Good movie

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2000)

Great story. Another contribution to the "corrupt government covering its corruption" theme (vis-a-vis Outbreak).
Ed Harris is awesome. His character for me is the most complex. He is a true sympathetic not-so-bad bad guy (like Gene Hackman in Crimson Tide AND Extreme Measures; they make you not only understand, but almost to root for them...almost. Harris here is about the closest).
Connery is standard excellent. Cage gets on my nerves with his whining voice. I can think of several other actors who could have played this role without getting on my nerves. But, anyways...
I love when movies like The Rock make us question our assumptions; when they challenge us to reconsider ethical dilemmas, what is right or wrong in life.
Plenty of action. Very significant scene when the soldiers squared off.

I'd love some more development of why Hummel's team fell apart as it did. I study social psychology and could write a paper on why, but the movie didn't supply enough info to make it plain enough (or, it did but I must have missed it).
One shortcoming -- we never saw the hostages again after they were first locked up during the tour. They were referred to in the presidential soliloquy (which I hated; the portrayal of the president in this film was critical to the dilemma value in the movie; contrast this presidential portrayal with what we see in Air Force One, or, better yet, Independence Day) but we never see them again; how can we feel for them? (Perhaps this was what made it so easy for the prez to make the decision he made, above and beyond the fact that to admit wrong was politically out of the question).
Loved it.