The Rock (1996)-"R"

Run Time:136 minutes

2 and 1/2 stars out of 4

One of the most successful action films of 1996, The Rock, had multitudes of fans and is still considered a favorite by a lot of people that love action films. Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the same team that made Bad Boys, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor, The Rock is similar to other Bruckheimer-Bay collaborations with its big budget, big-name stars, explosion-filled action sequences, and resemblance to a movie preview with all of its rapid-fire cuts from shot to shot. I will say right now that I despise most of Bruckheimer's productions, and that even with as many problems as it had, The Rock is probably the best work to come from his studio. The story is a fairly basic action plot: A group of radical military commandos hijack vials of deadly nerve gas and hold a group of tourists and park rangers hostage on Alcatraz, a tiny prison island across the bay from San Fransico. The commandos are led by renegade U.S. general Francis Hummel (Ed Harris), who demands the country to pay $100 million in compensation to families of U.S. soldiers who have died in covert operations. As an added threat, he arms 15 missiles with the deadly nerve gas and threatens to release them on San Fransico if his demands aren't met. The U.S. government refuses to pay, but stalls for time while they mobilize a group of Navy SEALS to storm the island, rescue the hostages, and disarm the bombs. In addition to the SEALs, the FBI enlists biological warfare chemist Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) to do the disarming, and dangerous criminal and former Alcatraz-escapee John Mason (Sean Connery) to navigate the labyrinth of sewers under the prison. As in a lot of action films, the situation is ludicrous and incredibly unrealistic, the events are way too dramatic, and the pace of the film is way too hurried. However, this film had many redeeming qualities that made it a much more decent movie, not the least of which was the cast. Although Connery and Cage played their usual roles, their presence gave the film a classier quality, and brought life and intensity to their characters. Another positive was the character development for Goodspeed, Mason, and even Gen. Hummel. It was clear to the audience just why they were doing what they were doing, and it made them much more realistic and human, not just formulated action-figures. In my mind, the acting and relatively well-developed storyline won out in the end over the trashy filming techniques, stupid catchphrases, and non-stop explosions which make most action films these days hard to bear.