The Story:
What do you do when the bars and clubs are packed? What do you do when they weren’t the night before, and your head (and wallet) are letting you know it? A night in is never complete without a good movie to watch. Enter Alan and Jeff. We’re here to tell you which rentals are good, which ones aren’t, and why you might want to watch them all. So let’s begin.
Long story short: The Rock is a modern classic, well worth another look. When a disgruntled, yet brilliant, Brigadier General (Ed Harris) and his cold-blooded mercenaries take Alcatraz Island hostage, the entire population of the San Francisco area is one button push away from being wiped out. Hey, these things happen, at least in the 1996 release The Rock (Buena Vista).
Who can stop them? Two men: a wimpy “chemical superfreak” FBI agent Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) and the only man ever to escape from Alcatraz, John Mason (Sean Connery).
Alan says:
A perfect blend of action, plot, car chases, explosions and humor make The Rock one of my favorite films of all time. The Rock is one of those movies that does not get old after repeated viewing.
Connery’s one-liners are classic, and regularly use them in my everyday speech. Cage perfectly complements Connery’s character, always offering a snappy comeback just when you think there is nothing he could say to match Connery.
An intangible that makes this movie so great is what I like to call the “ridiculosity” factor. “Ridiculosity” can be defined as anything in a movie that is ridiculously unrealistic. Outlandish stunts and special effects are not necessarily good things (see Hollow Man and Waterworld). But crazy action sequences help make The Rock spectacular. It’s pretty cool to see parking meters exploding during a car chase through San Francisco.
Take time to listen to the music in the movie. The combination of heavy metal and classical music in the movie’s score should be used to pump up the crowds at pro football stadiums in place of Baja Men or Limp Bizkit.
Jeff Says:
The Rock is perhaps the quintessential summer action movie, yet it works 366 days a year. It has good guys, bad guys, guns and its share of girls (even if only for a few minutes).
So, what makes The Rock better than most summer action flicks? Well, for one, the writing is top-notch. Yes, I’m serious. The dialogue between Cage and Connery is fast-paced and funny.
What makes the movie such a standout is its hardcore approach to its action sequences. In the span of about 2 minutes, Cage socks a man in the jaw, breaking the glass ball of VX gas in his mouth, jabs a needle in his own heart and falls to his knees to watch fighter jets sent to obliterate the island on which he kneels.
Cage makes for quite the convincing unlikely hero. Connery will always be a legendary tough guy. Here, he proves that this legacy does not outlive his ability.
