The Rock
Tags: comedy, mystery, murder, violence, action, revenge

Plot synopsis:
On a rainy morning at Arlington National Cemetery, Brigadier General Francis Hummel (Ed Harris) visits the grave of his wife, Barbara, who had recently passed away from an illness. He tells her that he misses her, but there is something he has to do now, and most of the world isn't going to like it. He hopes that wherever she is, she understands that he did what he had to do. After saying a final goodbye, he places his Medal of Honor on the headstone before he leaves.Later that night, Hummel leads a group of rogue Force Recon Marines on a raid of a Naval Weapons Depot. They seize a stockpile of rockets armed with weapons grade O-ethyl methylphosphonothioic acid, more commonly known as VX gas. They lose one of their men in the process, a horrific death caused by an accidental release of the chemical when one of the canisters was dropped and a sphere containing the deadly substance shatters.In an FBI lab in Washington DC, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) is called in to inspect a package sent to Bosnian refugees. He and a trainee, Marv Isherwood (Todd Louiso), find a small doll inside that sprays them with sarin gas and contains a bomb made of C4 explosive that could destroy the lab and kill everyone in the building. As Stanley works frantically to disarm the bomb he turns down a hypodermic needle loaded with a dose of atropine. Stanley disarms the bomb successfully. At home that night, he relaxes until his girlfriend, Carla (Vanessa Marcil) arrives home. She tells him she's pregnant, and Stanley accepts her marriage proposal.Hummel is joined by other Marines who have served him over the course of his career; Major Tom Baxter (David Morse), who he served with in Vietnam, Captain Hendrix (John C. McGinley), who he served with in the Gulf, and Captains Frye (Gregory Sporleder) and Darrow (Tony Todd), who organized the raid on the weapons depot. They seize Alcatraz Island and take 81 tourists hostage, placing them in the prison cells, then threatening the FBI and Pentagon with launching the VX rockets against the population of San Francisco, unless the government pays ransom and reparations to the families of Marines who died on illegal, clandestine Marine Force Recon missions ("Black Ops") that were commanded by General Hummel.After Goodspeed makes love to Carla, he receives a call telling him to report to San Francisco. He assures her that it is probably just a training exercise, and they can be married there when it is finished. When he arrives, he is greeted by senior agent Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe) and Bureau Director James Womack (John Spencer). They brief him on the situation, asking him to consult. Goodspeed agrees, but asks Paxton for a gun having left his own sidearm at home. SEAL Commander Anderson (Michael Biehn) offers to lead an incursion team to the island to neutralize the warheads and free the hostages. In need of reliable first-hand knowledge of the physical layout of Alcatraz, Womack is forced to turn to long-time federal prisoner John Mason (Sean Connery), the only former inmate of Alcatraz to ever successfully escape. There is a considerable amount of bad blood between Mason and Womack, so Goodspeed is tasked with talking to him. Mason is willing to cooperate, however, shortly after he signs his pardon, Womack tears it up. Goodspeed notes that while they were talking to Mason he mentioned the names of several historical figures who were wrongfully imprisoned like Nelson Mandela, Sir Walter Raleigh, Archimedes and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Womack brushes it off, accusing Goodspeed of asking too many questions.Part of Mason's agreement includes a short stay at a luxury suite at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel. He calls in a large amount of food to distract his minders. Out on the suite's balcony, Mason, while shaking on the deal he made with Womack, slips a rope around Womack's wrist and throws him over the side, holding the rope. When Goodspeed calls the other agents to help him pull Womack to safety, Mason escapes. He steals a Humvee from a hotel patron and drives recklessly through San Francisco, colliding with cars and other obstacles to block the pursuit of him. He finally makes it to the Palace of Fine Arts and meets with his daughter, Jade (Claire Forlani). The two seem to reconcile, Jade being bitter after her mother's death and Mason's (unintentional) abandonment. Goodspeed shows up and tells Mason they have to rejoin the FBI team. Upon their return, Goodspeed learns that he himself will accompany Mason and the incursion team to Alcatraz, despite his minimal combat training and fear of deep water. Paxton appeases him by having his men get Carla to safety.With Mason's guidance, the SEAL incursion team successfully infiltrates Alcatraz undetected, but as they work their way through the tunnels of Alcatraz and enter the shower room, their presence is detected by sophisticated equipment set up by Hummel's men. Hummel attempts to talk Anderson down, but Frye and Darrow grow impatient and open fire, leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. With Mason deciding to leave the island, Goodspeed must reveal the true purpose of the mission. Realizing his daughter's life is at risk, Mason agrees to stay and help.They begin the process of seeking out and disabling the 15 rockets one-by-one, traveling through the underground catacombs to avoid detection. After twelve rockets are sabotaged by Goodspeed and Mason, Captain Hendrix is ordered to take a fireteam down to the catacombs, resulting in a pitched battle in which Goodspeed uses lethal force for the first time. After learning that Hendrix's squad has been killed, Hummel threatens to execute one of the hostages unless the guidance chips of the sabotaged rockets are returned to him. Goodspeed grapples with the idea of surrendering the chips for a few moments until Mason destroys the chips, then surrenders to Hummel to buy time for Goodspeed to disable more rockets. During a tense confrontation in the prison courtyard, Mason insinuates that Hummel is actually insulting the memory of his fallen soldiers by threatening innocent civilians, and tests the general's resolve by calling him an idiot and denouncing his sense of patriotism as "a virtue of the vicious." (he quotes Oscar Wilde). Hummel angrily strikes Mason and prepares to shoot him in the head, but instead orders him locked up. Goodspeed is able to disable the thirteenth rocket just before he is captured. Meanwhile, realizing that the SEAL team is lost, the Pentagon readies a backup plan, an attack by armed F-18s that will neutralize the poison gas by releasing thermite plasma bombs, which would also kill everyone on the island.Paxton confronts Womack, asserting that given the severity of the situation, he has earned the right to know why Mason was imprisoned, and why Womack hates him so much. Womack reveals that Mason was a Captain for the British SAS. He stole a microfilm containing serious secrets about U.S. and other world leaders and events. The information came from the personal files of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Mason was captured at the Canadian border and refused to divulge the location of the microfilm. After being disavowed by the SAS, he was kept locked up, without benefit of trial, and told he would not be released until he gave up the microfilm. After Hoover died, the agency became a different beast, but it also became harder to come clean about the incident, so Mason remained locked away and forgotten.Mason is imparting this same information to Goodspeed as he fashions the bedding of his cell into a knotted rope. He explains that the government had no intention of ever letting him go; had he given up the microfilm, they would have simply killed him. Goodspeed furiously asks how he managed to get out of the cell in the first place. An annoyed Mason ignores the question, simply throwing the rope until it finally hits a security switch that unlocks their cell doors. Once they have safely made it to the beach, Mason again decides to leave the island, convinced that Hummel is only bluffing. Goodspeed insists that the military will need more than Mason's assumption to call off the airstrike, and he will finish the mission alone if he has to. Goodspeed is captured before he can find another rocket, but he's rescued by Mason, who decided to come back, he did not want to see Stanley's child grow up without a father, as Jade has.The deadline Hummel gave the FBI/Pentagon arrives, and when there is no ransom paid and more time requested, Major Baxter demands he take action. Hummel orders a rocket fired. It's headed for a full stadium at Candlestick Park, but Hummel secretly enters revised coordinates on his computer keyboard and redirects the rocket so that it falls into the ocean. The surviving officers are furious, as Washington will now believe they are weak and hit them with everything they've got. Hummel tells them that the whole operation was a bluff that the government didn't fall for, and since he's a professional soldier, not a murderer, it's all over. He tells his men to take some hostages and leave, he will surrender and take the heat for it all. Frye and Darrow refuse. They consider themselves mercenaries working for pay, and they want their money, or to make good on the threats. A Mexican standoff ensues, and Mason and Goodspeed arrive just in time to witness its conclusion. As shots are fired, General Hummel and Major Baxter are fatally wounded. As Mason opens fire on the mutineers, forcing them to disperse, a dying Hummel tells Goodspeed that the last rocket is in the lower lighthouse.Goodspeed heads to the lighthouse while Mason covers him from the rooftops. As Goodspeed disarms the last rocket, Darrow corners him, menacing him with a combat knife. Goodspeed launches the now unarmed rocket, which hits Darrow squarely in chest, causing him to plummet to his death. As Goodspeed is handling the final string of green VX spheres, one of them drops on the deck. He catches it before it can shatter, but before he can safely stash it away, Frye attacks him. With the thermite plasma-armed jets approaching, Frye overpowers Goodspeed and proceeds to strangle him, threatening to choke his million bucks out of him. Out of options, Goodspeed shoves the loose sphere into the captain's mouth and hits him in the jaw, crushing the vial and releasing the contents. Captain Frye dies almost instantly, violently convulsing as his flesh melts away. The liquid also gets on Goodspeed and he immediately stumbles away and pulls the atropine antidote from his boot and injects himself in the heart with it. He is then able to grab and light off two green flares, the prearranged signal that the threat is over. The flares are spotted from land, but only after one of the jet pilots has released his bombs, exploding on the rear of the island, missing all the hostages and sending Goodspeed flying into the sea.Mason reappears to pull the unconscious Goodspeed to shore. Paxton calls on the radio and learns from Goodspeed that all the hostages are still alive, but that Mason had been killed. That provides Mason time to escape before the FBI arrives. Goodspeed tells Paxton and Womack that Mason was "vaporized" by the thermite plasma missile.The film ends with Goodspeed running from a church in Ft. Walton, Kansas, as Carla urges him to hurry and get in the car so they can get away. Goodspeed has in his hand a canister containing microfilm. Mason had told him where to find it. He looks at the microfilm and asks Carla if she'd like to know who really shot JFK.

Review: The name alone sounds powerful, and behind it is two hours of incredible special effects, superb acting, great action set pieces, and good dosage of writing, and Michael Bay on top of his game.Few action movies carries as much morality and questionable circumstances as this one.
The supporting staff helps as well, as we see the likes of David Morse, John Spencer, and Cage's love interest Vanessa Marcil.Unlike Michael Bay's latest films, which run from mediocre to just plain bad, he blends plenty of drama and suspense along with action here.
Add to the mix, Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris and a great supporting cast including John Spencer, William Forsythe and David Morse, and "The Rock" is one of the best ways to spend two hours.
Nick Cage - in a performance which approaches his best work - adds a bit of campiness and humor to this explosive mixture, and John Spencer, Tony Todd, David Morse, and Michael Biehn all contribute substantially to an exciting, fast-paced and emotionally draining film.
This raises the line of tension even further.· Most of the production takes place in a high security prison, Alcatraz, crafted with a complex, awe-inspiring atmosphere towering over that of most action movies.· Sean Connery handles the complicated role of John Mason with mere simplicity, yet easily torments the audience with a sense of omniscient knowledge of the plot.· The picture is unpredictable and contains several inducing and unexpected twists proving this movie is imaginative and free to surprise us.
Thus, a film that I would have otherwise said was "okay" became a really good action movie with some characters that I actually cared about.There was lots of violence and profanity, and a brief sexual situation (although no nudity) near the beginning.
He is a highly-ranked general who is doing this to teach the government a lesson: they've been neglecting forgotten soldiers who died in the Gulf and Nam, and instead of their families being told the truth, they've simply been marked as "Missing in Action." He is played by Ed Harris, who does such a good man torn between duty, conscience, and vengeance, he is the best film villain since Jack Nicholson in "The Shining."Goodspeed is a computer nerd working for the C.I.A. He's never been in combat situations, but because of his advanced knowledge of chemical bombs, they've sent him into Alcatraz with a group of Navy SEALS, and he has no idea how to react in war-like situations.
`The Rock'The film that solidified Nicolas Cage as an action star and Sean Connery aswella guy who uses the F-word a lot, `The Rock' never ceases to slow on the action; its plot is, of course, ridiculous, but I'm not looking for an Oscar winner in an action movie.Cage plays Stanley Goodspeed (weird name number 1), a chemical specialist whom disarms chemical bombs and such.Ed Harris plays Himmel or Hummel or something like that (weird name number 2), a respected General who one day decides, `What the heck!' and takes Alcatraz prison hostage; he demands respect for dead marines from the government, or he will release some ba-a-a-ad gas on San Francisco.
So, it is more than humorous to see him running around defenseless; especially seeing that it is Nicolas Cage, who usually plays action roles where he is the master of the weapons.Sean Connery is perfect for the role of John Mason; he blends wisecracks, action andwellSean Connery.Ed Harris is also very good as Himmelhummelwhatever; he seems a bit held back at times, but overall, his acting is as good as ever.The direction style in `The Rock' reminds me very much of other Nicolas Cage films, like John Woo's `Face/Off' and such.
Ed Harris also shines as the Good/Bad General who just wants a Burial for his Ex-Comrades, and he especially shines when he and Commander Anderson (Brilitantly played by Michel Biehn) have an argument in the now famous Shower Room Massacre scene, one of the best bits of the film...All in all, a very good Action film, with a truly wonderful cast!, A classic!.
In the case of The Rock, you get a LOT of extras: top-notch performances by A-list leads (Connery, Cage, Harris) and by some of the best supporting actors around (Morse, Biehn, Forsythe, Spencer, Todd, McGinley); a setting, the decrepit bowels of Alcatraz, that's a visual feast and almost a character in the movie itself; character development (!!!); and an action flick that ain't afraid to quote Oscar Wilde.Granted, it ain't Filet Mignon, or Schindler's List.
Every aspect of 'The Rock' shines; The performances are phenomonal, Hanz Zimmer's Composing is amazing(I highly suggest going to downloading the main theme off any file sharing)the direction is good, the charactors are well developed, solid, unlike a hulking retard who walks around aimlessly with a huge machine gun such as rambo...Any American will feel compassion about American soldiers losing their lives and not being honored or remembered Which is a the cause of the action in the film.
(I really liked Sean Connery's character; maybe a sequel with "Mr.John Mason"?)And then there are the heavyweights in acting, a rarity in action films.
The Rock has what people go to the movies for (well, the majority anyway), big action, good characters and reused plot stuffers, not to mention Sean Connery.
Oldtimer Sean Conery as good as in his best Bond movies, OK maybe not that good but how cool can a 65 year old man be, i think you can say like this!My absolute favorite actor, not just because I do look at lot like him, Nicolas Cage is so cool and good looking as always.
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.
This is Nicholas Cage's best performance ever, I love his character FBI Special Agent Dr. Stanley Goodspeed who did saved over 1000 human lives in San Francisco while he raced against time to disarm the bombs!
There are no CGI in this film, mostly Nicholas Cage is more interesting in here than Sean Connery is."Welcome to the Rock." Plot: Nicolas Cage is Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI chemical weapons specialist who is brought into a hostage situation involving a crew of former US Marines, led by a rogue US Marine general (Ed Harris), who have taken over the former prison on Alcatraz Island and are threatening the city of San Francisco with a launch of missiles filled with deadly VX poison gas.
Goodspeed finds himself going along on the mission to retake the prison with a squad of US Navy SEALS and John Mason (Sean Connery), a former SAS operative who has been imprisoned illegally for the past two decades, and the only man to have escaped the prison and can use his knowledge infiltrate "The Rock".So that is basically the plot of the film.
Overall: I love this flick to death I am giving 10 out of 10 for one of my favorite Nicolas Cage action films.The Rock is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, written by David Weisberg and Douglas S.
Boom, Bang this is one of the best action movies in the 90's quite possibly OK maybe I'm getting too bold but i really loved this movie what can i say it has everything you need from an action movie and a little bit more first the action itself is very intense and is paced with story very well this isn't no one after another action sequence like tomb raider cradle of life this has a darn good story to wrap around it also unlike the latest tomb raider you wont be falling asleep unless you haven't slept in like 10 days because even when the action isn't going on the plot keys the characters the action and the emotion will keep you glued to the screen i forgot i had to use the bathroom when i was watching it and i nearly peed myself but back to the topic it also has some really funny stuff not comedy style but for an action movie it is great and I've hardly ever seen a movie where every cast member big, small, cameo and any other kind is all excellent but this movie shows that Mason's daughter even gives a good performance and whoever the heck it was playing the barber had me laughing my @$$ off well that sums it up two thumbs up i would give more but i only have 2 thumbs......................recommended greatly.
Cooke with ongoing support by producers Jerry Bruckheimer & Don Simpson (1943-1996) raising the budget from 55 to 75 Million Dollar in order to engage Academy-Award Winner Sean Connery as master escapist John Patrick Mason, Nicolas Cage as bio chemist Stanley Goodspeed and Ed Harris as the memorable character of U.S. General Hummel, who puts the prison island Alcatraz under siege to restore honor toward fellow Vietnam War fallen soldiers, where measures of doing the right thing turning into a area of grey, indulging the audience to consider the situation.
The action scenes are of such high-visceral quality, captured in shutter speed changes, blood / guts and splintering bullets in 360 degrees views, especially in an infiltrating shoot-out scene at the sanitation bath rooms of Alcatraz.Shot on location in San Francisco and on the infamous prison island, where easy Californian living turns for the main characters into hostile life-threatening situations on urban streets, underwater, rock and stone of Alcatraz block buildings to prevent a major bio-weapon menace targeting the whole bay area.
Light-hearted character Goodspeed gets turned into a combat soldier against all odds by a fully-trained Navy seals and special addition to the infiltration team portrayed by Sean Connery's interpretation of the character of Mason, creating a mystical touch to the picture of being the man, who escaped the prison island, which benefits to the entertainment levels of "The Rock", which stands out in retrospective as daring, hard-boiled and at times fair ingredients of humor in an unless serious hyper-realistic scenario of an action-thriller for the senses.Trageting the young adults with his R-rating, which came to the movies for motion picture entertainment in the summer of 1996, where the balance between 1980s live-action hardcore-boldness and 1990s digital-enhancements of visuals felt intact; a circumstance that with an inflation-cleaned-up ticket price of 2017 in comparison would bring a box office success of roundabout 670 Million Dollar at today's international box offices; due to shifts from overpriced live-action units to run fast-cheap digital effects factories a seldom kid in action cinema to come by nowadays.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC).
'THE ROCK' was directed by Michael Bay, and stars Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery and Ed Harris.
​When ex US General Frank Hammel(Ed Harris) threatens to launch chemical weapons against San Fransisco from Alcatraz, the US government send in Stanley Goodspead(Nicholas Cage), a biochemist, and John Mason(Sean Connery), the only man to ever escape Alcatraz alive, to combat the general and save the city from annihilation.This is the best action movie with mediocre action.
Continuing my plant to watch every Sean Connery movie in order, I come to The Rock (1996)Plot In A Paragraph: A group of U.S. marines, under command of a renegade general, take over Alcatraz and threaten San Francisco Bay with biological weapons.
Stanley Goodspeed (Nicholas Cage) chemical weapons specialist and John Mason (Connery) the only man to have ever escaped from the Rock are the only ones who can save the day.I love this movie.
Any way you look at it, The Rock stands the text of time, and after 21 years, remains a perfect example of nineties action cinema and one of the most is one entertaining action movies ever made.The cast are all on top form, Connery and Cage make for a great double act, and it is a pity that nobody had the idea to reteam these characters in a sequel (OK it may have been more than a tad far fetched) or someone else reteamed them as they do have genuine chemistry that you can not buy.
But with likable performances by our leads Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery, adrenaline-fueled action set pieces, and a blissful taste of light-heart humor; the film is quite a bit of fun.
The film follows a story of Stanley Goodspeed (played by Nicolas Cage), a biochemist for the FBI who's called on a mission to bring down General Francis Hummel (played by Ed Harris) who along his fellow Marines has taken prisoners of Alcatraz Island hostage and set wipe out San Francisco with chemical missiles unless the FBI does one thing: pay him the $100,000 he demands for his military service.
Fighting by Goodspeed's side Mason (played by Sean Connery), a prison escapee who assists him on his no-holds-bar mission to thwart Hummel's attack and save the citizens of San Francisco.Director Michael Bay doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary for an action film.
It is also very funny at the times, with best lines coming from Sean Connery - his "seen it all" character creates a great contrast to Nicolas Cage's character.Overall, "The Rock" is a bad-ass action film with superb performances and great action scenes.
Their intention: to launch the rockets with VX gas onto San Francisco and kill the hostages unless the US government pays $100 million from a military slush fund, from which General Hummel will distribute to his men and the families of Recon Marines who were killed in action on clandestine missions under his command and whose deaths were not compensated by the US Government.The FBI call upon chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage who has never been better) who is brilliantly intelligent yet is barely experienced in the field and counter terrorism operations.
Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage star as John Patrick Mason and Stanley Goodspeed in an action-packed film where they lead a counterstrike on a rogue group of military men led by renegade General Francis X.
Hummel (Ed Harris), who threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.This is a fast-paced movie from start to finish, combining good acting (for the most part), drama, witty comedy, adventure and incredible special effects that make this an exhilarating and unique film.
The Rock is a fantastic movie with a very well written and developed storyline with a star studded and talented cast.The movie is without a doubt my favourite film from Michael Bay,I enjoy him as a director most of his films are usually very cliché action movies with too much action and not enough story,but this is a perfect mix of both.Sean Connery's performance as John Patrick Mason is easily my favourite in any Michael Bay film,he is a fantastic actor a delivers a brilliant performance to a character that is very different for him.I'm not a huge fan of Nicolas Cage,but thought he did a pretty good job in this,and I really enjoyed Ed Harris as a very unique villain,he is able to play any type of character.Fans of action and Michael Bay films will definitely enjoy the Rock.When a group of military men held a bunch of tourists hostage in Alcatraz and create a gas attack that will destroy all of San Francisco,the faith of everyone is put in to the hands of a former Alcatraz prisoner and a chemical weapons specialists..
With the help of ex-Alcatraz prisoner John Mason (Sean Connery) and a team of Navy Seals, chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) tries to prevent them from succeeding.I've been having a bit of a nostalgia trip as of late, re-watching some classic action films of the 90s; sadly, my second-hand DVD of The Rock was scratched, meaning that the picture regularly froze or skipped.
Hummel; Sean Connery plays Sean Connery (yet again); and Nicolas Cage acts like a lunatic as only he can.There are, of course, better action flicks from the 90s—this is still a Michael Bay film, after all—but it's good enough that I could be tempted to stump up one more pound coin should I see another copy at my local car-boot sale.
Along with its talented cast (Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris), The Rock has a good story and a fast pace, which keeps the audience wanting more.
None of the disgustingly sappy American patriotism of Pearl Harbor, nor the offensive, borderline racism of the Bad Boys films is present here - just a good, solid action movie which never attempts to be anything more profound than entertaining.Sean Connery is perfectly cast as John Patrick Mason, the contemptuous criminal, enlisted to help save San Francisco by the government he despises so, and he fills the screen with his indomitable, natural charisma.
Sean Connery has always been one of my favorite actors,and three decades after letting go of the James Bond label,he proves that he still can do leading roles in action movies.At the age of 66,that is by no means something ordinary.In this film he plays British S.A.S. operative John Patrick Mason who has spent thirty years in prison in the U.S..He is also the only one who escaped from the high security prison Alcatraz,also known as the 'The Rock'.
Ed Harris gives a very good performance as the rogue marine general and that really puts this movie above the action film crowd.
*** 1/2Starring: Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris.An easy-going chemist teams up with an aged criminal along with other soldiers to infiltrate Alcatraz Prison (aka The Rock) and stop a madman from launching a nuclear bomb.The movie has great characters filled in an action-packed setting that will never bore you.