OK so this is the 50th post of the year and one just short of my 300th post on this blog so while the choice of film I have gone for in this case isn't a masterpiece its still good fun all the same and that film is The Rock.
So let's gear up, get the infrared goggles, the machine guns and get down into the sewers to look at this mutha....
And as usual SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
Soooo the story begins with a group of rogue US marines led by Brigadier General Frank Hummel (Ed Harris) who steal a stockpile of deadly VX-gas armed rockets. Hummel and his men the next day seize control of Alcatraz island and take several tourists hostage. Hummel then threatens to launch the rockets against San Francisco unless the government pays $100 million from a military fund, which he intends to distribute to his men and the families of Recon marines who died on secret missions and the families were not compensated for. As a result the Pentagon and the FBI recruit a Navy SEAL team along with the inexperienced FBI agent, Dr Stanley Goodspeed (Nicholas Cage) who is a chemical weapons specialist. The FBI director James Womack (John Spencer) also reluctantly decides to recruit the help of a former British soldier, John Mason (Sean Connery) who was once a prisoner at Alcatraz who successfully escaped the prison before it closed down. Mason himself was imprisoned for 30 years by Womack for harbouring sensitive Government secrets, who with little choice comes along for the mission in return for a free pardon (which Womack tears up unknown to Mason).
Mason is then taken to the Fairmont hotel where he is given a haircut but then manages to flee Womack's custody and steal a Humvee with Goodspeed in pursuit. Mason tracks down his daughter Jade (Claire Forlani) so that he can talk to her but Mason is soon reapprehended by Goodspeed. Goodspeed, Mason and the navy SEALs lead by Commander Anderson (Michael Biehn) infiltrate Alcatraz however Hummel is alerted to their presence and sends his men to take them out as they have a confrontation in the shower room, where Hummel's men open fire and kill all the SEALs however Goodspeed and Mason escape into the sewers. Goodspeed then manages to persuade Mason to help him after telling him the full truth of the situation and that his daughter Jade is also at risk and Goodspeed is also concerned for his pregnant fiance Carla (Vanessa Marcil). So from here its up to Goodspeed and Mason to try and stop the deranged Hummel from carrying out his plan.....
THOUGHTS
There is no doubt that The Rock is an incredibly silly and not to mention cheesy action film but that doesn't stop it from being a pretty entertaining one also. The story itself is pretty ridiculous (but I will get on to that more in the flaws section of the review) and the casting of Cage in action role in itself is a pretty unlikely choice for an action film although it lead to him appearing in a slew action films after that such as Con Air, Face/off and Ghost Rider. But it makes for a unique pairing to have such contrasting lead actors with Cage and Connery and it has to be said they work well together in the movie.
PERFORMANCES
Getting onto the performances well they are mostly pretty good starting with Nicholas Cage who is pretty good in his role as the inexperienced FBI agent Stanely Goodspeed. Cage however is at times a bit annoying in the part as well though and his character does grate after a while as Goodspeed likes to do plenty of moaning and whinging before he begins to accept his task and really grows a pair. But that doesn't mean to say that Cage doesn't have his moments in the film, which he does. And as a few examples for starters there is his first scene where Goodspeed opens a parcel containing a rare limited vinyl edition LP of The Beatles second album "With the Beatles". And when Goodspeed's colleague, Isherwood asks him "Why don't you just spend $13 on a CD, man?" Goodspeed answers "Well first of all, its because I'm a Beatlemaniac. And second these sound better!". Another good Cage moment is when Goodspeed first meets Womack and he get's a bit carried away with telling them about the VX gas and Womack asks him what he knows of the gas "Its very, very horrible, sir. Its one of those things we wish we could disinvent!". Then there is the scene where Goodspeed while at Alcatraz tries to deactivate one of the rockets and he says to Mason " Look, I'm just a biochemist. Most of the time, I work in a little glass jar and lead a very uneventful life. I drive a Volvo, a beige one. But what I'm dealing with here is one of the most deadly substances the earth has ever known, so what say you cut me some FRIGGIN' SLACK?!". And then there is the scene where Goodspeed finally catches up with Mason after he escaped Womack's custody and Goodspeed berates him for Mason punching him in the face earlier and says "What do you say we cut the chit-chat A-HOLE?! You almost got me killed twice and my jaw hurts like hell!".
Then there is the scene where one of the rogue marines, Captain Darrow confronts Goodspeed who warns him holding one of the VX gas pearl string in his hand and he says "You know this shit works?!" and Darrow points his knife at him saying "You know how THIS shit works?!". But then Goodspeed decides to change tack and says "Sorry we got off the wrong foot. Stan Goodspeed. Do you like music? How about Elton John's The Rocketman?" and Darrow says "I don't like soft-ass shit!". And Goodspeed says "Oh. I only bring it because its you. YOU'RE the rocket man!" and he fires the rocket which is in Darrow's path and it violently pushes him out the window with Goodspeed calling out after him saying "How do you like how THAT SHIT WORKS?!" and Darrow is thrown through the air and impaled on a transmitter pole (I think!). And then there is the following scene where another one of the rogue marines, Captain Frye tries to choke Goodspeed to death and Goodspeed manages to take one of the pearls of VX gas out of his pocket and jams it into Frye's mouth shouting "Eat that you FUCK!" and Frye dies almost instantly and Goodspeed takes out his syringe with the emergency atropine which he injects into his heart to save his life. And lastly there is the last scene of the film (SPOILER ALERT!!) where Goodspeed having been given a piece of paper with directions on it by Mason, steals a peg from a church pew which contains the microfilm Mason had which holds the Government's most precious secrets. And Goodspeed looks at the contents of the microfilm with an eyeglass saying "Honey... do you really wanna know who killed JFK?!".
Then there is Sean Connery who is great in his role as the veteran former British SAS Captain John Mason who was imprisoned and escaped from Alcatraz years ago. Connery also has plenty of good moments in the film as well such as the scene where Goodspeed finishes questioning Mason and Mason who was given a quarter by FBI agent Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe) stamps his chair over it to sharpen the edge of the coin. And Mason then proceeds to use it to cut out a hole in the glass of the interrogation room to see through the other side and he looks on to see Womack "Womack?! Why am I not surprised, you piece of shit!". Then there is the amusing scene at the Fairmont hotel where Mason is about to have his haircut and Womack confiscates the camp hairdresser's scissors and Mason walks in saying "I can't cut off anyone's balls with a trimmer, now can I?!". Then there is the scene where Mason and Goodspeed arrive at Alcatraz along with the SEALs and Mason manages to get himself inside to open the door for the men but he takes a few minutes and eventually appears and says "Welcome to the Rock!". And then there is the scene where Mason and Goodspeed are at Alcatraz and Mason asks him "Are you ready for this?" and Goodspeed says "I'll do my best" and Mason mocks him saying "Your "best"! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen!". And one of Sean's best moments comes in the scene where he surrenders himself to Hummel to buy Goodspeed time to find the remaining rockets. And in the scene Mason disagrees with Hummel's actions by saying "I don't quite see how you cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million. And, this is not combat, it's an act of lunacy, General Sir. Personally, I think you're a fucking idiot!". And in the scene Hummel says how ""The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson" and Mason says "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious" according to Oscar Wilde" causing Hummel to angrily hit him and Mason afterward says "Thank you for making my point!". And last of all there is the scene where Mason after decides to give up and leave Goodspeed to the task of stopping Hummel, he changes his mind and comes back and saves him from one of Hummel's men. And Mason says to Goodspeed "I decided I didn't want your baby growing up without a father. And the last time I swam this channel I was your age, so I'm fucked either way!". And last last of all is the scene where Mason and Goodspeed are captured again and placed in cells and Goodspeed asks Mason "How, in the name of Zeus's BUTTHOLE, did you get out of your cell?! I only ask because in our current situation, well, it could prove to be useful information. MAYBE!!". And Mason manages to devise his escape and then opens Goodspeed's cell door and says to him "Trade secrets, my son!".
Next up is Ed Harris who is excellent in his role as the somewhat disillusioned and unhinged General Hummel who threatens to launch the nerve gas rockets on the population of San Francisco. Harris also has some good moments and he often uses his hot tempered onscreen persona very well throughout the film. For starters there is the scene where the SEALs are ambushed in the shower room (that sounds a bit dodgy!) by Hummel and his men up above and Hummel and the SEAL commmander Anderson engage in an intense argument. And Hummel says to him "You call it what you want! You're down there, we're up here! You walked into the wrong goddamn room, Commander!". Another good moment from Harris comes when he is on the phone to the Pentagon and he puts the Chief of staff Sinclair from the Whitehouse in his place when Hummel asks him "How old are you?" and the COS says "I'm 33". And Hummel says "Well Mr. Sinclair, you've probably got no FUCKING idea what I'm talking about! By your 9th birthday, I was running BlackOps into China and my men were responsible for over two-hundred enemy kills. Now someone put some rigging tape over Mr. Sinclair's mouth, he's wasting my time!". And then towards the end of the film there is the scene where Hummel fires one of the missiles but he changes its trajectory so it detonates safely into the sea. And Hummel afterward argues with his men saying to them "I'm not about to kill 80,000 innocent people! Do you think I'm out of my fucking mind? We bluffed, they called it. The mission is over!".
Then we have John Spencer (sadly no longer with us) who is also very good as the cynical FBI director Womack who is very weary of Mason. Spencer's highlights in the film include the scene where Mason dangles Womack over the balcony of the hotel and one of the agents finally manages to pull him up and Womack cries out "Watch it, you fuckhead! You're gonna pull my arm out!". Then there is the scene where Womack has a secret talk with FBI agent Paxton about why Mason was imprisoned "This man knows our most intimate secrets from the last half century! The alien landing at Roswell, the truth behind the J.F.K. assassination. Mason's angry, he's lethal, he's a trained killer... and he is the only hope that we have got!". Another good scene is when Goodspeed finds out he will going to Alcatraz with the Navy SEALs via under the water and Goodspeed says to Womack "You mean I'm going out there, under the water?" and Womack says "Well earlier today you wanted a gun. Now you're getting a gun and a wet suit!".
And the last few cast members I will mention are Michael Biehn who is excellent in his somewhat brief role as Commander Anderson. Biehn's best scene comes when he confronts Hummel at Alcatraz and he warns him "You men following the General: you're under oath as United States Marines, have you forgotten that? We all have shipmates we remember, some of them were shit on and pissed on by the Pentagon. But that doesn't give you the right to mutiny!". Then there is Tony Todd as the rogue marine Captain Darrow who is quite good and in his one standout scene is when he argues with Hummel over their ransom money "I'm not a soldier, Major. The day we took hostages, we became mercenaries. And mercenaries get paid. I want my FUCKING money!". William Forsythe is also pretty good as the FBI agent Paxton who is somewhat kept in the dark by Womack but he later forces him to tell him what is going on with Mason. And Paxton says to Womack in the scene "Now you tell me I'm on a need-to-know basis. And I'm telling you right now, I need to who the fuck John Mason is, right now sir!". And later on (SPOILER ALERT!!!!) when Goodspeed lies about Mason being killed he tells Paxton that Mason was "Vapourised. Blown out to sea" and Paxton smiles saying "Blown out to sea, huh? Poor bastard!" but he gives Goodspeed a knowing smile.
Gregory Sporleder does not too bad in his role as the other rogue marine, Captain Frye who has a good scene where he tries to persuade Hummel to launch a VX gas rocket by saying "Come on, general, let's be what we can all be!". And later there is his last scene where Frye fights with Goodspeed and tries to throttle him and he yells "I'm GONNA CHOKE MY MILLION BUCKS OUT OF YOU!" before Goodspeed finishes him off with a single pearl of VX gas. And lastly there is David Morse who is very good as Major Tom Baxter, Hummel's second in command. And Morse also has some good moments and one that stands out is when Hummel, Frye and Darrow have a stand-off and Darrow and Frye force Baxter to make up his mind as to his allegiance. And Baxter says "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve with you, General." but then he points his gun at Hummel "But like he said, its over!" and he choose to shoot Darrow instead as the gunfight ensues.
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Finally getting onto the direction and music section of the review, Michael Bay does a fine job here in what its probably safe to say is his only good film (bit harsh maybe where else is the evidence?!). But Bay does handle the film's action very well throughout. Bay also paces out the film very well and it rarely ever lags at any time. The film was also during its production said to be fraught with tensions between the director Michael Bay and Walt Disney Studio execs (do executives acutally do ANYTHING productive???) which eventually lead to a meeting between the execs, Bay and also Connery came along (apparently dressed for a game of golf!) who was said to have stood up for Bay and persuaded them to back off (well Sean is a man's man and not to be messed with that's for sure!).
Music wise the film features a pretty decent score by Nick-Glennie Smith and Hans Zimmer although it is still pretty much your typical overblown Hollywood action movie score, which is nothing too great to write home about and isn't overly memorable either. But it suits the tone of the film pretty well and its safe to say that it serves its purpose.
FLAWS
As for The Rock's flaws..... yeah OK there are some. To start off the plot itself is pretty ridiculous in that such an honourable marine general as Hummel would be fully prepared to launch rockets at innocent people in San Francisco in the first place. And although Hummel looks fully dedicated to his task he later on changes his mind as he realises he's not as crazy as the rest of his rogue marines and that as Mason says to him "I don't quite see how you cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million" which must have been the catalyst to him changing his mind. But in the end its a copout by Hummel that he decides not to go through with it and all of a sudden the so called money they were after is no longer important either.
Its also pretty far fetched of course to think that Mason and Goodspeed would stand any realistic chance against a group of ruthless US Marines who are highly trained in combat whereas Mason is long since retired and Goodspeed is extremely inexperienced as an FBI agent with little to nothing in the way of actual combat training. Yet these two guys alone manage to take down the marines and save the day...... yeah OK that is very probable....not!
The film could also be said to be guilty of character stereotyping such as the inexperienced Whitehouse chief of staff who is only 33 and he get's berated for it by Hummel as if he was a headmaster telling off a school pupil for talking back to him! Then there is of course the camp hairdresser who cuts Mason's hair and he clearly is a gay stereotype and he is given some cringeworthy dialogue in the film such as "I don't care that you dangled that man (Womack) over the side of the balcony all I want to know is: are you happy with your haircut???".
Its also a bit daft how the story decided to neatly throw in that Mason had a daughter and not only that he manages to find her pretty quickly by making a simple phone call to find her address. And of course Mason just happens to spot her having a walk with her friend and bingo before you know they start chatting where his daughter, Jades, makes the ridiculous comment that how "But I don't think that we should romanticize what happened between you and her. Meeting in a bar after a Led Zeppelin concert, ya know? And I was the result".
And when you think about it that mucks up the whole timeline of Mason's imprisonment as he obviously must have been serving his prison sentence and then escaped during it to go and see a Led Zeppelin concert. Now Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 so I'd imagine that if he escape from jail that it must have been around 1969 or 1970 maybe as it couldn't have been 1966 (as the film was made in 1996 and he was imprisoned for 30 years!). So that's the only thing that could possibly make any sort of sense in these circumstances either that or they were trying to claim he saw a Zepplin concert in 1966 which is impossible given that would be two years before they even formed!
And last of all this film is also guilty as are other Hollywood films of not identifying Scotland as AN ACTUAL COUNTRY!!! Sorry to sound angry about this but as a Scotsman myself it does irritate me when American film makers can't even look up a map and see that Scotland is not a little island that lies within England but it is in actual fact a separate entity all of its own!! And the scene that I refer in this film that raises this issue is when one of the badass marines is kicking Mason's arse and he says to him "English prick! Did I ever tell you that my father was Irish?!". OK for starters he is NOT English you dick, he IS Scottish! LISTEN to the accent!! And further to that scene the film even makes reference to Mason's address history as he was originally from Glasgow (in England of course!) but I don't even think that Glasgow is ever made in reference to Scotland in the film at all. So yep that does bug me and its also a fundamental flaw in Mrs. Doubtfire as well as Robin Williams clearly is pretending to being a Scottish nanny yet he/she is credited as being from England!
Anyway sorry for the rant (calm down now) and well that's about it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So summing up The Rock is a very enjoyable albeit very silly action movie which is still fun to watch and it also works pretty well thanks to the odd pairing of Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery who share a pretty good onscreen chemistry together (no pun intended!). The action scenes are also pretty well done and the supporting cast are also quite strong so that in itself also makes up for the film's shortcomings. But all in all its good fun and its rather a pity that Michael Bay has never really made as good a film since (well in my opinion he's made one or two half-way decent ones but just not as good as The Rock).
Right so that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with the 300th post of this blog and I will need to think about what it might be. I was considering reviewing the historical action film 300, which would be pretty apt but I've decided against that one but I will come up with something!
And on that note I shall say bye for now!
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