wonderful action film, funnier than you'd expect (SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2003)

In the first twenty minutes, two separate rooms must be evacuated because of two potential explosions. And we don't get to relax much between the two events. We don't get to relax much at all. Even the slow-paced scenes will generally keep you on the edge of your seat.
Nicolas Cage is the FBI agent who solves the second problem, and he is at home relaxing when his girlfriend announces she is pregnant and wants to get married. Meanwhile, a group touring Alcatraz is locked up by a bunch of bad guys in camouflage uniforms (this is actually sort of funny). The head man (Ed Harris in a compelling performance) threatens to release poison gas in San Francisco (enough to kill a million people) unless the government gives him enough money to sufficiently compensate the families of numerous men who served under him in several military actions. The general has a war record that brings to mind the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas,' yet he is now a traitor who considers himself to be like one of the Founding Fathers.
Cage is called on to be a part of the team that will take back Alcatraz and defuse the situation, though he has no combat experience. His girlfriend wants to come along to San Francisco when Cage assumes he is being called for a training exercise. Later, she refuses to stay behind after he tells the truth. Only one man can make this operation work:
He is so dangerous he has been behind bars for over 30 years, and he is the only man ever to escape from Alcatraz, though the government will not acknowledge his existence. When working for British intelligence, he uncovered secrets connected to Roswell and JFK but didn't do what he was supposed to.
Lots of good acting performances here. Where to start? At first Cage did not remind me of other characters he had played, so that was enough to make his performance a good one. But he was occasionally funny as would be expected, especially in the scenes where the Alcatraz expert is first released and being interviewed. Sean Connery is good as usual, thoroughly evil at first when he gets out of prison, but also funny; he wants a penthouse suite and the best of everything if he's going to help these people. Later he is mostly tough but also shows a tender side, in one scene with his illegitimate daughter and in several good scenes with Cage. Cage's boss in this operation, who I believe is now on 'The West Wing,' was also quite good. The best purely comic performance: the apparently gay barber who cuts Connery's hair (yes, he has hair, quite long at first). I think every acting performance was good, even right down to the people with one or two lines.
You like car chases complete with wrecks and explosions? This movie has a good one. And it's funny too. Lots of funny stuff in the first half, despite the serious nature of the situation. The second half has some comedy but is much more serious and quite violent. The first half is violent too. And the language was probably quite graphic as originally shown.
SPOILERS: Connery ran away three times, the first time in that car chase when he was searching for his daughter, whom he had never met. The second time, he returned to the operation out of concern for his daughter. The third time, he came back so Cage's child would have a father. He did have a heart. And the ending was funny: a pastor chases Cage out of a church Cage damaged in order to take possession of...THE SECRET TO JOHN KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION!