i have written a film review for this film.

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2005)

Well what can I say? I was going to mention the good and bad points but the small flaw to that plan is there are no bad points! So I will mention the good points for starters the level of acting is superb. A rather tetchy first moments with Mason (Connery) and Goodspeed (Cage) round of to a brilliant complementary duo up in the same league as the original Batman + Robin, no better! The action is not mindless like in some films but witty and has a point to the destruction of fellow human beings.(in very graphic ways such as one of the opening deaths due to a deadly toxic nerve gas) there are many aspects which lift this film to what I believe to the greatest of all time, such as the accelerated pace, the fast action chase scene, the humour between Cage and Connery, the hilarious hair dressing scene, the tension, the action, the violence, the danger, the thrill and the adrenaline of the legend that is the THE ROCK!
The Actors give this film its fantastic edge. Such as the bitter hatred between Mason and his Nemesis (FBI Director James Womack). The Cast of actors include Nicolas Cage as Dr. Stanley Goodspeed a chemical weapons expert who has an obsession with the Beatles. He has never really seen any action, but he gets called into service by the FBI Director to diffuse rockets laden with the deadly VX nerve gas. The part is play brilliantly making the character Goodspeed believable and making him a pleasure to watch. Sean Connery as the X SAS agent John Patrick Mason sent to Alcatraz when it was a prison. He was sent there for discovering America's deepest secrets. Such as the Kennedy assassination and the truth about Roswell. Then being rejected by the very agency that he worked for the British. The FBI now needs him as he is the only man to ever escape the rock. Sean Connery displays probably the greatest acting as John Mason I have ever seen together him and Nicolas Cage make this film awesome. Ed Harris is the Hero turned Villain Brig. Gen. Francis Hummel he has decided to avenge his comrade's deaths and demands a ransom to compensate the families of the fallen men he once served over. He has stolen 15 canisters of the most deadly nerve gas VX Gas. He is ready to launch rockets laden with the gas into San Francisco and kill millions on innocent people. But hero to villain is a change too large for Brig. Gen. Francis Hummel a man of honour. John Spencer is Mason's nemeses, FBI Director James Womack the man who originally sent Mason to Alcatraz. Now needs Mason released to get his men into Alcatraz a task of which he dose not agree. Especially after Mason throws him of a building. David Morse is Maj. Tom Baxter, Hummel's right hand man and would follow his word to the end.
The Story Line Probably the Greatest story to be invented the basic story is a brigadier General has decided to compensate the families of his fallen Comrades and get money for his team and his self. His team steal 15 rockets and loads them with the most deadly nerve agent ever, VX gas. He then holds San Francisco hostage the FBI get Stanley Goodspeed a chemical weapons expert along with a crack team of navy seals to disarm the war heads and capture Brigadier General Hummel. The team is lead by an X SAS agent John Mason imprisoned by America after discovering their biggest secrets. He was originally imprisoned in Alcatraz but was the only man ever to escape from the top security prison he is now needed by the FBI to get the seals and Goodspeed into Alcatraz. Over View Michael Bay has aspired to produce the greatest film ever. With elements of almost every Genre. With a excellent host of actors, brilliant effects and action and suspense beyond anything seen before. He has combined these to create the most momentously superb film. I salute him.