What a waste of acting talent

Rating: 3/10 (9 February 2000)

This film is a mixture of toxic weapons disaster movie, a mutineering soldiers fighting for a noble cause movie, a conspiracy theory movie, a hostage movie and a James Bond taking on the bad guys movie. It looks as if the writers just jiggled it all up, mixed in as many catchy one-liners they could think of, and called in the SFX people for some pyrotechnics and car-chases.
The result is a bumbling film that jerks along with no real focus. The script is contrived to the point of absurdity. Perhaps my suspension of disbelief is not as strong as it could be - but the film lacked the "style" and continuity that makes this possible.
Some of the action scenes are good (particularly the shower-room face-off), and Sean Connery does his best with the lines he is given. Nicolas Cage (who I greatly admire) is mis-cast and fails to make much of the awful one-liner "funny" replies he is meant to deliver. Ed Harris is solid but sometimes wooden in his portrayal of an Army General, but then again maybe Army Generals are a supposed to be a little stiff.
In summary I was very disappointed with what could have been a decent film, had the writers penned a tighter script with less pandering the mass-market. Too many cheap jokes, pathetic plot twists and no real tension.
Not recommended.