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Plot - Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a maximum high-security prison located on Alcatraz island just off the coast of San Francisco. Closed in 1963 it now operates as a tourist attraction. Except for today where it is going to serve as the base of operation for a biological rocket attack on the city of San Francisco unless certain demands are met. The man making the demands is Frank Hummel (Harris), a highly decorated Brigadier General who is sick of the way the Government has treated Marines who died on secret missions, their deaths never being honoured. He has led a group of rogue Marines in taking over the island, holding 81 tourists hostage, and plans on launching the rockets against the city if he does not receive $100 million which will be distributed to the Marines and to the families of men who died under his command. A group of NAVY Seals are assembled to penetrate the island's defences and disarm the rockets, with two unique additions to the team; FBI chemical weapons expert Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) and John Patrick Mason (Connery), the only man to ever escape from Alcatraz who will act as their guide to breaking in.
Read all about it! Read all about it! Michael Bay in great movie shocker!!!
Yes that's right ladies and gentlemen, once upon a time one of the most derided of all contemporary directors actually did deliver a pretty good, nay a great film. That film was The Rock, a film that actually shares many of the same elements as his other work - loud explosive action, buddy relationships, half-hearted attempts at romance etc; elements that have generated numerous disappointing entries in Bay's catalogue of films. And yet here however Bay was able to take those facets and formulate a smart, thrilling and absorbing film, by far the most satisfying film of his career.
I don't think that anyone could have predicted it beforehand but in the mid 90s, for a very brief period, Nicholas Cage somehow became the biggest action star in the world. He may not have seemed like a very likely candidate for the accolade but a back-to-back triple bill of action classics propelled him to such a standing. Before delivering both prisoners-on-a-plane film, Con Air, and John Woo's Face/Off the following year, it was The Rock that set him on his way to securing his place in the echelon of the action genre. And while I may not always be his biggest fan I think he does a nice job here with his chemical weapons expert Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, playing him in a suitably geeky fashion with something of a Jimmy Stewart “aww shucks” nature to him. Initially we find the character nervous and out of his depth, even throwing up at the prospect of the mission, but eventually the character evolves into a bit of a kick ass hero with Cage portraying it nicely. His character is even able to overcome the fact that his name sounds like that of a Bond girl!
As enjoyable as Cage is however, star of the show in my eyes certainly has to be Sean Connery who brings a great deal of charisma and character to his escape specialist, John Patrick Mason. He seems to really embrace Mason's eccentricities and the colourful dialogue he gets to spout, and he really is quite bad ass in the film. He even gets the opportunity to play into his James Bond past a little bit with a few nods to his time in the tux. Connery had rather been in career wilderness for a while until the late 80s double bill of The Untouchables and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade launched him back to the top of the A-list. Throughout the 90s he starred in a number of action films, and given his age I suppose he was just as unlikely an action star as Cage at the time. And while I love the 90s output of Stallone, Van Damme, Willis, Lundgren etc these two make for a nice change of pace and a little bit of a novelty. Brought together here they display a nice chemistry in a classic example of the buddy relationship; two disparate characters paired up who put aside their initial differences to form a bond of friendship and trust.
The Rock also benefits from quite a strong villain in the commanding presence of Ed Harris as Brigadier General Francis Hummel, a highly respected figure and legendary for his exploits during the Vietnam War. And Harris is a very nice fit, easily conveying the required sense of strength and resolve to convince you that he could really be this total bad ass. His character also makes a nice change from the villains most commonly found in action films of the 80s and 90s. Generally they were hugely over-the-top, crazy and despicably vile; real comic book style villains; see Howard Payne in Speed, Castor Troy in Face/Off, Simon Phoenix in Demolition Man, Andrew Scott in Universal Soldier, Eric Qualen in Cliffhanger, Emil Fouchon in Hard Target and pretty much everyone in Con Air for just a very small sample of the insanity that reigned. Harris' Hummel however is a much more intelligent and honourable adversary for our heroes, much more complex than the one-dimensional character it could easily have been. His intentions, however misguided they may be, actually are quite noble. All he wants to do is get the honour and respect for his fallen comrades that he feels they are due, and for their families to be compensated. It's an interesting concept to work from, a bit more intriguing than the typical gameplan of a movie villain. This approach also plays into the feeling that soldiers are often not given enough help and support from their government, particularly in regards to the Vietnam War of which Hummel was a part. Hummel also shows a genuine compassion for the marines who get killed trying to stop them; that was never something he wanted.
The film has got some great action sequences throughout such as the big shower room shootout and various battles that Mason and Goodspeed engage the terrorists in. However the pinnacle in terms of action in The Rock would certainly have to be its car chase through the famous streets of San Francisco. It's one of the few chases in contemporary films which can really hold up when compared to the golden age of car chases that was the 60s and 70s; a period which produced the likes of Bullitt, The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, The Italian Job, Vanishing Point, The Driver, Gone in 60 Seconds, Duel etc. It pits Connery in a monstrous Humvee on the run from the cops, including Cage in a stolen Ferrari, and seems them bring mayhem and destruction to San Francisco's iconic streets. I know I've said it before but I think that visually San Francisco has got to be my favourite movie city. I just love its iconic steep hills, unique architecture, eternal sunshine and the cool, artistic vibe that the place has. And The Rock makes great use of one of the city's most famous landmarks, Alcatraz prison. It proves to be a terrific setting for the film, one that is really interesting both visually and from a story point of view.
While The Rock may not be as outlandish as many of its fellow action efforts of the 90s, it still doesn't take itself deadly seriously and it still knows how to have a lot of fun. Alongside the bombastic action, the bickering between Mason and Goodspped and the rather witty script we also get some fun little asides in the form of minor characters whose characters are evolved beyond any plausible reasoning for the simple fact of providing a few laughs; I'm thinking of Mason's exceptionally camp stylist and the tram driver who is extremely passionate about his job and the tram that he operates. And who can't love the moment where Nichols Cage evokes the memory of Elton John's classic song, “Rocket Man.”
Conclusion - While it may appear to be just as brainless as many of the other action flicks that proliferated the decade, The Rock actually has some smarts about it. It's an exciting, suspensful and frequently amusing slice of action. With Alcatraz providing a great and seductive draw, the film features some very fine performances, great special effects and Bay at least proves that he knows how to handle an action sequence with some style. One of the primo examples of 90s action.
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Year of release
1996
1996
Directed by
Michael Bay
Michael Bay
Written by
David Weisberg
Douglas S. Cook
Mark Rosnes
David Weisberg
Douglas S. Cook
Mark Rosnes
Starring
Sean Connery
Nicholas Cage
Ed Harris
John Spencer
David Morse
Sean Connery
Nicholas Cage
Ed Harris
John Spencer
David Morse
The Rock
Plot - Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a maximum high-security prison located on Alcatraz island just off the coast of San Francisco. Closed in 1963 it now operates as a tourist attraction. Except for today where it is going to serve as the base of operation for a biological rocket attack on the city of San Francisco unless certain demands are met. The man making the demands is Frank Hummel (Harris), a highly decorated Brigadier General who is sick of the way the Government has treated Marines who died on secret missions, their deaths never being honoured. He has led a group of rogue Marines in taking over the island, holding 81 tourists hostage, and plans on launching the rockets against the city if he does not receive $100 million which will be distributed to the Marines and to the families of men who died under his command. A group of NAVY Seals are assembled to penetrate the island's defences and disarm the rockets, with two unique additions to the team; FBI chemical weapons expert Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) and John Patrick Mason (Connery), the only man to ever escape from Alcatraz who will act as their guide to breaking in.
Read all about it! Read all about it! Michael Bay in great movie shocker!!!
Yes that's right ladies and gentlemen, once upon a time one of the most derided of all contemporary directors actually did deliver a pretty good, nay a great film. That film was The Rock, a film that actually shares many of the same elements as his other work - loud explosive action, buddy relationships, half-hearted attempts at romance etc; elements that have generated numerous disappointing entries in Bay's catalogue of films. And yet here however Bay was able to take those facets and formulate a smart, thrilling and absorbing film, by far the most satisfying film of his career.I don't think that anyone could have predicted it beforehand but in the mid 90s, for a very brief period, Nicholas Cage somehow became the biggest action star in the world. He may not have seemed like a very likely candidate for the accolade but a back-to-back triple bill of action classics propelled him to such a standing. Before delivering both prisoners-on-a-plane film, Con Air, and John Woo's Face/Off the following year, it was The Rock that set him on his way to securing his place in the echelon of the action genre. And while I may not always be his biggest fan I think he does a nice job here with his chemical weapons expert Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, playing him in a suitably geeky fashion with something of a Jimmy Stewart “aww shucks” nature to him. Initially we find the character nervous and out of his depth, even throwing up at the prospect of the mission, but eventually the character evolves into a bit of a kick ass hero with Cage portraying it nicely. His character is even able to overcome the fact that his name sounds like that of a Bond girl!
As enjoyable as Cage is however, star of the show in my eyes certainly has to be Sean Connery who brings a great deal of charisma and character to his escape specialist, John Patrick Mason. He seems to really embrace Mason's eccentricities and the colourful dialogue he gets to spout, and he really is quite bad ass in the film. He even gets the opportunity to play into his James Bond past a little bit with a few nods to his time in the tux. Connery had rather been in career wilderness for a while until the late 80s double bill of The Untouchables and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade launched him back to the top of the A-list. Throughout the 90s he starred in a number of action films, and given his age I suppose he was just as unlikely an action star as Cage at the time. And while I love the 90s output of Stallone, Van Damme, Willis, Lundgren etc these two make for a nice change of pace and a little bit of a novelty. Brought together here they display a nice chemistry in a classic example of the buddy relationship; two disparate characters paired up who put aside their initial differences to form a bond of friendship and trust.
Film Trivia Snippets - Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually offered the role of John Mason but turned it down. At the time the offer came about the script was only 80s pages long and according to Arnie “a lot of handwriting and scribbles and it didn't seem fully baked.” He has since talked about he regretted not taking the role. /// Sean Connery didn't want to have to travel back and forth between the mainland and Alcatraz island every single day, so he insisted that the producers build a cabin for him on the island so he could stay there permanently during the shoot. The producers agreed. /// According to Michael Bay the film would actually have been played much more straight and serious had they followed the script. While filming however most of the film's humorous moments and lines were improvised and kept in. /// The Rock actually had some rather famous writers do uncredited work on the script. Both Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin worked on the screenplay but without being credited.
The film has got some great action sequences throughout such as the big shower room shootout and various battles that Mason and Goodspeed engage the terrorists in. However the pinnacle in terms of action in The Rock would certainly have to be its car chase through the famous streets of San Francisco. It's one of the few chases in contemporary films which can really hold up when compared to the golden age of car chases that was the 60s and 70s; a period which produced the likes of Bullitt, The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, The Italian Job, Vanishing Point, The Driver, Gone in 60 Seconds, Duel etc. It pits Connery in a monstrous Humvee on the run from the cops, including Cage in a stolen Ferrari, and seems them bring mayhem and destruction to San Francisco's iconic streets. I know I've said it before but I think that visually San Francisco has got to be my favourite movie city. I just love its iconic steep hills, unique architecture, eternal sunshine and the cool, artistic vibe that the place has. And The Rock makes great use of one of the city's most famous landmarks, Alcatraz prison. It proves to be a terrific setting for the film, one that is really interesting both visually and from a story point of view.
While The Rock may not be as outlandish as many of its fellow action efforts of the 90s, it still doesn't take itself deadly seriously and it still knows how to have a lot of fun. Alongside the bombastic action, the bickering between Mason and Goodspped and the rather witty script we also get some fun little asides in the form of minor characters whose characters are evolved beyond any plausible reasoning for the simple fact of providing a few laughs; I'm thinking of Mason's exceptionally camp stylist and the tram driver who is extremely passionate about his job and the tram that he operates. And who can't love the moment where Nichols Cage evokes the memory of Elton John's classic song, “Rocket Man.”
Conclusion - While it may appear to be just as brainless as many of the other action flicks that proliferated the decade, The Rock actually has some smarts about it. It's an exciting, suspensful and frequently amusing slice of action. With Alcatraz providing a great and seductive draw, the film features some very fine performances, great special effects and Bay at least proves that he knows how to handle an action sequence with some style. One of the primo examples of 90s action.