6. Cameron Poe – Con Air
Nic Cage had always had plenty of edge to his performances, with performances as varied as those in Red Rock West, Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas and Raising Arizona peppering his CV. But he’d always been a little gangly and certainly didn’t seem a likely fit for the muscly hero in a vest roles. But he bulked up for Con Air and gave us one of the great action heroes in the process.
With many a wise crack (“what do you think is wrong with him?”, “my first thought would be, a lot” – “you know what I am?”, “ugly all day”) and some astonishing hard-man moments (shot in the arm but doesn’t flinch, asks Billy Bedlam to put the bunny back in the box), Poe shows himself to be utterly hard, but since he is keeping a female guard safe and trying to get to see his daughter on her birthday, there is a nice soft centre as well.
Most Bad-Ass Moment – Showing his badly injured friend that God does exist.
