CAGE UNCAGED: MASK ACTION HERO

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WOOING THE BUNNY

It's the Con/Off of Cage Uncaged!

TRIGGER WARNING: Con Air does include potential sexual assault as a story element that we discuss.

1997 featured Cage's most impressive box office feat when CON AIR and FACE/OFF were released within weeks of each other, turning the summer into an all-out action battle between Cage, dinosaur sequels directed by pod fave Stevie Lost World, Smith and Jones 4EVA, Bat Nipples and President Indiana Solo v. Winston Churchill.

We're calling the fight, 24 years later, for Cage. Not even close. Who watches that other crap anymore?

(Fine, Men In Black still slaps. Don't write in angry.)

CON AIR was written by Scott Rosenberg, directed by Simon West and produced by longtime Cage collaborator Jerry Bruckheimer, a group of creators that,  frankly, aren't that good! And yet Con Air remains one of the singularly alchemic blockbusters of the era. Why? Start with the once-a-decade ensemble cast with prime Cage at its center and go from there.

FACE/OFF is within the exact same genre as Con Air, the over-the-top action movie with comedy that was so pervasive in the 90s. John Woo is given free reign to direct a script so ludicrous it is impossible to imagine it getting made today the way it was made then. Does it hold up?

BONUS: A very special programming note meaning a few more Cage Uncaged!

CON AIR: 5:21

FACE/OFF: 1:10:22

REMAINING MASTER LIST FILMS:

RAISING ARIZONA and MANDY

Theme Song: Howling Fantods