Music

The film featured the Diane Warren–penned LeAnn Rimes hit single "How Do I Live", performed by Trisha Yearwood for the film.|group=Note

The Con Air soundtrack album omits two songs featured in the film: "How Do I Live", written by Diane Warren and performed by Trisha Yearwood and "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Although a key element of the film, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle noted, "The soundtrack kicks into loud, obtrusive gear ... [and] remains so loud throughout the picture that it practically functions as a distancing device."

  1. "Con Air Theme" – 1:34
  2. "Trisha" – 1:04
  3. "Carson City" – 3:05
  4. "Lear Crash" – 4:44
  5. "Lerner Landing" – 3:28
  6. "Romantic Chaos" – 1:23
  7. "The Takeover" – 3:52
  8. "The Discharge" – 1:09
  9. "Jailbirds" – 0:59
  10. "Cons Check Out Lerner" – 1:56
  11. "Poe Saves Cops" – 2:25
  12. "The Fight" – 0:23
  13. "Battle In The Boneyard" – 7:41
  14. "Poe Meets Larkin" – 1:16
  15. "Bedlam Larkin" – :49
  16. "Fire Truck Chase" – 4:22
  17. "Overture" – 4:19

Reception

Box office

Con Air opened June 6, 1997 on 2,824 screens in the United States and Canada and grossed $24.1 million in its opening weekend, topping the US box office above The Lost World: Jurassic Park. For its second weekend, the film dropped into second place behind Speed 2: Cruise Control, but still made $15.7 million. It also opened in the UK, Hong Kong, Israel and parts of Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico grossing $5 million for the weekend, for a total worldwide opening of $29 million. In the US and Canada, it grossed $15.7 million in its second weekend and $10.4 million in its third, finishing second and third, respectively.

The film grossed $101.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $122.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $224 million.

Critical response

According to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 59% of 70 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Con Air won't win any awards for believability – and all involved seem cheerfully aware of it, making some of this blockbuster action outing's biggest flaws fairly easy to forgive." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert, reviewing the film for the Chicago Sun-Times, awarded it three out of four stars, saying it "moves smoothly and with visual style and verbal wit," although he criticized Cage for playing Poe as a "slow-witted Elvis type who is very, very earnest and approaches every task with tunnel vision". Janet Maslin, reviewer for The New York Times considered Con Air an exemplar of the "thrill ride genre". In contrast, Rolling Stone reviewer Peter Travers decried the "flip, hip" and ultimately, "depressing ... pandering" present in the treatment.

Andrew Johnston, reviewer for Time Out New York, stated: "Leaving The Rock last summer, I thought it seemed physically impossible for a more over-the-top action movie to be made. That was pretty short-sighted of me, since it was only a matter of time until producer Jerry Bruckheimer topped himself as he does with the wildly entertaining Con Air."

Maxim put the film's climactic Las Vegas plane crash at the top of their 2007 list of "The Top Ten Most Horrific Movie Plane Crashes", a decision that was derided by Wired.

Accolades

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! Award

! Category

! Nominee(s)

! Result

|-

| rowspan="2"| Academy Awards

| Best Original Song

| "How Do I Live" <br> Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren

|

|-

| Best Sound

| Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Art Rochester

|

|-

| ALMA Awards

| Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film

| Rachel Ticotin

|

|-

| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

| Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures

| "How Do I Live" <br> Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren

|

|-

| rowspan="4"| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

| Favorite Actor – Action/Adventure

| Nicolas Cage

|

|-

| Favorite Supporting Actor – Action/Adventure

| John Cusack

|

|-

| Favorite Supporting Actress – Action/Adventure

| Rachel Ticotin

|

|-

| Favorite Song from a Movie

| Trisha Yearwood – "How Do I Live"

|

|-

| BMI Film & TV Awards

| Film Music Award

| Mark Mancina

|

|-

| colspan="3"| Bogey Awards

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| Golden Raspberry Awards

| Worst Original Song

| "How Do I Live" <br> Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren

|

|-

| colspan="2"| Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property

|

|-

| rowspan="2"| Golden Reel Awards

| Best Sound Editing – Dialogue & ADR

| David Williams, Robert Ulrich, Gail Clark Burch, Jeff Clark, Richard Corwin, <br> Susan Kurtz, Carin Rogers, Zack Davis, Stephen Janisz and Kerry Dean Williams

|

|-

| colspan="2"| Best Sound Editing – Sound Effects & Foley

|

|-

| Grammy Awards

| Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television

| "How Do I Live" <br> Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren

|

|-

| Jupiter Awards

| Best International Actor

| Nicolas Cage

|

|-

| Online Film & Television Association Awards

| Best Original Song

| "How Do I Live" <br> Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren

|

|-

| Saturn Awards

| Best Supporting Actor

| Steve Buscemi

|

|}

See also

  • List of American films of 1997
  • List of films set in Las Vegas

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Bateman, Ronald R. Wendover Winds of Change: A History. Wendover, Utah: Ronald R. Bateman, 2004. .