[.ca] Rock (Widescreen)

excellent film with great extra features:
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film. In this director approved Criterion Collection release, we are treated to some excellent materials. The film follows the story of Francis Hummel (Ed Harris), a retired marine who takes hostages on Alcatraz island. His demand is that the families of soldiers killed in covert operations be given compensation. He treatens to launch VX nerve gas into the city of San Francisco if his demands are not met. A navy SEAL team is sent in to neutralize the threat. Helping out is Stanley Goodspeed (Nicholas Cage), a chemical weapons expert, and John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), the only man to have escaped from Alcatraz. The film has great acting and there are some good laughs in the film also. There are many action packed scenes including a car chase through the streets of San Francisco and the cars are often airborne when they go on the hills. The Criterion DVD has many special features and is on a deouble disc set. Disc 1 contains the movie with optional audio commentary by Director Michael Bay, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Technical advisor Harry Humphries, and actors Nicholas Cage and Ed Harris. Disc 2 contains a theatrical trailer and TV spots, a video interview with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a blooper reel, a special about the film's premiere on Alcatraz, scenes from a TV special "Secrets of Alcatraz" that contains interviews with actual former inmates and a history of the island from Native American times to modern times. There is a special "Dos and Don'ts of Hollywood Gunplay" with the film's technical advisor Harry Humpries and Marshall Teague. This specail contains depictions of errors made in action films regarding the use of guns it emphasises saftey and common mistakes including gun drawing techniques that don't "work" such as the "gangster grab" or the "wyatt earp pull". There are also 2 features on the films special effects. One is on the dive sequence and the other is on other effects, like the cable car crash. There are also storyboards, production stills and drawings. This is a must biy for fans of the movie as well a fans of the Criterion Collection.

best bond film ever:
The most clever thing about this witty film is the fact that Sean Connery is basically playing James Bond - albeit a James Bond who just spent 30 years in the nastiest federal prisons the US of A has to offer. If the ludicrous plot, gratuitous destruction and cliched characters aren't a hindrance to you, then you are in for the a treat. This movie is not only ridiculously action packed, it verges on self-mocking, and has some of the best one-liners ever. With this dvd edition, The Rock gets the treatment that it deserves. Buy it and rejoice.

Fun film, but why on Criterion?:
The Michael Bay - Jerry Bruckheimer formula, like that for the James Bond films, is pretty well set: lots of stuff blowing up, lots of bodies flying through the air, a cast dominated by strong male leads, women are very secondary, a very dramatic music score, lots of foul language and a very right of center political outlook (the military are always the heroes and anyone who questions the heroes' judgment are pansies or some other leftwing radical type). However, the James Bond films always had a sly sense of humor about themselves. Bond might save the American Space program, Fort Knox, Miami and the planet Earth, but there was always an underlying message: This is just for fun folks. The Bay-Bruckheimer films, however, have the delusion that they're actually fighting the battles depicted on screen. There's a lot of overwrought music, emotional scenes between the characters and slow motion closups of the hero(es) walking or running towards their battle with evil. The Rock, in this way, is no different. A team of marines, led by General Frank Hummell (Ed Harris) and disgusted with the way the U.S. Government has neglected the families of those soldiers killed in illegal missions abroad, has taken 81 hostages on Alcatraz, threatening to lauch nerve gas rockets into San Francisco unless reparations are paid to those soldiers' survivors. Heavy, heavy stuff. However, injected into this serious mix is none other than the best James Bond himself -- Sean Connery. Even in the more serious early Bonds, Connery always managed to convey to the audience that they were supposed to have fun during these films. Bruckheimer and Bay do their best to elevate what is essentially Saturday morning action serial material into Wagnerian opera. But there is Connery, putting all the action into perspective by not taking anyting too seriously and grounding the material by recognizing what it really is: sheer entertainment. Bay, Bruckheimer and company keep trying to push the fact that Ed Harris' desperate General Hummell is a man of honor, a real hero, etc., etc. Anyone who questions his judgment, like the hapless, simpering Presidential Chief of Staff at the first briefing scene, is shot down as a liberal wimp who would never make the sacrifices that Harris' character made for America and should shut up before one of the real men in the room shoot him (I wonder what George McGovern, Daniel Inouye and other liberals who fought for and were decorated for fighting for their country think of this kind of portrayal). Never mind that the General threatens to kill thousands of San Franciscans with nerve gas. Bay-Bruckheimer have stacked the deck by having the great Ed Harris play General Hummell, giving the character an inherent integrity that can't help but make him sympathetic. Fox News isn't this slanted. In walks Connery who, in his big confrontation scene with Harris, gets right to the heart of the matter in a few lines. He correctly says that he doesn't see how "you cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million" and sums up Hummell's actions as "an act of lunacy." In one fell swoop, Connery slaps the collective message of the film across the face and shows that terrorism is terrorism, no matter if it's done by decorated U.S. soldiers with a legitimate gripe against the government. It's fairly certain that Connery, an executive producer of the film, purposely torpedoed Bay-Bruckheimer's testosterone toned view of the world. In The Rock, Connery proves, once again, that an actor with a strong enough presence and a large amount of talent doesn't need to scream and shout to give a great performance. Nicholas Cage, Connery's co-star, bellows and shouts like he's on fire most of the film ("How, in Zeus' BUTTHOLE did you get out of your cell?!?!?!?!?!?" -- god, give it a rest, Nick!). Cage certainly isn't alone -- the rest of the cast buys into Bay-Bruckheimer's "this film is the most important thing you'll ever watch" mentality. However, Sean Connery, with his charm, wit and grace, throws a bucket of cold water over the entire proceedings and reminds everyone that the film is what it is and nothing more: a technically superb action film that exists merely to entertain ... period. A final note: Criterion has always produced the finest quality DVD's loaded with many, many interesting extras. Most of the films Criterion has released are classics: Notorious, Roshamon, Ikiru, Yojimbo, Charade, Rebecca, etc. I enjoyed The Rock, but why did Criterion deem it good enough to rank with the other films they've released on DVD? Criterion has been selective in its releases and The Rock lowers the bar.

Alcatraz Will Rock:
Wow, wow, wow, wow, and wow. This film is brilliant in every aspect. This does have a fair bit of course language, but that's my only criticizm. It is a highly underrated movie, and I encourage all fans of action/drama to watch this before it becomes too old that you are too lazy to see it when you can see the latest release. In a summary, an ex-U.S. Marine (Ed Harris) and his team of mercenaries break into Alcatraz and ask the President for $100 Million to be split up among the families of U.S. Marines who have gone down in the line of fire, and threatens to launch missiles containing VX Nerve Gas as San Fransisco. Using a weapons' specialist (Nicholas Cage) and the only person to ever break out of Alcatraz (Sean Connery) and a team of Marines, they break into Alcatraz to sort things out.

A Big Turkey.....:
Michael Bay and Jerry Bruchemer (or should I say Junk Man of Movies) made this 1996 unbelieveable loud film that featured no chemistry between Connery and Cage, and saw Ed Harris waste his acting talents on a shallow part. A bad movie made by a bad company named Disney Productions.