The Rock

MOVIE #2,244 • SCORE 9/10 • 12.26.24
SERIES: NICOLAS CAGE A-Z ACTOR FOCUS (Ch. 75)

I might not have seen this since I was a teenager in the theater (save for a few moments here and there on cable TV, I’m sure). I remembered next to nothing about the actual plot. There’s a lot going on in the opening ten minutes and I found it difficult to get my footing. Ed Harris is a decorated military man but he’s the bad guy? Things settle down when they cut to FBI chemical weapons expert (and Beatlemaniac) Cage playing with toy guns at the lab…

Then this shit happens with a baby doll from a Bosnian refugee camp…


Good setup with the giant needle (with payoffs to come) and a nice look into what Cage’s character is all about: he’s basically a nerd. Eventually, Harris’s whole deal is unpacked. He’s taken a bunch of tourists hostage on Alcatraz and has demands…


This is kind of a fascinating plot and really not a film that could have or would have gotten made post-9/11, most likely. It’s not my field of expertise, so I won’t wade into the political nature of The Rock (1996) but there’s certainly a lot of meat on the bone in said department. Suffice to say, it’s clear from the get-go (and solidified by Connery’s backstory) that the real enemy is the federal government/deep state.

Philip Baker Hall says they need to get elderly prisoner Sean Connery out of jail because he's so good at escaping from prisons (he actually broke out of The Rock in ‘63 but it was kept a secret) that he'll help them free the Alcatraz hostages? Sure. Checks out. Connery is, rightfully, confused…


They make a deal with Connery and get him a gay stylist to cut his hair and he escapes. They have a legendary car chase which I distinctly remember seeing in the theater…


When people say they love Michael Bay, it's because of shit like that. It's impossible not to like. Perfectly executed.

Cage gets the jump on him when he goes to visit his estranged daughter who conveniently lives nearby. The plan is still on despite the insane shenanigans wrecking half of San Fran.

There's so many great character actors in this (Baker Hall, Michael Biehn from The Terminator, Candyman Tony Todd, William Forsythe from Raising Arizona, just to name a few). They start the rescue mission with more than half the movie left to go. They get in without a hitch but then Harris’s men light up all the entire Seal rescue team. Except Cage and Connery….


We learn the truth about Connery's backstory (he’s a British intelligent agent who discovered a microfilm canister with all of our gov’s deep dark secrets — the real JFK assassin, etc.) as Cage tries to convince him to continue on with the mission (i.e., getting him to the missiles so he can diffuse the weapons and save the city, their loved ones included).

They find the missiles in the morgue and Cage disarms all but three by removing their guidance chips as Harris’s men close in on them and they retreat on a mineshaft rollercoaster thing…


They continue their escape on a gondola? Why does the prison have all this nonsense? Who cares! It looks great...


Connery then gives himself up as a distraction so Cage can locate the final three bombs. He gets to one of them before they're both thrown in jail cells. They had no problem gunning down a whole squad of Navy Seals but for some reason they can't kill these two? Movie logic is undefeated.

Connery breaks them out because of course he does and, for what feels like the tenth time, he threatens to give up, but ultimately comes back to save Cage's ass. Harris's men convince him to launch the first rocket, which he does, but he diverts it at the last second before it nails an Oakland Raiders game.

Meanwhile, the President approves an air strike to take out the whole island, including the 81 hostages, to save 1,000s in the city. Harris tells his men that the mission is over. That their chemical weapons were just a bluff and the government called it. He never had any intention of killing all those civilians. His crew is not happy. Candyman leads the mutiny and they do a Mexican standoff. Harris dies but not before telling Cage where the final rocket is. Candyman tracks down Cage while he's disarming the weapon and this happens…


In his final showdown, Cage shoves one of the chemical balls into the bad guy's mouth and syringes his own heart so he doesn't get fucked up. I don't really know how it works, but it was a nice callback to that scene in the beginning. Cage stumbles outside with flares to call off the government's attack and Bay gets his money shot…


Cage tells the gov that Connery got blown up so that he can finally escape and, in return, he reveals to Cage where the microfilm that got him into this mess decades ago is hidden…


The End. This is a blast of a movie that really holds up. I make no claim for Bay in general, as I haven't seen most of the other blockbusters in years and have never seen a good chunk of his more recent efforts. But he made at least one great film.

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The Rock is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by David Weisberg, Douglas S. Cook and Mark Rosner. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, with supporting roles played by Michael Biehn, William Forsythe, David Morse, and John Spencer. Connery plays a former SAS captain and Cage an FBI chemist, who must rescue hostages from a rogue group of Force Recon Marines on Alcatraz Island. It was released on June 7, 1996.