This explosive action movie rocks

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2015)

The Rock is one of the few action movies with a plot that is excellent from start to finish. Definitely one of many excellent action movies from the 1990's and deservedly one of the top movies for 1996. Michael Bay has never been better and this movie was also notable that this was the last movie that producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer worked on together before Don Simpson's untimely death. Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage made a great, if unlikely, on screen partnership and Ed Harris was top notch as the lead villain. The Rock also started a new era for Academy Award Winner Nicolas Cage as an action hero who would go on to appear in such hits as Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).
The Rock begins with United States Marine General Francis X Hummel (Ed Harris) who orchestrates the theft of several deadly VX rockets from a military base. The following day General Hummel along with several renegade US Marines including his second in command Major Tom Baxter (David Morse) plus Captain Hendrix (John C. McGinley) Captain Frye (Gregory Sporleder), Captain Darrow (Tony Todd), and Gunnery Sergeant Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine) take over Alcatraz prison and take 81 hostages. Their intention: to launch the rockets with VX gas onto San Francisco and kill the hostages unless the US government pays $100 million from a military slush fund, from which General Hummel will distribute to his men and the families of Recon Marines who were killed in action on clandestine missions under his command and whose deaths were not compensated by the US Government.
The FBI call upon chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage who has never been better) who is brilliantly intelligent yet is barely experienced in the field and counter terrorism operations. His fiancée Carla (Vanessa Marcil) is also pregnant. FBI Director James Womack (John Spencer) and Special Agent in Charge Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe in a rare role as the good guy) spearhead the operation to take down General Hummel and the renegade marines along with ensuring the survival of the hostages. Director Womack is forced to release a federal prisoner who has been imprisoned for three decades. Former British Intelligence agent John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery) who once successfully broke out of Alcatraz prison is called upon to assist the FBI with his inside knowledge of Alcatraz prison in exchange for a pardon. As part of the covert operation, a team of Navy SEALS led by Commander Anderson (Michael Biehn) as well as Stanley Goodspeed's knowledge of chemical warfare and John Mason's knowledge of Alcatraz prison, the team successfully gain access inside Alcatraz prison but its not before long the operation goes horribly wrong and its up to the unlikely heroes Stanley Goodspeed and John Mason to prevent the launch of the rockets on San Francisco as well as take down the renegade marines and save the 81 hostages.
In a stroke of brilliant casting, Nicolas Cage as the nerdy lab rat Stanley Goodspeed is excellent. Here Stanley Goodspeed is thrust into the middle of the action and is relied upon to save the lives of the hostages and many innocent civilians in San Francisco, as well as disarm the VX rockets. Sean Connery might be into his 60's, but he definitely still cuts it as an action hero. The former James Bond plays John Mason, an honourable man who has been wrongly imprisoned but must work and use his inside knowledge of Alcatraz to help Stanley Goodspeed take down the renegade marines and save the hostages. Ed Harris as the lead villain General Francis X Hummel starts off with good intentions for his former soldiers who were killed in action, however he goes about it the wrong way by stealing the VX rockets in order to use against San Francisco as well as taking hostages in Alcatraz in order for a $100 million ransom to be paid to be distributed to the families of his marines killed in action as well as himself and his fellow renegade marines. Although General Hummel is not seen as a cruel person unlike his fellow renegade marines, his intentions are still seen as ruthless and immoral.
This was Michael Bay's second movie after Bad Boys (1995) and he later has a mixed career with Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), and the Transformers franchise (2007, 2009, 2011 and 2014). The Rock is definitely one of Michael Bay's best movies to date. Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer who were responsible for blockbuster movies such as Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Top Gun (1986), and Bad Boys (1995) have struck gold here with this explosive hit.
The Rock is definitely a brutally violent movie that has encountered many censorship issues particularly in the UK and Australia.
The Rock is definitely one of the few action movies with a great plot, great action, as well as well rounded characters, compared to the various action movies that ignore the plot in favour of one dimensional characters and large action sequences. The Rock was definitely one of the surprise packages of 1996 and years later, is still a popular action movie that has aged very well.
If you love action movies and if you haven't seen The Rock, you are missing out on an excellent action movie.
9/10.