Release Date: June 7, 1996
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, John Spencer, David Morse, Vanessa Marcil, Claire Forlani
Directed by: Michael Bay
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
MPAA Rating: R (strong violence, language, a sex scene)
The Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer production company has long been one of the undisputed powerhouses of making action movies. The pair's work extends back to Top Gun (1986) and in the decade following has included some of the industry's most profitable action flicks. Make no mistake -- the company is not out to win Oscars, but rather to fine-tune a loud, noisy product which will sell something to everyone. Their latest work, The Rock, is unquestionably their best movie since the two started making movies.
Director Michael Bay also contributes to the rousing success that The Rock is. Only his second film, Bay shows here that he contains a knack for the genre, only previously hinted at in Bad Boys (another Simpson/Bruckheimer production). He combines a good number of visuals with fast pacing and an upbeat score to great effect; this adrenalin-laced experience is helped by the well-written Douglas Cook script. Although the movie is decidedly against anything solid or moving, there is a larger-than-life feeling which makes the characters real and believable. The finished product is like a souped-up BMW: sure, maybe you can't use it year-round, but it's great with the top down on the open road.
The story to this one makes it a "mission" movie more than anything else. One of the Marine Corps most decorated generals, Frank Hummel (Ed Harris), and his elite squad of soldiers have taken off to Alcatraz Island with a number of rockets armed with VX nerve gas. Not only do they hold the tourists on the island hostage, but the rest of the San Francisco Bay area as well. Since VX gas was designed to be invulnerable to the standard napalm-bombing countermeasure, Hummel has the FBI by the short hairs. There are experimental weapons in the works, but nothing solid; and so the FBI turns to its top chemical specialist, Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage), and the only man whoever escaped from Alcatraz, John Mason (Sean Connery). Mason will lead Goodspeed and a team of Navy SEALs back in the way he came out, and the attack will begin from within.
Needless to say the attack does not go exactly as planned, propelling Goodspeed and Mason to the forefront. Both Cage and Connery are excellent in these roles, and the rapport that develops between them is priceless. Harris, on the opposite end of the gun barrel, is dislikeable but honorable -- his more humane side makes more than one appearance. The supporting players, too, from John Spencer and David Morse to Claire Forlani and Vanessa Marcil, are all in fine form. Topped off with a healthy serving of well-executed chase scenes, there is indeed something for everyone. In the history of summer blockbusters, things have not gotten much better than this, and while it's around, The Rock is worth the bucket of popcorn.
all contents © 1996 Craig Roush