Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
52
(22 sources)
52
(22 sources)
-
80
Washington Post
Con Air, a summer blast of a movie, teaches us many things: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer never met an explosion, a car crash or 20 tough guys talking trash he didn't like. Nicolas Cage is one of our most enjoyable screen heroes. As long as you're funny, you can literally get away with murder in a movie. Read Full Review » -
80
Washington Post
Preposterous, predictable, but excessively entertaining, this frenzied thriller draws both story and characters from such action classics as "The Fugitive," "Die Hard," "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Silence of the Lambs." Read Full Review » -
80
Chicago Reader
Director Simon West hits just the right note between self-conscious silliness and real dramatic intensity in this 1997 action thriller, which uses typecast actors to make the characters' one-liners and predictable behavior resonate. Read Full Review » -
80
Empire
Yes, disbelief is required not so much to be suspended as removed altogether, but it barely matters as this is an adrenaline blast of the highest order. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Sun-Times
This is a movie that knows it is absurd, and does little to deny it. Read Full Review » -
70
Variety
Apart from not knowing to quit while it's ahead, Con Air provides quite an exciting flight prior to its crash and burn. Read Full Review » -
70
The New York Times
The colorfully written Con Air is a solid chip off "The Rock," pumped up and very well cast, with the prettiness and polish of advertising art. Read Full Review » -
70
Los Angeles Times
Numbing but not boring, it's finally more dispiriting than exhilarating, like a wild night of debauchery that leaves only a fearsome hangover for a souvenir. Read Full Review » -
60
Salon.com
How's the movie? Big, loud, brutal and stupid, that's how it is. But then, you don't need a critic to tell you that -- anyone with a grade-school education who's seen the previews can figure that out. Read Full Review » -
60
Film Threat
This is a big, silly film. Is it full of explosions and one-liners? Of course. Is it entertaining? Of course. Read Full Review » -
60
LA Weekly
Con Air is entertaining in an extravagantly decadent sort of way. It just isn't a movie. Read Full Review » -
50
-
50
ReelViews
This movie is a perfect example of what's wrong with many big-budget films today: no characters, no intelligence, and, worst of all, little fun. Read Full Review » -
50
-
50
San Francisco Chronicle
From scene to scene, the tone shifts from supposed sincerity to arch and amused, until the picture begins to seem like some mad, desperate, scattershot attempt to hold an audience's attention from moment to moment, by any means. Read Full Review » -
50
San Francisco Examiner
Director Simon West makes an impressive feature debut in this relentless action-comedy that is, more than anything else, about how funny it is to see hundreds of people exploded, shot, knifed, propellered and burnt to death, and how to land a plane on the crowded Vegas strip. Read Full Review » -
50
Entertainment Weekly
It's so shameless, so psychotically nervous about keeping you ''thrilled,'' that the phrase over the top won't do it justice. It's like a drug designed for people who've done every drug and now want to be jet-propelled into numbness. Read Full Review » -
40
Austin Chronicle
There's nary a hint of suspense in West's film, though, mainly because he loudly trumpets the upcoming disasters so early in the film. Read Full Review » -
38
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25
Christian Science Monitor
Nicolas Cage, Ving Rhames, and Steve Buscemi are among the few performers who emerge with a shred of dignity at the end. Read Full Review » -
20
Dallas Observer
While tyro director Simon West fills Con Air with all the slam-bang action and well-honed wisecracks that were the more positive qualities of its predecessors, the film brims even more with all their worst qualities. Read Full Review » -
20
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