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| The Rock
Year: 1996
Classification: Action
Country: USA
Language: English
Directed:
- Michael Bay
Actors/Actresses:
- Michael Biehn
- Nicolas Cage
- Sean Connery
- Raymond Cruz
- James Caviezel
- Claire Forlani
- William Forsythe
- Ed Harris
- John Spencer
Filmography:
- The Rundown Widescreen Edition
- The Scorpion King Widescreen Collector S Edition
- Walking Tall
'The Rock' Rocks!
I happen to really like this 1996 Michael Bay directed action packed blockbuster. If you like that sort of thing, then you will be in action movie heaven. Nicolas Cage stars as a biochemist who works with a con(Sean Connery), who is the only person to escape Alcatraz, to help stop a psychotic war hero who is holding the island jail hostage. He plans on releasing poisonous gas on San Francisco. Ed Harris plays the mentally unstable war hero. He does is with steely excellence. Connery is his usually solid self in his role. Nicolas Cage is good as well. The action scenes are wild, loud, and as explosive as can be. There is also a nice touch of pretty funny comedy throughout the film as well. It's loud and obnoxious, and I love it. Michael Biehn, Tony Todd, Vanessa Marcil also star. This is one fun, wild ride. Take a trip to the rock.
Action with a capital A
Never a dull moment in this is a great action flick. This may be the best of its genre in a long, long time. Jerry Bruckheimer has outdone himself. The movie opens with the two great scenes, including the well planned (and almost perfectly implemented) break in at an Army arsenal and the disarming of a terrorist bomb by Cage at work. The action does not let up until the final climactic struggles.
Great casting, with Sean Connery as a political prisoner (and former member of the British elite Special Air Service, the only man alive to break out of Alcatraz). Add Nicholas Cage as FBI agent (and self-described biochemical "super freak", who of course is grossly overmatched among these hard guys. Their foil is Ed Harris, who is great as a highly decorated military officer, disillusioned by the betrayal of his men during Desert Storm, and his cadre of soldiers. The supporting roles include David Morse, John McGinley and Greg Collins as his loyal soldiers, and John Spencer as a less than honorable FBI director They are all joined at Alcatraz prison, taken over by Harris and his men. They hold a few hostages (irrelevant to the story), along with rockets filled with deadly poison gas. Unless the government pays the big bucks, they will unleash their deadly toxins. Only a sixty year old Connery can get them onto the Rock, with the support of a group of Navy Seals and fighter planes to save the day.
Of course, they do.
Not a dull moment in this movie.
excellent film with great extra features
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
In this director approved Criterion Collection release, we are treated to some excellent materials.
The film follows the story of Francis Hummel (Ed Harris), a retired marine who takes hostages on Alcatraz island. His demand is that the families of soldiers killed in covert operations be given compensation. He treatens to launch VX nerve gas into the city of San Francisco if his demands are not met. A navy SEAL team is sent in to neutralize the threat. Helping out is Stanley Goodspeed (Nicholas Cage), a chemical weapons expert, and John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), the only man to have escaped from Alcatraz.
The film has great acting and there are some good laughs in the film also. There are many action packed scenes including a car chase through the streets of San Francisco and the cars are often airborne when they go on the hills.
The Criterion DVD has many special features and is on a deouble disc set.
Disc 1 contains the movie with optional audio commentary by Director Michael Bay, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Technical advisor Harry Humphries, and actors Nicholas Cage and Ed Harris.
Disc 2 contains a theatrical trailer and TV spots, a video interview with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a blooper reel, a special about the film's premiere on Alcatraz, scenes from a TV special "Secrets of Alcatraz" that contains interviews with actual former inmates and a history of the island from Native American times to modern times.
There is a special "Dos and Don'ts of Hollywood Gunplay" with the film's technical advisor Harry Humpries and Marshall Teague. This specail contains depictions of errors made in action films regarding the use of guns it emphasises saftey and common mistakes including gun drawing techniques that don't "work" such as the "gangster grab" or the "wyatt earp pull".
There are also 2 features on the films special effects. One is on the dive sequence and the other is on other effects, like the cable car crash. There are also storyboards, production stills and drawings.
This is a must biy for fans of the movie as well a fans of the Criterion Collection.
Buy The Rock at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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