Con Air (1997)
Haven’t seen this since the VHS days, and was reminded how this was really the way to do proper honest action spectacle. Minimal backstory and setup, just enough to have a motivation and a conflict. The lunacy of the convicts make them cartoonish evil, perfectly lead by Malkovich, and for once we have Cage as the grounded sane counterweight to the madness. It works it all its glorious ridiculousness. The film is very honest in what its sets out to do. The setup and payoffs are obvious, but so well executed that it is easy to surrender to. The tearjerker of an ending is blatantly manipulative, but it still got me.
Rating: 4