The Rock

1/13/2018

Alcatraz. Only one man has ever broken out. Now five million lives depend on two men breaking in. Michael Bay's best picture. The sophomore effort from director Michael Bay, this $75 million dollar action film was released nationwide on June 7, 1996 - eventually earning $335 million. The particularly great R-rated premise sees a mild-mannered chemist teaming up with a resourceful ex-con who must infiltrate Alcatraz prison after a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve-gas attack. Constantly in over his head, and never one to use profane language, Nicholas Cage is excellent as the quirky chemist - often resorting to quips and jokes in lieu of violence. In a character that feels like a sort of spiritual successor to his portrayal of James Bond, Sean

8/25/2019

Welcome to The Rock. The Rock is directed by Michael Bay and written by David Weisberg, Douglas Cook & Mark Rosner. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, David Morse, William Forsythe & Michael Biehn. When a highly decorated army general (Harris) decides that he's had enough of his men dying and not getting the credit they deserve, he commandeers Alcatraz prison with a crack unit of Mercs. The plan is to hold the government to ransom or he will unleash from the prison biological rockets to bring Armageddon down upon America. Enter chemical weapons expert Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), who is forced to team up with the only man ever to escape Alcatraz - the mysteriously incarcerated in secret John Patrick Mason (Connery) - to break into the Rock and thwart the plans of the Me

7/26/2020

The two lead characters' impact on the events of the move are pretty negligible, everyone and everything in it is laughably stupid, and you can see here begin to blossom the stereotypes that Michael Bay would go on you ruin everything he ever touched with, but I still kind of like _The Rock_. Maybe it's just in comparison to all of Bay's other films, or maybe it's because it's the only one of his works I saw when I was still single-digit aged, but I do enjoy it. I'm not willing to defend it, just to re-watch it once a decade or so. _Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go. _

8/27/2023

Right, first things first - turn your brain down to simmer for a couple of hours before you watch this and just remember it is meant to be a far-fetched action film. Once in that gear, it's not actually that bad once it eventually gets going. Rogue general "Hummel" (Ed Harris) steals some highly potent chemical weapons, takes some hostages on Alcatraz and points his weapons at San Francisco. It falls to FBI biochemist "Goodspeed" (Nicolas Cage) and the even more rogue prisoner "Mason" (Sean Connery) to take some marines and thwart this lethal attack. None of the acting here is any good - they are all pretty shocking, but once everyone is entrenched on the island, there are plenty of pyrotechnics, the pace picks up and this becomes mildly entertaining for the last half hour. The dialogue is

2/20/2025

The Rock (1996) is a solid action-packed ride from start to finish. The plot is straightforward but executed well, with a strong first act that sets everything up nicely. The pacing keeps things moving without dragging, and there's a good balance between intense action and quieter moments that build character relationships. The script is solid, delivering sharp dialogue and a few memorable lines that stick with you long after the credits roll. Michael Bay’s direction is exactly what you’d expect, high-energy, explosive, and visually dynamic. The cinematography has that gritty yet polished look that works perfectly for this kind of movie, making the action sequences feel immersive and intense. Bay’s signature camera movements and framing give everything a larger-than-life feel, keeping t