Great cast, action, characters, suspense, everything.

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 1999)

This is absolutely my favorite movie, from my favorite director Michael Bay, starring some of my favorite actors. Sean Connery gives a unique performance reminiscent to his Oscar-winning role in Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables." He plays John Mason (Another in a long line of action-movie "Johns"), the only man ever to escape from Alcatraz. He's grouchy, and he curses a lot. Nicholas Cage plays a role in which he improvised many of his lines, such as "Okay, that's just about the most awful thing I've ever seen," and, "This ISn't HAPpenNING!" He plays Stan Goodspeed, a music-loving chemical weapons specialist who just found out that his girlfriend is pregnant. He is enlisted by the FBI to disable the chemical rounds in a number of guided rockets that terrorists are using on Alcatraz. Ed Harris, also in one of his best roles, plays Gen. Frank Hummel, a justice-seeking military commander who has stolen the guided rockets to use unless the Pentagon pays him 100 million dollars. He won't keep the money for himself, mind you, but distribute it to the families of the soldiers who have served under him. This is a unique villain role, because it's hard to declare him as the villain. The scenes are well choreographed, including a spectacular car chase sequence between Connery and everyone else. Since Connery and Cage are both driving expensive cars, every crash is a tragedy. Nicholas Cage delivers a great performance as a regular guy in a series of dangerous situations. It really helps you to imagine what it would be like if YOU were there. This movie has everything you could ask for. A great cast, interesting characters, edge-of-your-seat action scenes, heart-pounding suspense, everything. Michael Bay's best movie yet.