Rating of
3/4
Unbelievable at times, but excellent nonetheless
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/01/08
The Rock is an action-packed movie set mainly on the famed Alcatraz Island which tells the story of "Brigadier General Francis Xavier Hummel," (Ed Harris) who, with a group of mercenaries, takes over one of the hardest prisons in the world to escape from -- Alcatraz. He is determined to get United States government to honor his men who lost their lives in service to their country during highly covert military operations by providing their families the same benefits and tributes due other war veterans -- by unleashing a deadly gas onto the San Francisco Bay area that kills within a matter of seconds.
The city's only hope are FBI chemical/biological weapons expert, "Stanley Goodspeed" (Nicholas Cage), and "John Patrick Mason" (Sir Sean Connery), a prisoner who does not exist in the eyes of the government -- and the only man ever to escape Alcatraz alive.
This is one high-impact action movie, but sometimes has silly dialog that will get you to chuckle out loud. The action scenes are well produced, and leave little to no rest for the viewer. They are, for the most part, shot quite well.
The acting is strong from the entire cast -- including the minor characters. Harris, Cage and especially Connery standout from the rest of the pack.
Sadly, the supporting characters are not well defined. I would have liked to have seen "Agent Goodspeed's" fiancée (Vanessa Marcila) a little better defined than she turned out. Also, I would have liked to seen more of a backstory on how "Brigadier General Hummel" was able to convince his men that what they were getting involved with was the right thing to do.
Also, this movie has a great soundtrack. All the music fits what is happening on screen.
There is a bit of graphic violence. There is a lot of blood that flies around in the shootout scenes. I would recommend that this movie is not viewed by younger children (after all the movie is Rated R).
