The Rock

1996 Mystery & Suspense

The sophomore film from former music video and commercial director Michael Bay, this fast-paced action yarn featured rapid-fire editing, a cutting-edge rock soundtrack and liberal use of shots awash in a haze of burnished hues, all trademarks of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Nicolas Cage stars as Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI chemical weapons expert handed a unique assignment. Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris), an insane Marine Corps general, has taken 81 tourists hostage on the abandoned island prison of Alcatraz. He and his men are threatening to bomb San Francisco with deadly gas unless $100 million is paid in war reparations to the families of servicemen killed in covert operations. Goodspeed is teamed with former British spy John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), the only man ever to escape "The Rock," as well as a Navy SEAL team. When their military escorts are ambushed, it's up to odd couple Goodspeed and Mason to break into Alcatraz and stop Hummel. The Rock was the last film produced by Simpson, who died of a drug overdose before the film's release. Solo, his partner Bruckheimer continued making the sort of glossy, frenetic films for which the duo was famed. more..

Director: Michael Bay

Starring: Sean Connery,Nicolas Cage,Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, William Forsythe

Reviews

  • A first-rate, slam-bang action thriller with a lot of style and no little humor.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    27 April 2013

  • It's a popcorn-movie deluxe.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    27 April 2013

  • A raucous, in-your-face, commando-style action thriller that makes provocative use of Alcatraz as a lunatic's lair and San Francisco as a sitting duck.

    Peter Stack - The San Francisco Chronicle

    27 April 2013

  • Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage inject tasty bits of personality into their roles.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    27 April 2013

  • Buried under an avalanche of action. (1996 June 7, pg. D1)

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1997)

  • Best Sound

    Academy Awards (1997)

     
  • Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1997)

     
  • Best Edited Feature Film

    American Cinema Editors (1997)

     
  • Hans Zimmer

    BMI Film & TV Awards (1997)