How did a wimpy geek like Nick Cage get invited to this party?

Rating: 5/10 (8 August 2010)

Sean Connery must have the patience of Job. He has spent 30 years in isolation on account of secrets he knows and skills he possesses. He has even successfully escaped from Alcatraz...something that general knowledge states could not be done. After all of this, the ones who have screwed him around turn out to be the ones who need him most when the island is taken over by dis-gruntled soldiers and a past General of the Viet Nam war who have taken 81 hostages. Nick Cage is called in as a chem-weapons expert. He knows that field, but knows little else, as he has never seen combat, and it has been years since he had any weapons training. There's no problem for an audience to adjust their radar to see Connery in a cloak and dagger situation...and one that has high energy. But...with Nick Cage..he seems to be cast some what over his head and out of his element. There is some measure of a modern day "Horatio Alger" character to his performance, but to my view the film could have been made without him, or his role could have been reduced. He actually bogs things down because he needs to be rescued a bit too often. And Cage is not the only problem with this film. The twists and turns of this plot defy reality at some points. There are a few entertaining and exciting moments in the film, but these are outweighed by the gaps in credibility of the plot and of some of the characters, especially the General who changes co-ordinates on a weapon of destruction, and claims he was only bluffing, and tries to call off the whole incident. Of course, the people that he has recruited are PO'd to a fare-thee-well. But, plot dysfunctions such as this take the steam out of the sails of the film, and it's hard to take the film seriously. That would be enough to chase off the critical thinkers, but not enough to turn off the thrill-seekers who want to be entertained...and that's probably the only reason this piece of celluloid has any legs at all. Because the film has mostly entertainment value of a destructive sort and does not seek to engage the audience, it fails to deliver. I have given it 5 stars, which I consider to be quite generous. I cannot recommend it, and I would not care to watch it again.