Like a heavy metal album made into a movie

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2006)

Just before the credits roll at the finale, a brief line of text appears on screen dedicating The Rock to Don Simpson, the Producer who died before it was released. Now while he was alive, Simpson was the walking definition of all the stereotypes of Hollywood excess. He hoovered up cocaine by the bucketload, gave jobs to actresses in exchange for 'favours' and had an ego so bloated he cast himself in a role in Days Of Thunder despite having no previous acting experience, so The Rock couldn't be more of a fitting tribute. It is a loud, brash and incredibly fast paced film where everything is done to excess. The action is spectacular, the explosions enormous and the bad guys keep on finding new and more inventive ways to die, all to a pounding military soundtrack.
The story is a spin on the old Die Hard formula with Nicholas Cage starring as a mild mannered FBI Chemical weapons specialist who finds himself running around on Alcatraz with John Mason (Sean Connery) the only man to ever escape the prison and facing off against a squad of disillusioned US Marines who are holding San Francisco to ransom with some deadly bio-weapons. And from this we are treated to all manner of chaos, especially as Mason isn't exactly a willing volunteer...
Needless to say, the level of violence goes through the roof. It may take a while for things to really start moving but once Mason makes his initial escape attempt to visit his teenage daughter in a truly jaw-dropping car chase, the pulse speeds onwards without stopping faster than you can say "Hey, we haven't seen anyone go flying through a window in a little while." And when our heroes and their doomed Navy SEAL escorts finally make it to Alcatraz a whole string of inventive set-pieces await.
What makes it work though is that underneath all the violence and macho posturing, the film has a very sly sense of humour as is readily apparent in the numerous daft lines (the brief nod to Roswell in particular is especially good) and the overwhelming bravado. After all, most people would be traumatised if they were nearly crushed in a stolen Ferrari by an exploding tram car, not Nicholas Cage. He just gets up, brushes himself off and tells a bemused onlooker "It's not mine," before punching him in the face and stealing his bike. Not to mention the fact that Cage and Connery make a great double act. Cage has long been adept at playing the bemused everyman thrust into a situation beyond his comprehension but it is Connery who shines. Those who remember him best as the suave, tuxedo clad James Bond may be surprised at the grizzled beast he plays here, as John Mason is an aggressive, foul-mouthed and really, REALLY angry man as ruthless as he is charismatic and capable of quoting Oscar Wilde while being beaten around the head without making it seem contrived.
In short then a typical end to Don Simpson's reign as the king of excessive Californian mayhem. With the likes of Top Gun and Beverley Hills Cop to his name, the Producer bows out with a film that not only matches the adrenaline thrill of those classic eighties releases, but also manages to be even louder than they were. Add on a conflicted villain played by Ed Harris who is taking things way too seriously and you have yourselves a highly watchable film with 'guilty pleasure' written all over it.