The Rock (film)

The Rock
Directed by	Michael Bay
Produced by	Don Simpson Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay by	David Weisberg Douglas S. Cook Mark Rosner Quentin Tarantino (uncredited) Aaron Sorkin (uncredited) Jonathan Hensleigh (uncredited)
Story by	David Weisberg Douglas S. Cook
Starring	Sean Connery Nicolas Cage Ed Harris Michael Biehn William Forsythe David Morse John Spencer Vanessa Marcil
Music by	Nick Glennie-Smith Hans Zimmer Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography	John Schwartzman
Editing by	Richard Francis-Bruce
Studio	Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Distributed by	Hollywood Pictures
Release date(s)	June 7, 1996 (1996-06-07)
Running time	136 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$75 million
Box office	$335,062,320

The Rock is a 1996 action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay area. It was directed by Michael Bay, director of Bad Boys, and stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers of Top Gun and Crimson Tide, and released through Hollywood Pictures. The film is dedicated to Simpson, who died five months before its release. This was the first film on which Cage and Bruckheimer worked together.

Plot

A group of rogue Force Recon Marines led by disenchanted Brigadier General Francis X Hummel (Harris) seize a stockpile of deadly VX gas–armed rockets from a heavily guarded military bunker, reluctantly leaving one of their men to die in the process. The next day, Hummel and his men, along with rogue Army Special Forces soldiers seize control of Alcatraz Island during a guided tour and take 81 tourists hostage in the prison cells. Hummel then threatens the Pentagon with launching the stolen rockets against the population of San Francisco unless the government pays ransom and reparations to the families of Recon Marines who died on illegal, clandestine missions under his command and whose deaths were not honored. The Pentagon and FBI develop a plan to retake the island with a Navy SEAL Team, enlisting chemical weapons specialist Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), who initially thinks he's consulting the team, but soon learns he's being recruited due to his specialisation in chemical warfare.

Recognizing that any surface approach will be seen by Hummel's men, FBI Director Womack (John Spencer) is forced to turn to Federal prisoner John Mason (Connery), a former MI6 Agent and SAS Captain whom Womack has illegally detained for decades and the only inmate of Alcatraz to ever successfully escape through Alcatraz's uncharted tunnels. Mason, while in custody under the supervison of Special Agent Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe) manages to escape to see his estranged daughter (Claire Forlani). Goodspeed arrives and feigns to Mason's daughter that he is aiding the FBI, convincing Mason to cooperate to develop a plan for infiltration. Womack soon recognizes that the team would only succeed with Mason on the mission as well.

The team infiltrates Alcatraz, through the underground tunnels with Mason's guidance. They are ambushed by Hummel's marines in a shower room, killing all the SEALs and leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Paxton plans to abort the mission, but Womack, who is aware of Mason's MI6 and SAS background, agrees to let them continue saying that Mason and Goodspeed are their last hope. Mason attempts to leave the prison, but Goodspeed manages to convince him to help him defuse the rockets. Using Mason's knowledge of the prison, they quietly eliminate several small teams of marines and disable 12 of the 15 rockets, until Hummel threatens over the loudspeaker to execute a hostage if the remaining "Navy SEALs" do not surrender and return the guidance chips from the rockets. Only Mason surrenders to Hummel, trying to buy Goodspeed some time. Though Goodspeed manages to disable another rocket, the Marines capture him shortly thereafter. With the incursion team lost, the military readies a backup plan: an air strike by F/A-18's with Thermite plasma, that will neutralize the poison gas but kill everyone on the island including the hostages.

As Mason uses his unique experience to escape from their cells, he reveals why he was held there for so many years — for stealing a microfilm of the United States' most closely guarded secrets, including the Roswell UFO incident and the John F. Kennedy assassination. While they search for the final two rockets, Hummel fires one of them but changes the coordinates at the last second causing the rocket to crash land harmlessly out to sea. Facing Captains Frye and Darrow's (Gregory Sporleder & Tony Todd) frustration, Hummel explains that their bluff failed and that he refuses to harm innocent civilians. He orders them to exit Alcatraz with a few hostages and the remaining VX rockets to cover their retreat, while he'll stay, personally assuming blame. Realizing that they will not be paid, Frye and Darrow, along with Sergeant Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine), decide mutiny against Hummel and his second-in-command, Major Tom Baxter (David Morse). Crisp attempts to secure Hummel on Darrows orders, but fails as the General is able to hold the NCO at gunpoint. In the ensuring firefight, Crisp is killed by Hummel and Fyre and Darrow are wounded, although Baxter is killed while Hummel is fatally wounded. Darrow and Fyre proceed with the plan to fire on San Francisco. With his last breath, Hummel tells Goodspeed the location of the last rocket. As the jets approach, Darrow is killed when Goodspeed fires the last disarmed rocket into him. Goodspeed takes a loose gas pearl from the warhead, but is then attacked by Frye who begins to strangle Goodspeed to death. Using the VX to defend himself, Goodspeed shoves the gas pearl into Frye's mouth, exposing both of them to the gas. Goodspeed injects himself in the heart with atropine as Frye dies from the VX gas. Goodspeed then lights green flares to signal that the threat is over, but only after one of the pilots fires, sending Goodspeed's body flying into the sea. The early detonation hits the back of the island and harms no-one else.

Mason reappears to pull the unconscious Goodspeed to shore. When he recovers, Goodspeed suggests that Mason escape before the FBI arrive, as Womack tore up his pardon from prison; Goodspeed will tell Womack that Mason was "vaporized". Mason thanks Goodspeed, and gives him a note that holds the location of where he had stashed the microfilm. The film ends with Goodspeed and his pregnant bride Carla (Vanessa Marcil) in Fort Walton, Kansas, recovering the microfilm with a half century of state secrets, including who actually killed John F. Kennedy.

Cast

• Sean Connery as Captain John Patrick Mason former SAS operative
• Nicolas Cage as Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
• Ed Harris as Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel, USMC Force Recon
• John Spencer as FBI Director James Womack
• William Forsythe as FBI Special Agent Ernest Paxton
• David Morse as Major Tom Baxter, USMC Force Recon
• John C. McGinley as Marine Captain Hendrix, USMC Force Recon
• Tony Todd as Captain Darrow, Army Special Forces
• Gregory Sporleder as Captain Frye, Army Special Forces
• Bokeem Woodbine as Sergeant Crisp, USMC Force Recon
• Jim Maniaci as Private Scarpetti, USMC Force Recon
• Greg Collins as Private Gamble, USMC Force Recon
• Steve Harris as Private McCoy, USMC Force Recon
• Brendan Kelly as Private Cox, USMC Force Recon
• Michael Biehn as Commander Anderson, USN SEAL
• Danny Nucci as Lieutenant Shephard, USN SEAL
• Vanessa Marcil as Carla Pestalozzi
• Claire Forlani as Jade Angelou
• Todd Louiso as Marvin Isherwood
• David Bowe as Dr. Ling
• John Laughlin as General Peterson

Actors Xander Berkeley, James Caviezel and Philip Baker Hall make uncredited appearances in the film

Box office

Produced at a budget of US $75,000,000, the movie was a smash hit, grossing a total of $134,069,511 domestically and $200,993,110 internationally, for a worldwide total of $335,062,621. Of the year 1996, it was the 7th highest home-grossing film in the US, and the 4th highest US film worldwide.

Production

Quentin Tarantino was an uncredited screenwriter on The Rock. Jonathan Hensleigh in particular was aggrieved to not be credited. LA-based British screenwriting team Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais were brought in at Connery's request to rewrite his lines, but ended up altering much of the film's dialogue. It was Nicolas Cage's idea that his character would not swear; his euphemisms include "gee whiz." Bay had worked closely with Ed Harris to develop his character as concretely as possible, later adding a sympathetic edge to Hummel.

There were tensions during shooting between director Michael Bay and the Walt Disney Company executives who were supervising the production. On the commentary track for the Criterion Collection DVD, Bay recalls a time when he was preparing to leave the set for a meeting with the executives when he was approached by Sean Connery in golfing attire. Connery, who also produced the film, asked Bay where he was going, and when Bay explained he had a meeting with the executives, Connery asked if he could accompany him. Bay complied and when he arrived in the conference room, the executives' jaws dropped when they saw Connery appear behind him. According to Bay, Connery then stood up for Bay and insisted that he was doing a good job and should be left alone.

The scene in which FBI director Womack is thrown off the balcony was filmed on location at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The filming led to numerous calls to the hotel by people who saw a man dangling from the balcony.

Censorship

In the original UK DVD release, the scene in which Connery throws a knife through a sentry's throat and says "you must never hesitate" to Cage was cut, although this scene was shown on British television. Consequently, a later scene in which Connery says to Cage, "I'm rather glad you didn't hesitate too long" lost its impact on viewers who had not seen the first scene. Other cuts included the reduction of multiple gunshot impacts into Gamble's feet in the morgue down to a single hit; a close-up of his screaming face as the air conditioner falls onto him; a sound cut to Mason snapping a Marine's neck and two bloody gunshot wounds (to Hummel and Baxter), both near the end of the film.

When the film premiered on German television (RTL), it was shown in two versions: the first version (starting at 8:15 pm) had most of its violence and gore cut, going so far as to suggest that some of the terrorists survived. The second version started at 1 am, and left all scenes intact. This scheme was repeated for the second viewing.

The film also received some censorship of profanity in its Asian releases; the terms "fuck" and "Goddamn" are normally omitted or substituted. For instance, whenever Star Movies (a popular Asian movie channel) plays the film, Connery's line in which he says to Cage "winners go home and fuck the prom queen" is replaced with "winners go home and date the prom queen", while in another scene where Connery's character is described as a "son of a bitch" the line is replaced with "son of a Brit" in the censored cut.

Awards and recognition

The Rock won a number of minor awards, including 'Best On-Screen Duo' for Connery and Cage at the MTV Movie Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Keith A. Wester). It currently holds a "fresh" rating (67%) on Rotten Tomatoes based on 48 reviews, making it Michael Bay's highest rated film and his only film labeled as "fresh".

The film was selected for a limited edition DVD release by the Criterion Collection, a distributor of primarily arthouse films it categorizes as "important classic and contemporary films" and "cinema at its finest". In an essay supporting the selection of The Rock, Roger Ebert, who was strongly critical of most of Bay's later films, gave the film a 3 1/2 out of four stars, calling it "an action picture that rises to the top of the genre because of a literate, witty screenplay and skilled craftsmanship in the direction and special effects."

External links

• The Rock at the Internet Movie Database
• The Rock at AllRovi
• The Rock at Box Office Mojo
• The Rock at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Rock at Metacritic
• Criterion Collection essay by Roger Ebert