This film is from the director of the entertaining Bad Boys but this comes accross as a slightly cooler, saner action film which benefits from a better script, better acting and a bigger budget.
Sean Connery stars as John Mason, an ex-SAS soldier and the only man ever to escape from Alcatraz, who has been imprisoned for thirty years after stealing a top secret microfilm from the FBI. Nicholas Cage is an FBI chemicals ’’super-freak’’ Stan Goodspeed, roped in with Mason and a navy SEAL team when crazed General Hubble (Ed Harris) takes over Alcatraz with a number of missiles pointing at the San Francisco shoreline. This is ok, except that the missiles are loaded with the most dangerous chemical in the history of mankind and could wipe out the entire city in the most horrible way possible before you could run away. So, it’s up to Mason, Goodspeed and the tough SEAL team (led by Michael Biehn) to infiltrate Alcatraz, capture the missiles and take out Hubble and his fellow nasty marines.
Simple plot and character explanations aside, much of The Rock’s success lies in
the relationship between the hugely charismatic Connery and Cage. Buddy movies have been done to death, particularly the ’’I hate you now but by the end I will have saved your life and be your best friend’’ type, yet The Rock, thanks to a witty script and some thrilling direction, manages to make you forget you’ve seen this particular form of character development once too
often. The film has plenty of tense moments, some great gags and a bodycount to satisfy even the most blood-thirsty teens out there.
A great film and I highly recommend it, 5/5 from me and it is well-worth watching and a valiant choice for an new video in your collection.