Connery and Cage make this pretty good action movie into an excellent one.

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2005)

Yes, Connery and Cage have a chemistry and acting ability to make this movie that probably would have been just okay with other actors turn into a really fun action movie. Cage is a guy who is an expert at deactivating weapons, especially chemical ones, and Connery is a man who is locked up for life, but once escaped the infamous Alcatraz prison. What brings them together, former military men led by Ed Harris have taken hostages on the island prison of Alcatraz and they are threatening to launch chemical weapons into the heart of San Francisco if their demands are not met. What ensues is pure action as we have car chases through the streets of San Fran, we have special forces slipping into the prison, and we have many gun fights between forces. Still though Connery and Cage stand above everyone else and really make this movie rise a notch or two above what it would have been without them as they add some humorous dialog into the film. If I had a complaint it would be that the Ed Harris character does not make a very good bad guy as you almost feel sympathetic to him. However, plenty of the other soldiers in his charge are more typical bad guys for you to pull against. All in all a fun action ride that has one of my favorite actors in it, Sean Connery.