#39: Con Air Face Off: Being-Toward-Explosion

“I want to take his face… OFF!” screams Sean Archer acting as Caster Troy as portrayed by Nicolas Cage as portrayed by John Travolta. The fact that sentences like this accurately describe scenes from John Woo’s Face/Off indicate the truly special nature of this 1997 Hollywood action film. But do not take this for a standard Hollywood action film, listener. For as we discover in this snob, Face/Off is in fact one of the most Chinese films ever made.

How does Con Air fit in? Well, it also stars Nicolas Cage, it’s also an action movie, and it also came out in 1997. While it may be a lot less Chinese than Face/Off, it still stars Steve Buscemi. This is a movie that is as Amurrikan as it gets. And that’s not just because Nicolas Cage has long flowing locks. It’s also because Jerry Bruckheimer has long flowing locks. (Keep in mind, listener, this film came out before Jerry B. was absorbed into his dominant personality, known now as “Michael Bay”.) It’s also because there’s a lot of explosions, strange/misplaced humor, John Malkovich, and a very angry Colm Meaney. What a meanie!

So join us in this mashup of iconic 90s action movies, listener. Whether we are talking about Cameron Poe, Castor Troy, Cameron Troy, or Castor Poe, you can never be sure whether or not we are really talking about Sean Archer, ready to impale us with a Scientology harpoon at any second. In our Heideggarian mission, we are riding this 90s action movie ship in our inevitable Being-Toward-Explosion. What kind of explosion culminates it all? Well, that depends on how Chinese you are willing to get.

May we all be receptive to the presence of the Tao.

Episode Progression:
3:25: Shout-outs
8:20 : Con Air
46:00 : Face/Off

Analysis

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