Gonzo actioner via Bruckheimer & Bay; Hang on!

Rating: Null/10 (21 April 2003)

THE ROCK (1996) ***1/2 Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, William Forsythe, Michael Biehn, John Spencer, David Morse, Vanessa Marcil, Tony Todd, John C. McGinley, Bokeem Woodbine, Anthony Clark. Action packed high octane machine of a movie with disgruntled ex-Marine hero Harris taking a group of tourists hostage at Alcatraz with a band of mercenaries and a group of poison gas equipped rockets aimed at San Francisco with only two men capable of thwarting him: prisoner Connery, a former British spy incarcerated since his escape from the infamous jail and goofy 'super freak' FBI chemist Cage (the best thing about the film by the way) teamed up to infiltrate and dismantle the weaponry PHEW! Breakneck paced editing and some wicked sequences added with the right amount of cocky humor. Cage's reluctant every-man FEEB is memorable, particularly witnessing a nasty dispatch of one of the villains: 'Well, yeak OK , that's just about the most awful thing I've ever seen.' Smartly directed by maverick Michael Bay and the last film produced by the dynamic duo of Don Simpson (who died during production) and Jerry Bruckheimer.