Well, its been quite a while since I've done a post on here mainly due to personal reasons but I figured I would get around to doing one at last.
So, this post will be a revisit of an older one, which is of the action film, The Rock, starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery. So, it will be the usual expansion of sections and editing in a few extra bits here and there.
So, with that said let's take a look at how The Rock fairs 26 years on from its release...
And the usual warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, 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 captured 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 AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!).
Getting onto the performances well they are mostly pretty good with a strong cast.
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 origins of 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?!".
Sean Connery next up 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 a man's balls with a trimmer, now can I?! Let's do this outside and get some sun".
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 as he makes a dangerous series of rolls under some boiler fires. And Mason eventually appears as he opens a a door and says to the men "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 Goodspeed tells Mason "Carla was the prom queen" and Mason surprised says "Really!" and Goodspeed says "Yeah" as he cocks his gun.
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 "This was a mission of force! 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!".
Next up is 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!".
Tony Todd as the rogue marine Captain Darrow who is quite good and he has a couple of notable scenes such as 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!".
And lastly there is the scene where Darrow hunts down Goodspeed and corners him in a lighthouse with one of the VX rockets. So, in the scene Darrow holding his guns looking for Goodspeed says "Where are you little chicken shit?!" and Goodspeed stands up holding a canister of the VX gas and says to him "You shoot me, I drop this and we're both dead" and Darrow eases a little and says "Come on, don't be scared! Im not gonna hurt you!". Goodspeed warns him "You know how this shit works?!" and Darrow pulls out his knife and says "You know THIS shit works?!". And as Goodspeed moves by nearby the rocket launcher and changes tack and friendly says "We got off on the wrong foot! Do you like music?! How about the song Elton John Rocket man?" and Darrow says "I don't like that soft-ass shit!".
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 such as the one where Baxter confronts Hummel as he stalls for time to stop launching one of the VX rockets.
So, in the scene Baxter insists that Hummel ask for a new deadline to fire the rockets and he picks up a portable phone and says "We're asking for a new deadline!" and Hummel warns him "Put the phone down". Hummel says "The men are marines!" and Baxter asks "Are they?" and Baxter get's through to the Pentagon. So, Baxter says on the phone "I wanna talk to General Kramer" and Hummel warns Baxter "And now you're been asked by an old friend!" and Baxter still on the phone says "Put him on the phone right now". Hummel then angrily says "Now you're being ordered by a superior officer!" and Baxter says on the hope "This is Major Baxter..." and Hummel finally pulls his gun on Baxter and says "Now you're been given your last chance by a man with a gun! Put the phone down!" and Baxter puts the phone down and says "I thought you weren't ready to kill" and Hummel says "I'm warming up!".
And last of all is the scene 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 chooses 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 its a fair amount of them.
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, Jade, 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 and well that's about it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So summing up The Rock is still an 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 any films that are any good since.
So, with that said, I will give The Rock at rating of:
8 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back hopefully a bit sooner with another post.
Until then its bye for now!
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