Con Air rocks the friendly skies

You'll be committing a felony if you don't go see Jerry Bruckheimer's latest film, Con Air.

Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) is a Gulf War veteran who kills a man in a drunken brawl while defending his pregnant wife. Cage is urged to plea bargain despite the extenuating circumstances and receives a 10-year sentence.

Cage, who has refused to let his daughter see him while he was in prison, is granted parole after seven years. The catch -- and the vehicle for the movie plot -- is that he must be processed through another correction facility. He is loaded onto a plane full of some of America's most notorious criminals who are being transported to a new prison in Alabama. They, however, have a different plan and manage to take control of the plane. Cage is thrust into the role of saving the day because his friend on the flight needs medical attention.

Con Air is perfect for those who love action-packed movies. From the many aerial high jinks to a fight on a runaway fire truck in Las Vegas, Cage gives the bad guys, led by the brilliant but deranged psychopath Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom (John Malkovich), more than they bargained for.

Cage is assisted on the ground by John Cusack, who plays U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin. Cusack deduces that Cage is the only hope on the plane full of pugnacious convicts. Cusack is hindered much of the time by the offensive and know-it-all Drug Enforcement Agent Duncan Malloy, played by Star Trek's Colm Meaney.

Several humorous scenes revolve around Meaney's expensive, shiny car, which has a license plate which reads "AZZ KIKR." The car ultimately ends up getting trashed after being dragged around a junkyard by the convicts' airplane, providing an ironic justice because of the nature of Meaney's character.

Other cast includes Ving Rhames as Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones, M.C. Gainey as Jimmy Earl "Swamp Thing" West and Steve Buscemi as Garland "The Marietta Mangler" Greene, which provides an idea of the criminals' natures.