Good bad guys. Bad good guys. “Con Air” is packed full of oxymorons.

But unlike Cage’s “The Rock,” “Con Air” is not packed with the goods that make up a strong action thriller.

The plot is intriguing. Cage plays Cameron Poe, an ex-soldier who has just finished eight years in prison for unintentionally killing a man who had harassed his wife (Monica Potter).

Anxious to see his daughter for the first time, Poe leaves on the first flight available, which happens to be with a group of the most dangerous and notorious prisoners in the U.S. penal system en route to a higher security facility.

When the plane is skyjacked by a group of convicts, led by mastermind Cyrus “The Virus” (John Malkovich), Poe’s hero instincts drive him to save the day.

While Poe is busy making and breaking friendships on Con Air, U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusak) is on the ground, struggling to convince co-workers not to blow up the plane.

Aside from his annoying accent, Cage’s character is a likeable kind of mystery guy. His will to stick with cell mate and friend “Baby-O” has you rooting for him most of the flick.

But when he takes a bullet to the arm and minutes later is hanging from a ladder on the back of a speeding fire truck with the same arm, the element of realization, or lack thereof, kicks in and it becomes much harder to side with him.

Cusak’s skilled but smart-ass character is also very likable, but the moral dilemma of “taking the lives of a few innocent people in order to kill the bad guys” is much too overdone (take “The Rock” for example).

None of the on-ground characters are fully developed, including Cusak’s, which makes the sub-plot even harder to get into.

Also hurting the movie are a number of thrown-in irony shots — an obvious result of director Simon West trying too hard. A prime example would be Cage laying down in a puddle of water at the end and having the bunny doll he was going to give his daughter float up next to him.

Where “Con Air” is interesting is with the convicts. Each one has a unique personality that is fun to watch come out as the movie develops.

Malkovich is awesome as usual, while his role as the leader of the convicts could be his best since “In the Line of Fire.” Ving Rhames, of “Pulp Fiction” fame, who plays the “Diamond Dog” in “Con Air,” also adds to the list of well-depicted convicts.

But it is Steve Buschemi, also of “Pulp Fiction,” who delivers the strongest prisoner role. Buschemi plays serial killer Garland Greene, a true psycho. What makes him so unique is his knowledge about other prisoners, his deeply philosophical view of the world and his appearance of being rehabilitated.

The good-guy prisoner is Mykelti Williamson, who re-enacts his death in “Forrest Gump” to a “T.” While his relationship with Poe is important enough to keep Poe from getting off the plane, the movie never explains how the two become such close friends.

The film may have some of the best villains of the summer, but holes in the plot and unrealistic action scenes leave “Con Air” with 3 stars out of 5.

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Corey Moss is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.