Patently unrealistic plot but many spectacular crashes and explosions

Rating: 2/10 (8 April 2007)

The plot is laughable, with as many holes as swiss cheese, but the acting is good and the action fast paced. The basis for all of the action is an extortion threat against the government. In exchange for $100 million in payments to the families of marines who died on secret missions and thus (supposedly) were never recognized by the government, a bunch of renegade marines led by a highly decorated, capable, experienced marine general will not destroy San Francisco.
Before the movie begins this renegade marine combat unit captured the former Alcatraz Island Prison, "the Rock," and has about 80 civilian tourists hostage on the island. They also brought with them surface-to-surface guided missiles and missile launchers(on the Alcatraz ferry or some other unstated means of transport). Although the US military has no weapons with lethal chemical or biological warheads, the missiles in this movie are armed with deadly mass destruction chemical warheads. The missiles apparently have aerodynamic controls, and are not ballistic missiles, because they can radically change direction in mid-flight. As such, US fighter aircraft, if deployed in time, could easily shoot them down after they were launched, but that solution is not considered in the movie. (Perhaps the chemical would be released into the city's atmosphere even if the missiles were destroyed in flight, but the possibility is not even discussed by the authorities. Nor is the option discussed of using the military's knowledge of the missiles' remote control communications to redirect the guidance systems via appropriately coded radio commands.) The major action is then about a seal team's attempt to forcibly recover and disable the missile warheads. A second action sequence is the escape of the Sean Connery character, who is a prisoner held incommunicado by the White House, and a violent chase through the hills of San Francisco with lots of crashes and fireballs.
The premise of the script has major problems. In any extortion threat, both the criminal and victim lose once the threat is carried out. That is, once executed, the bad guys no longer have bargaining power. For extortion to work the victim has to believe that whatever he is afraid will happen will occur if he does not comply with the criminal's demands, AND WON'T occur if he does comply. That point is lost on the criminally insane marines commanded by the Marine General, ably played by Sam Harris, and by the inept or uncaring script writer. The bad marines want the money and think that if they launch the missiles after their deadline is up that the government will then send them $100 million, like paying a ransom AFTER learning that a kidnapped victim is dead.
Another problem with the scenario is that the script fails to address how the bad guys expected to be able to have access to the $100 million even if the government agreed to give it to them. After all, they would still be on an island in the middle of San Francisco bay. The government could transfer money to accounts designated by the criminals, but the government could also then freeze those accounts or arrest anyone who tried to use the money.
The plot outcome is also predictable. The character played by Nicolas Cage is obviously going to be the hero who will survive. Whether Sean Connery will also survive is not as sure, but it is easy to predict that he will not fail in his mission. Also, there is no doubt that San Francisco will not end up being destroyed.
In the movie the government elects to keep the threat secret, so as to prevent panic among the citizens. The movie could have been made more interesting by having the government experts argue over notifying or not notifying the public, and, if the decision was to notify the public, whether to recommend evacuation or the alternative of staying indoors with wet blankets covering windows or other places that outside air could get in. (This was what Israel advised its citizens to do in the first Gulf War when under attack by Iraqi modified SCUD ballistic missiles.)
I know crashes and explosions are expensive and dangerous to produce in a movie, but having seen many of these I find new ones rather repetitive and boring and not a reason to see a movie. I'd prefer the producers had used the money instead to get a better script.