The Rock (1996)
February 17, 2024 1:54 PM - Subscribe
A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.
FBI chemical warfare expert Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) is sent on an urgent mission with a former British spy, John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), to stop Gen. Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris) from launching chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco. Gen. Hummel demands $100 million in war reparations to be paid to the families of slain servicemen who died on covert operations. After their SEAL team is wiped out, Stanley and John deal with the soldiers on their own.
Judith Egerton: Cage's and Connery's characters have more depth than viewers might expect from a movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and his late partner, Don Simpson, the duo behind "Crimson Tide" and "Top Gun." But the movie's dialogue consists mainly of quips. Disorienting action sequences are the producers' modus operandi, and "The Rock" never deviates from that formula.
For dramatic effect, Bay and the producers have borrowed ideas and images. For example, the antidote for the lethal, liquid poison that bubbles human skin and snaps the spine must be injected by a huge syringe directly into the heart, a reminder of one of the more indelible, shocking images of Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." And the orange sky and black helicopters of the opening scene look exactly like the promotional image for "Miss Saigon."
The movie's extreme violence, exhausting action and macho posturing make it an unlikely ticket choice for women and unsuitable for children. Its core audience will be males and action-movie buffs who love the sarcasm and fireworks of Bruce Willis' trilogy of "Die Hard" movies.
Cindy Fuchs: Nic Cage, action hero. Never mind that there might be an explanation for those cockroaches (I think they're supposed to function like canaries in coal mines). The point is that the line marks the moment as belonging to Cage. (This is the man who once ate a live-bug-impersonating-a-cockroach for Vampire's Kiss.) In fact, I'd take this observation a step further: it's moments like these — quirky, absurd, where-did-that-come-from? moments — that transport what is basically a Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer swinging-dicks movie into something like another dimension.
I'm not saying that Cage saves The Rock from its by-the-numbers premise and execution. But he does give the clichs a run for their money. This is no easy task. This is the kind of movie that shows you an aerial view of the Pentagon, then types in "The Pentagon" beneath it, that repeatedly updates you on times and locations so as to contrive a sense of urgency. It's the kind of movie that, when the President of the U.S.A. has to decide whether to greenlight an airstrike, lets him spew some hokum about what a difficult decision it is, while outlining all the options you already know about because they're what the movie's been setting up for an hour and a half — just so you keep your moral bearings absolutely straight. It's the kind of movie that makes people say things like, "Something's not right" and "I got a bad feeling about this" in the same scene, talking to each other.
Zita Short: The Rock (1996) is one of those films that invites questions about the political views of those who made it. It feels like a military propaganda film that was made under the direction of a fascist government that abhors democracy and wants to convince the masses that all non-violent men are doltish imbeciles. It’s almost like watching Starship Troopers (1997) without any of the irony. It really does feel like it exists to recruit young men into the military and turn people against politicians who don’t think that the national defense budget needs to be increased by 75%. That makes it terrifying on many levels and you begin to wonder whether Michael Bay is indoctrinating his target audience or simply playing on pre-existing prejudices and beliefs. The idea that the average American in the mid-1990s was a bloodthirsty, warmongering chauvinist reveals a lot about how somebody like Donald Trump could get elected in the mid-2010s.
Even in 1996, Bay was known for the misanthropic touch that he brought to action blockbusters. In Bad Boys (1995), he presented the two cops at the center of the story as idiotic dimwits who deserve to be looked at with contempt. The Rock seemingly allowed him to progress beyond viewing every character on-screen with disgust. This time he was working with a screenplay that gave him the opportunity to valorize the military. Brigadier General Francis Hummel (Ed Harris) is viewed with warmth and affection, as he attempts to extort the government in order to provide the family members of slain American soldiers with financial compensation. Bay seems fine with the fact that Hummel takes a group of tourists hostage and leaves them in prison cells on Alcatraz Island, without any food or water to sustain them. Hummel is tough, stoic, and willing to be a real American. Unfortunately, that seems to involve using violence to solve all problems.
Trailer
FBI chemical warfare expert Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) is sent on an urgent mission with a former British spy, John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), to stop Gen. Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris) from launching chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco. Gen. Hummel demands $100 million in war reparations to be paid to the families of slain servicemen who died on covert operations. After their SEAL team is wiped out, Stanley and John deal with the soldiers on their own.
Judith Egerton: Cage's and Connery's characters have more depth than viewers might expect from a movie produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and his late partner, Don Simpson, the duo behind "Crimson Tide" and "Top Gun." But the movie's dialogue consists mainly of quips. Disorienting action sequences are the producers' modus operandi, and "The Rock" never deviates from that formula.
For dramatic effect, Bay and the producers have borrowed ideas and images. For example, the antidote for the lethal, liquid poison that bubbles human skin and snaps the spine must be injected by a huge syringe directly into the heart, a reminder of one of the more indelible, shocking images of Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." And the orange sky and black helicopters of the opening scene look exactly like the promotional image for "Miss Saigon."
The movie's extreme violence, exhausting action and macho posturing make it an unlikely ticket choice for women and unsuitable for children. Its core audience will be males and action-movie buffs who love the sarcasm and fireworks of Bruce Willis' trilogy of "Die Hard" movies.
Cindy Fuchs: Nic Cage, action hero. Never mind that there might be an explanation for those cockroaches (I think they're supposed to function like canaries in coal mines). The point is that the line marks the moment as belonging to Cage. (This is the man who once ate a live-bug-impersonating-a-cockroach for Vampire's Kiss.) In fact, I'd take this observation a step further: it's moments like these — quirky, absurd, where-did-that-come-from? moments — that transport what is basically a Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer swinging-dicks movie into something like another dimension.
I'm not saying that Cage saves The Rock from its by-the-numbers premise and execution. But he does give the clichs a run for their money. This is no easy task. This is the kind of movie that shows you an aerial view of the Pentagon, then types in "The Pentagon" beneath it, that repeatedly updates you on times and locations so as to contrive a sense of urgency. It's the kind of movie that, when the President of the U.S.A. has to decide whether to greenlight an airstrike, lets him spew some hokum about what a difficult decision it is, while outlining all the options you already know about because they're what the movie's been setting up for an hour and a half — just so you keep your moral bearings absolutely straight. It's the kind of movie that makes people say things like, "Something's not right" and "I got a bad feeling about this" in the same scene, talking to each other.
Zita Short: The Rock (1996) is one of those films that invites questions about the political views of those who made it. It feels like a military propaganda film that was made under the direction of a fascist government that abhors democracy and wants to convince the masses that all non-violent men are doltish imbeciles. It’s almost like watching Starship Troopers (1997) without any of the irony. It really does feel like it exists to recruit young men into the military and turn people against politicians who don’t think that the national defense budget needs to be increased by 75%. That makes it terrifying on many levels and you begin to wonder whether Michael Bay is indoctrinating his target audience or simply playing on pre-existing prejudices and beliefs. The idea that the average American in the mid-1990s was a bloodthirsty, warmongering chauvinist reveals a lot about how somebody like Donald Trump could get elected in the mid-2010s.
Even in 1996, Bay was known for the misanthropic touch that he brought to action blockbusters. In Bad Boys (1995), he presented the two cops at the center of the story as idiotic dimwits who deserve to be looked at with contempt. The Rock seemingly allowed him to progress beyond viewing every character on-screen with disgust. This time he was working with a screenplay that gave him the opportunity to valorize the military. Brigadier General Francis Hummel (Ed Harris) is viewed with warmth and affection, as he attempts to extort the government in order to provide the family members of slain American soldiers with financial compensation. Bay seems fine with the fact that Hummel takes a group of tourists hostage and leaves them in prison cells on Alcatraz Island, without any food or water to sustain them. Hummel is tough, stoic, and willing to be a real American. Unfortunately, that seems to involve using violence to solve all problems.
Trailer
The Rock is, of course, the missing James Bond movie Bay always wanted to make, and Sean Connery really is playing Bond here. A fascinatingly deep gloriously nitpicky argument by Pentex the Penguin. Enjoy.
posted by ewan at 3:40 PM on February 17
posted by ewan at 3:40 PM on February 17
I love this. Totally unironically. If you watched a lot of 90s action movies it represented a highpoint. Sure it's ridiculous but it's ridiculous and really good at a time when there was a lot of shit around. The cast is excellent, but could have used more Biehn. It's an excellent vehicle for Connery, his last good film I would argue. Possibly more contentiously, the best of Cage's action trilogy.
posted by biffa at 3:49 AM on February 18 [3 favorites]
posted by biffa at 3:49 AM on February 18 [3 favorites]
This movie stands out in my theater memories as extremely bad, yet oddly... compelling?
"This is the kind of movie that shows you an aerial view of the Pentagon, then types in "The Pentagon" beneath it" could not better encapsulate this bad movie. The injection to the heart is among the stupider movie moments I've ever experienced!
posted by latkes at 7:10 AM on February 18 [1 favorite]
"This is the kind of movie that shows you an aerial view of the Pentagon, then types in "The Pentagon" beneath it" could not better encapsulate this bad movie. The injection to the heart is among the stupider movie moments I've ever experienced!
posted by latkes at 7:10 AM on February 18 [1 favorite]
This game out when I was a teen, and I remember telling my parents that it was the Best. Movie. Ever.
I don't want to go back and rewatch it, but it certainly did a good job at the time.
posted by Acari at 7:29 AM on February 18 [1 favorite]
I don't want to go back and rewatch it, but it certainly did a good job at the time.
posted by Acari at 7:29 AM on February 18 [1 favorite]
I loved this movie when I was a kid. I still chuckle when I think of Nic Cage screaming, "How in Zeus's Butthole!"
posted by kbanas at 11:47 AM on February 18 [1 favorite]
posted by kbanas at 11:47 AM on February 18 [1 favorite]
This movie is the exception that proves the Michael Bay movies are garbage rule. Ed Harris, Nic Cage and Sean Connery all do stellar work in this movie that absolutely does not require it.
Roger Ebert sums it up thusly, after pointing out many of the "ripped from another blockbuster" elements and plot holes:
Roger Ebert sums it up thusly, after pointing out many of the "ripped from another blockbuster" elements and plot holes:
Director Michael Bay ("Bad Boys") orchestrates the elements into an efficient and exciting movie, with some big laughs, sensational special effects sequences, and sustained suspense. And it's interesting to see how good actors like Connery, Cage and Harris can find a way to occupy the center of this whirlwind with characters who somehow manage to be quirky and convincing. There are several Identikit Hollywood action stars who can occupy the center of chaos like this, but not many can make it look like they think they're really there. Watching "The Rock," you really care about what happens. You feel silly later for having been sucked in, but that's part of the ride.posted by the primroses were over at 2:27 PM on February 18 [2 favorites]
I will say the Rocketman thing makes no sense whatsoever. But everything else is golden.
posted by biffa at 3:57 PM on February 18
posted by biffa at 3:57 PM on February 18
There is such a specific and obvious digression early in the movie into Nic Cage talking at length about the Beatles, or a Beatles album, my memory isn't super great. But I was and am still convinced that there's an early draft of the script that has Connery having some sort of Beatles connection from his early days as something they bond over at a critical moment.
posted by Shepherd at 5:17 PM on February 18
posted by Shepherd at 5:17 PM on February 18
I was an undergrad chemistry major when this came out and that strongly colored how awesome my cohort found it to be. It was nonsense but we (chemists) had our ludicrous action hero.
posted by janell at 6:02 PM on February 18 [1 favorite]
posted by janell at 6:02 PM on February 18 [1 favorite]
This has probably bugged me for twenty-something years, and I fully accept the ridiculousness odd the fact that I’m complaining about a plot hole in a Michael Bay movie, but Mason memorized the timing of the furnace blasts to get out, wouldn’t he have to execute that in reverse? I mean that’s not how - for want of a better term - muscle memory works!!
(Great movie though, one of my favorites. Somehow it all just works!)
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:12 PM on February 18
(Great movie though, one of my favorites. Somehow it all just works!)
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:12 PM on February 18
Just looked this up, and apparently both Aaron Sorkin and Quentin Tarantino, amongst others, have uncredited contributions to the script.
posted by biffa at 5:02 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 5:02 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]
It's easily overlooked but here, Michael Bay elegantly resolves the Trolley Problem. Just derail the trolley! "Jump for it! Save yourselves!"
posted by SPrintF at 7:52 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 7:52 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]
This has a good reputation but I always found it confusing and boring, despite the stunts. I was about to comment that I liked the bad guy's big speech but then I realized I had confused it with a scene in Under Siege. If your film can get confused with Under Siege then you have done something wrong.
posted by AndrewStephens at 8:21 AM on February 20
posted by AndrewStephens at 8:21 AM on February 20
It's a reasonably well-crafted action movie and a lot of fun. It's not one of my top action movies, but I think of it as one of those movies that knows exactly what it is and wants to do it as well as it can. The plot is silly, the MacGuffins are MacGuffin-y, but for stupidly 1990's action fun, it'll do.
And you can tell it's a Bay film because in the midst of all the manly man-character man-stuff, there's that fucking shot of a female accessory-character staring after the main character as he goes off to adventure the adventures.
Trivia: this film may have been the inspiration of a fake description of Iraqi WMDs in 2002
posted by rmd1023 at 9:12 AM on February 20
And you can tell it's a Bay film because in the midst of all the manly man-character man-stuff, there's that fucking shot of a female accessory-character staring after the main character as he goes off to adventure the adventures.
Trivia: this film may have been the inspiration of a fake description of Iraqi WMDs in 2002
posted by rmd1023 at 9:12 AM on February 20
The movie works because of the chemistry between Connery and Cage, and Ed Harris just bringing it with everything he's got. Han Zimmer's score then just turns everything up to 11. The one thing that always felt out of place for me was the love scene in the very beginning of the film. We don't need it to establish that Goodspeed has a girlfriend (fiance?) that is put in jeopardy. It's just there. S'like Bay was just, "I need more sex up in this movie with nothing but men in it." I could be wrong about this!
I loved the use of Alcatraz and Mason's past as key elements for the story. It's hard to think of another setting/background that would improve on the story. And also, well, there's some fun dialogue in the film.
Mason: You know Alcatraz was originally built as a fort during the Civil War?
Goodspeed: I like history, too, but right now I'm a little more interested in rockets!
(this just an approximation, a'ight?)
posted by Atreides at 11:55 AM on February 20 [2 favorites]
I loved the use of Alcatraz and Mason's past as key elements for the story. It's hard to think of another setting/background that would improve on the story. And also, well, there's some fun dialogue in the film.
Mason: You know Alcatraz was originally built as a fort during the Civil War?
Goodspeed: I like history, too, but right now I'm a little more interested in rockets!
(this just an approximation, a'ight?)
posted by Atreides at 11:55 AM on February 20 [2 favorites]
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posted by Carillon at 1:58 PM on February 17