I'll take pleasure in gutting you, boy......

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2010)

It's a quiet day in San Francisco. There are 81 civilians on a tour of Alcatraz, the prison famous for the fact that no prisoner had ever successfully escaped.
During one of the tours, marine General Francis Xavier Hummel takes the civilians hostage, with the help of other marines. He has 15 rockets of deadly V.X. gas at his disposal, ready to launch at San Francisco.
His reason for doing this is simple: he has seen Marines under his command get killed in combat without a military burial or benefits to their families. He makes a threat to the FBI: give the fallen Marines recognition or he will launch the V.X. rockets.
After learning that one rocket is enough to take out sixty or seventy thousand people, the FBI sends for their top Chemical Weapons expert: Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, engaged to his pregnant girlfriend.
While trying to figure out a countermeasure to the current situation, the FBI is forced to resort to John Patrick Mason, an ex-con who broke out of Alcatraz in 1962....
it's a great movie to start with, if for some reason, you want to study the movies of Michael Bay and Simpson and Bruckheimer. To sum it up in one sentence is easy...Die hard on Alcatraz.
But it's so much more than that. the characters are human, rather than macho hulks and all have their own specific weaknesses. Connery obviously has age against him, Cage is an action virgin and his girlfriend is pregnant, and Harris, as the main 'villain' shows hi human side a lot during the film, much to the pity of his crew.
As expected from the producers and director, it's slickly made, well edited and had some of the best lines and set pieces that featured in a film released in 1996.
Most important is the chemistry between Connery and Cage, they make the film so much more than just your standard actioner, they bounce off each other with ease, and when they are on screen together, it's an absolute joy to watch.
It's a silly film, but then who cares, it's exciting and fun, and is still one of the better action movies released in the last twenty years.
An essential action film, and Cage still had two more fantastic action movies up his sleeve..