For as long as A-bombs and chemical weaponry have been around, Hollywood has loved the possibility of several thousand people dying because of them. How many more times can a movie threaten America with a nuclear/chemical strike? With the production of “The Rock,” at least one more.
For some reason, film audiences are captivated with the thought of such a devastating attack, or even the mere threat of one. But, of course, one couldn’t derive a happy ending from a nuclear/chemical strike so, for the last fifty years, screenwriters have been dreaming up ways to stop them.
Very few have been more creative than the effort in “The Rock.”
The film starts out fairly simply: a small group of mercenaries commanded by a former naval general (Ed Harris) take 81 hostages at Alcatraz, aim four VX gas rockets at the San Francisco bay area, and ask for one million dollars. These rockets, say one expert, could kill 70,000 people apiece.
The general seems to be mad at the American government for not acknowledging the deaths of several undercover military agents he worked with in the navy. I was never really convinced that this was adequate cause for such a violent reaction, but the movie is digested a lot more easily if his motivation is just accepted.
After arguing for a while, a group of cronies in Washington decide the only way to solve this problem is to assemble a team of navy SEALS to be led by the one man who escaped from Alcatraz (Sean Connery) to get them in, and a chemical weapons expert( Nicholas Cage) to defuse the weapons when they get there.
A lot of screen time is wasted getting Connery to agree to help, but once he does, the movie moves along quite well. I won’t give away any more of the plot; “The Rock” is filled with surprises from this point on.
Both Connery and Cage play exceptionally complex characters and play them well. Connery’s character, a former British intelligence agent, has been locked up in different prisons for thirty years since he broke out of “the rock.” He is offered a pardon for helping the SEALS get into Alcatraz, and only grudgingly agrees.
Cage, as he puts it, is a “chemical super-freak” that has never seen combat, and never wants to. They both become vitally important to the mission, and the interplay between their drastically differing personalities is constantly intriguing.
Ed Harris is, as usual, very interesting. He tackles a difficult character - a military hero turned terrorist - and makes him convincing. In a unique deviation from the nuke-film formula, his terrorist has real-life weaknesses, and Harris brings them out very well.
Despite the rather predictable nature of the film (given that it has been made, in very like forms, several times before) “The Rock” is incredibly intense. As with any Don Simpson / Jerry Bruckheimer creation, there is always a surprise waiting around the corner, and the inevitable surprises keep everyone on the edge of their seats.
For a formula picture, “The Rock” is fantastic. It accomplishes everything it would claim to: 130 minutes of pure excitement, great action scenes, and the undeniable talents of Cage, Connery, and Harris. If you leave “The Rock” disappointed, you were doubtless watching something other than the movie.
Grade: B+