The Rock

Name: The Rock
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Released: June 7, 1996
Duration: 136 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery

1996

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critics

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 332 Ratings

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8.7

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8.7	User Score Universal acclaim based on 332 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: June 7, 1996

Starring: Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery

Summary: All of San Francisco is taken hostage when a vengeful general (Ed Harris) seizes control of Alcatraz Island, threatening to launch missiles loaded with deadly poison gas. With time running out, only a young FBI chemical weapons expert (Nicolas Cage) and a notorious federal prisoner (Sean Connery) have the skills to penetrate the islandAll of San Francisco is taken hostage when a vengeful general (Ed Harris) seizes control of Alcatraz Island, threatening to launch missiles loaded with deadly poison gas. With time running out, only a young FBI chemical weapons expert (Nicolas Cage) and a notorious federal prisoner (Sean Connery) have the skills to penetrate the island fortress and defuse the lethal situation. [Buena Vista Entertainment]… Expand

Director: Michael Bay

Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 136 min

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Awards & Rankings

68	#68 Best Movie of 1996
9	#9 Most Discussed Movie of 1996
23	#23 Most Shared Movie of 1996

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

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

San Francisco Examiner - Barbara Shulgasser

Bay has two great assets in Connery and Cage. The special effects give The Rock a James Bondian feel so Connery's wry, world-weary devil-may-careishness looks right at home here. Read full review

Philadelphia Inquirer - Desmond Ryan

The borrowings from other movies, going all the way back to the car chase in 1968's Bullitt, are heavy. But Bay has three leads to lend weight and dimension to characters who are hardly original and flatly written. Read full review

Baltimore Sun - Chris Kridler

Connery and Cage are a compelling team and redeem the film from ruin despite the mechanical plot, an excessive body count and a miraculous recovery (you'll know it when you see it). Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan

Slick and forceful, largely unconcerned with character, eager for any opportunity to pump up the volume both literally and metaphorically, The Rock is the kind of efficient entertainment that is hard to take pleasure in. Read full review

USA Today - Mike Clark

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

Christian Science Monitor - David Sterritt

Can a mild-mannered toxicologist and an eccentric Alcatraz veteran stop him before it's too late? Learning the answer means sitting through more than two hours of violence, vulgarity, and all-around excess, served up with high-tech trimmings by director Michael Bay. Read full review

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User Reviews

garza

Jan 19, 2011

I have to disagree WilliamO. You have to understand that this movie was made in the 90's, back then the movies weren't as good as they are now. Also the movie shows what goes on in the marines mind, what they think should happen. Over all "The Rock" is and will always be my number one movie.I have to disagree WilliamO. You have to understand that this movie was made in the 90's, back then the movies weren't as good as they are now. Also the movie shows what goes on in the marines mind, what they think should happen. Over all "The Rock" is and will always be my number one movie. This movie is Michael Bay's best movie besides transformers.… Expand

14 of 17 users found this helpful143

Delta_Assault

Sep 28, 2011

Here's a shocker... one of my favorite films of all time is a **** Michael Bay movie! But ya know what, that doesn't matter, because Michael Bay managed to actually combine his great action sensibilities with superb storytelling. Everything here is outrageous and explosiony and exciting, butHere's a shocker... one of my favorite films of all time is a **** Michael Bay movie! But ya know what, that doesn't matter, because Michael Bay managed to actually combine his great action sensibilities with superb storytelling. Everything here is outrageous and explosiony and exciting, but without going so far over the top that it becomes incredibly retarded and irritating, e.g. Armageddon, Bad Boys 2. This is, in my opinion, the perfect modern day action flick. Navy Seals, U.S. Marines, jet fighters, a deadly nerve toxin, Sean Connery being a bad ass, Nicholas Cage being crazy **** Nicholas Cage and allowing us to laugh at him... it has it all. I wouldn't even say that The Rock is all that smart. If you really think about it, Hummel's reason for turning traitor and holding an entire city hostage is just kinda weak. It's just that the moments in the film all work. When those Navy SEALs are ambushed in that shower room and hold their ground, you can feel the terror in their eyes, you can sense the tension and dread looming in the background. You know something tragic is about to happen, and then it does and there's tears in your eyes and your heart sinks. It's one of the most masterful and emotional scenes in any action film.

And of course, the relationship between Cage and Connery just hits on all cylinders. Their back and forth banter and grudging friendship, it all comes together and elevates the entire film. And really, you can go outside of that. It's not just Cage and Connery, but Connery and anybody. Connery trading quips with Michael Biehn, Connery joking with the hair stylist, Connery in a verbal duel with John Spencer's character, it's all just really entertaining and fun to watch. It's sad that all of Bay's films after this have failed to live up to the promise that The Rock showed us. Perhaps he was just more hungry and determined back then, who knows. But even if Transformers 3 turns out to be a turd on the order of the Star Wars prequels, I'll still remember him as the director of this great action flick.… Expand

4 of 5 users found this helpful41

ArkonBlade

Jul 22, 2011

yup i find it hard to believe but micheal bay did actaully at one point make a good movie . that would be the Rock. might be that he had some great actors like sean connery and ed harris and others ... also nick cage didnt do to bad eather . its a fun action packed fun ride having alkatrazeyup i find it hard to believe but micheal bay did actaully at one point make a good movie . that would be the Rock. might be that he had some great actors like sean connery and ed harris and others ... also nick cage didnt do to bad eather . its a fun action packed fun ride having alkatraze prison takin over by some ex military soldiers seekin restitution for fallen solders who did not get the credit they deserved for dieing for there country . the govermnet seeks the help from a lab rat FBI agent and a old prisoner with a mysterous past . its actaully all blends together well the action the story and the acting by ed harris who does frank hummel was great . why cant bay make fun films like this instead of crap like transformers and perl harbor.… Expand

5 of 7 users found this helpful52

Tss5078

Jun 8, 2014

Yes, there was a time when Michael Bay made movies that actually had a plot to go with the explosions, and some, like The Rock, were terrific. I had never seen The Rock from beginning to end, having just caught glimpses of it on TV, but watching it in it's entirety proved what I'd longYes, there was a time when Michael Bay made movies that actually had a plot to go with the explosions, and some, like The Rock, were terrific. I had never seen The Rock from beginning to end, having just caught glimpses of it on TV, but watching it in it's entirety proved what I'd long suspected, it was a great film. A Marine General, upset that his lost soldiers never received the compensation they deserved for their secret missions, takes control of Alcatraz island, and aims chemical weapons at San Francisco. The FBI is at a lost as to what to do and decide to go with an unconventional idea to try and stop the general. A team of Navy seals prepare to take the island back, lead by the only man to ever escape from Alcatraz, now in his sixties, and a chemical weapons specialist who has never been in combat. Sean Connery stars and even though he was nearing the end of his illustrious career, he gives a truly great performance, that reminds us of just how great his movies were. Connery was the premiere action star, in a time before special effects had been computerized. He really gives an old school attitude and feeling to the film, which helps The Rock stand out from it's competition. Connery is paired with Nicholas Cage who is always terrific, especially when he's playing some type of law enforcer. Cage adds humor, unintentionally, with his inexperience, and winds up doing some pretty amazing things. While I don't like to mention specific scenes in a film, I'd be remiss not to mention the incredible chase scene Cage has through the streets of San Francisco, in the beginning of the film. It was reminiscent of the great car chases of the Lethal Weapon series, and really stood out to me. The Rock is a terrific story, featuring a cast in which old school and the younger generation collide, and to top it all off, it has that Michael Bay spin and over reliance on special effects. It's a terrific action film which sadly is rarely seen anymore in the world of computer generated effects and muscle headed action stars.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

FrenziedPandaH2

Jul 9, 2017

Gains relevance when Connery makes his way trough the movie

A classic that does not get worse when is watched for the second time ....... .n
.....

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GerardistheWay

Jan 12, 2017

How could Michael Bay have fallen so far in just 20 years? Though it is largely a picture that doesn’t require much use of one’s brain, “The Rock” succeeds in its goal to entertain with frenetic action, likable leads, and one of the better screenplays Bay’s brought to the big screen (thoughHow could Michael Bay have fallen so far in just 20 years? Though it is largely a picture that doesn’t require much use of one’s brain, “The Rock” succeeds in its goal to entertain with frenetic action, likable leads, and one of the better screenplays Bay’s brought to the big screen (though that should probably tell you something). Hell, watching this he even seems like a promising, talented director, and he probably once was before delving into a world of big paydays in exchange for sh**ty acting and CGI overload.

The film opens in stereotypical revenge film fashion: with the main antagonist visiting the grave of a dead loved one. That would be General Frank Hummel (Ed Harris), a bona-fide American hero who’s seen at least three decades of war. Yet Hummel is upset by the US government’s failure to pay the families of Marines under his command slain on covert missions. His respect for his fellow servicemen follows over into a raid conducted by him and some of his men on a top-secret government storage facility, telling them “no casualties” (something he seems to forget later on in the film). When all is said and done, they’ve made off with 15 rockets armed with V-X gas (though not the normal kind, a scarier-looking version that melts one’s skin for some reason) and proceed to Alcatraz, where they hold a group of tourists hostage and threaten to kill the population of San Francisco unless $100 million is transferred from a military slush fund. Sent to stop him are John Mason (Sean Connery), a former SAS captain held prisoner by the US government for over 30 years without due process for stealing a microfilm filled with state secrets, and Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage), an FBI chemist who curiously works well under pressure but is terrified by the idea of having to do so. Once their Navy SEAL escort is killed by Hummel’s forces, Mason and Goodspeed must brave the treacherous island while avoiding the General’s men and disarming the rockets. From there, it takes only a knowledge of “Die Hard”-esque action movies to guess what’s going to happen from there.

Something that works against the film in my opinion is Hummel’s characterization, which is constantly in conflict with itself. He is depicted in the movie as having a strong sense of honor, which undercuts some of the more ruthless actions he attempts by making it seem like he will be unable to follow through on them. In what world is the man who threatens millions of lives with nerve gas-enhanced ballistic missiles the same man who tells a group of kids to leave the island he plans on taking over so that they’re not in danger? What ruthless terrorist threatens to gun down enemy soldiers if they don’t drop their weapons but then gives them plenty of time to surrender and tries to stop his own men from firing on them? Hummel seems like too good and honorable of a man to pull off the attack, and though Harris plays him well a little more ambiguity might have served the character well. Don’t get me wrong, though, this movie does possess its strengths. Connery brings dry wit to the character of John Mason that makes him resemble an elderly James Bond, Cage is good and even likable as the reluctant hero, Harris generates sympathy and concern for General Hummel, and the supporting cast ranging in star power from 80s action icons like Michael Biehn (Corporal Hicks in “Aliens”) in the role of a SEAL commander to others like William Forsythe (who I first discovered by watching the Rob Zombie flick “The Devil’s Rejects”) playing a more typical FBI Agent (interestingly enough, a lot of Forsythe’s previous roles had been as “tough guy” gangsters) occupy their allotted space well. Nothing about the story is particularly new, but it’s executed with enough vigor and energy to give the genre clichés contained within it fresh life. The film also provides a welcome change of pace in villains by switching gears from Russian or Iranian or wealthy megalomaniac terrorists to American terrorists. Quite the change, I know. But in an era when we are becoming more and more wary of the world around us and the people who inhabit it, a reminder that we can just as easily face enemies at home is both refreshing and a little frightening.

Michael Bay’s first film is probably his best, which should probably tell you something about the state of his career. If he could somehow return to this phase, the director who once showed promise and didn’t kill brain cells and acting careers with his movies, and start over, he could have possibly done some great things in cinema. But alas, what’s done is done and we’re left with only a hair lip reminder of what could have been. 7/10… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

WilliamO.

Jan 18, 2009

On of the worst movies ever. Unrealistic in almost all aspects , it screams Hollywood cliche at every corner. The Bad Guys are sophisticated and an deadly at the start, while the recue team is shown to be reminiscant of the Keystone cops, with the exception of the 2 men least suited for the On of the worst movies ever. Unrealistic in almost all aspects , it screams Hollywood cliche at every corner. The Bad Guys are sophisticated and an deadly at the start, while the recue team is shown to be reminiscant of the Keystone cops, with the exception of the 2 men least suited for the Job. But when thesesame to go against the rest of the Island weare suddenly led to believe that the Bad guys are bumbling fools. Only an idiot would find this movie entertaining, Definetly one of Micheal Bay's worst.… Expand

0 of 8 users found this helpful

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