest movies ever. You should all watch it
10 Aaron // Jul 25, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Hey fools! Con Air is an action packed master piece.
11 George Alfano // Jul 27, 2012 at 1:31 PM
Captain Correlli’s Mandolin
12 Aaron McEwen // Dec 29, 2017 at 5:18 PM
I’m somewhat late to this party but… as a Southerner, I feel that his bad accent is so distracting that I can’t finish the movie.
13 Darn // Sep 17, 2018 at 5:10 PM
At least two movies with Cage are good enough to be called good, “Moonstruck” and “Matchstick Men.” So the guy who said that all Cage movies are bad is just wrong.
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