Unlike mostMichael Bay film , which tend to attract cruise ship - sized factions of knocker , The Rock , which came out 20 years ago today , almost universally induce a pass . I ’ve yet to find anyone who truly hatesThe Rock .
The director ’s style is well known : cut quickly between conniption in which your protagonists have blown a gang of shit up while walking away in slow motility , and 1 in which they are arrive at mirthful quips ; sparge in some nationalism and a chance that everyone will die ; and cap it off with some larger-than-life knife - smooching .
At the time ofThe Rock ’s sacking , Bay was just a 2nd - time theater director , attempt to follow upBad Boys , his commercially successful yet critically desegregate paean to bighearted narcotics cops . The Rockis by far his highest - rated film . Even Janet Maslin , reviewingThe Rockfor theNew York Times , could n’t avail but bear it a compliment of sort : “ However much it hastens the demise of reason in planetary moving picture audience , this jibe - bang vim is not easily achieved … Slickness this single - minded requires entire concentration , along with glossy perfectionism and an stiff religion in the superiority of show over horse sense . ”
The Rock|Hollywood Pictures
And as much as mass mock Bay ’s dialogue as unneeded filler between plosion , The Rockboasted ( uncredited ) screenwriting assistance from Jonathan Hensleigh , Aaron Sorkin , and Quentin Tarantino , plus a pair of Brits whom Sean Connery bestow in to rewrite his line .
Bay has long said he makes moving-picture show for adolescent boys , and it just so happened that , whenThe Rockcame out in 1996 , I was one . So , in 2016 , I rewatchedThe Rockto determine : isitactually one of the bang-up action films of the ' 90 , or have I been watch it through the clumsy - coloured lense of teenagedom ?
( Quick cut to me stare directly into your figurer , having just flicked a cigar into a oil tympan fill with TNT and click bangs . television camera lento pans up from my rock - solid chin to let on ice - cold babe - gloomy centre . I simper . )
Let ’s fucking find out !
“First of all, it’s because I’m a Beatles maniac”
The pic opens with a Marine funeral and the voice of Ed Harris , aka General Frank Hummel , talking to his men give out behind foeman short letter . General Frank die to the funeral , which takes place during a monsoon inside a steam room , then walks over to his married woman ’s grave and apologizes for what he ’s about to do . you may see that he ’s a skillful man because he ’s apologizing to his wife , but General Frank has been backed into a street corner by the world power that be , and you do n’t do that to General Frank .
No more than 10 seconds later on , he and a chemical group of rogue Marines break into a Naval weapons terminal ( using darts to knock off the safety machine , because General Frank is not a monster , OK ? ) and get a caboodle of projectile . One warhead drop , and a guy find horrible acne and then melting .
Quick cut to Nic Cage , aka Dr. Stanley Goodspeed , shoot dart in his office to set off one of those Rube Goldberg devices that light up a person on fire . He incur a package , which is a Beatles record , and – when one of the cat fromHigh Fidelityquestions his $ 600 purchase – Cage point out that he is , in fact , a Beatles madman .
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Then he ’s ram to dismantle a bomb in the form of a babe doll sent by some Serbians to a Bosnian refugee camp , which present you just how little was going on in the world in the mid-’90s ; and because that was gently stressful , he give-up the ghost home and plays the guitar shirtless ; and then Gina fromBeverly Hills , 90210shows up and tells him she ’s pregnant and proposes to him .
Cage responds with , " Whoa , marriage police , pull over , " which is a strange thing to say , especially because you do n’t usually pull over the law , though I ’m blurred on whether that changes when they ’re on the union metre .
The Speech
Meanwhile , those Marines with the projectile all take a tour of Alcatraz with Ranger Bob , and when Ranger Bob invite everyone to go in the jailhouse cells , General Frank tell him the tour ’s over and courteously explain the quandary to his 81 hostages in the cells .
Then it ’s time for The Speech , a Michael Bay film specialty in which a agonist gives a stirring talk of the town about what they have to accomplish for the moving-picture show ’s narrative to advance . General Frank starts by pointing out that they ’ll be address traitors . But that ’s just to set up this line : " A twosome hundred year ago , a few hombre named Washington , Jefferson , and Adams were mark traitors by the British – and now they ’re name patriots . In time , so shall we . "
Now , the fact that our Founding Fathers were fight back for independency from an unjust monarchy , not holding American citizens hostage and threatening to shoot poisonous missiles into SF in gild to get some fall soldier recompense ( oh , and also to collect a fee of $ 1 million for services render and a slip to a non - extradition accord res publica ) , might have put a damper on things for me .
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But the soldiers are fire up . General Frank then callsThe West Wing ’s Leo Garrity , who has somehow made the jump from White House Chief of Staff to FBI Director and is predict himself James Womack . After General Frank sets the scene for his demands , Leo ’s secretary , who somehow is n’t Margaret , helpfully says , " I ’ll cancel your reservation , " because despite the fact that the country is facing a deadly terrorist approach , no - exhibit at Johnny ’s Half Shell is actually a worse consequence for someone in DC . And then Leo shake off one of those signature end - of - scene business line that are call for in any Bay movie : “ And call the SF office . It seems Alcatraz has just reopened . ”
“Hummel from Alcatraz, out.”
One of the thing that separatesThe Rockfrom more introductory Bay fare is the mashing of action style . There is the buddy - action - comedy element with Cage and Connery , but it ’s also a hostage moving picture , pitting General Frank against the White House – and for that , a Situation Room - esque fix is introduce .
The original point of this integral aspect is to base three thing :
1 . General Frank ’s very telling bio , which includes three Purple Hearts , two Silver Stars , several Yellow Moons , Green Clovers , and Red Balloons , plus a Congressional Medal of Honor .
2 . Reconfirming that Hummel is not a villain . The movie endeavor to let you recognize that this adult male is not what he seems . When the White House Chief of Staff calls him a bomber , he ’s even out . Hummel is A LEGEND . Even when he ’s postulate $ 100 million ( $ 83 million of which is pop off to fellowship of dead soldiers ! ) , he does n’t want to take taxpayer money for it . Instead , he postulate that it total from the Grand Cayman Red Sea Trading Company , which is a slush fund where the “ Pentagon keeps take from illegal arms deals . ” Hummel is fundamentally run for office while he ’s carry hostages .
3 . Belittling the current White House Chief of Staff , Hayden Sinclair . The cyberspace speculates that Sorkin ’s major contributions toThe Rockwere these Situation Room scenes , which makes sense , despite the fact that no one walks chop-chop down halls . But one of the most compelling reasons comes in the form of Sinclair , who represents cocky young people everywhere and is speedily taken to task by Hummel :
Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair : southerly China ? We ’ve never even admitted we sent troops into China . General Hummel : Who is this ? Identify yourself!HS : White House Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair , General . GH : How OLD are you , Mr. Sinclair?HS : I ’m 33.GS : Well , Mr. Sinclair , you ’ve probably got no blinking idea what I ’m talking about ! By your ninth natal day I was running Black Ops into China , and my men were responsible for over 200 enemy kills . Now , someone put some tackle tapeline over Mr. Sinclair ’s mouth , he ’s waste my time !
This entire part is essentially the"Shut the shag up , Donny"Lebowskiscene , with Sinclair as Donny .
Anyway , they reason out that Hummel is so vivid and honourable and such a torpedo that he knows all the rejoinder measures , and he knows they do n’t have planes gird with thermite plasm yet , which is what they require to counter the VX accelerator . What they really need is a guy cable who knows how to break into Alcatraz and show around the guy fromNational Treasure , but no guy exists .
expect , says Leo Garrity . One does . He was a highly trained SAS operative and a professional escape artist . His name is Sam Seaborn .
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Just kidding , IT ’S LONG - HAIRED SEAN CONNERY !
“You’re in between The Rock and a hard case”
in conclusion . It ’s nearly an time of day into the motion-picture show before we get to see older James Bond , whom they take from a cell where he ’s been reading Shakespeare andThe artistic creation of War . They want to question him so he ’ll give up how he run Alcatraz , so first they bring in a gruff hombre with a mustache who calls him " soda pop , " gets nowhere , and slide him a quarter to make a point . But you ca n’t give Sean Connery a quarter !
All of a sudden , in a very contrived scene , they take Cage , who is there because he ’s really unspoiled at defusing bombs ( oh , and who had an passing PG-13 sex scene with Gina in the beginning , but we ’re going to skip through some parts , or this matter will be long than the screenplay ) , to negociate with Connery . He does a poor task of it , but he does manage to showcase that he is smart before off Connery ’s handcuffs and asking the safety machine to get coffee bean .
Connery ask a suite at the Fairmont Hotel , plus a suit and a haircut , which leads us to a ' XC joke !
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Connery : Am I out of style?Cage : Unless you ’re a 20 - year - one-time guitarist from Seattle . [ Pause . ] It ’s a grunge thing .
Anyway , in substitution for this information , they promise to release Connery . But then he uses the twenty-five percent to break in the one - way glass , just to see Leo Garrity and get wild .
Next thing you bang , Connery ’s showering in the Fairmont suite and prescribe up all the food from room table service . While he get his hair cut outside , he talk terms with Womack , asks him to agitate on it , loops some rope on his manus , and throws him over the border .
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Meanwhile , all of the sentry duty are too officious eat scallops for the first time to do their jobs . Connery uses Leo hang by a roach as a diversion to escape , and batting cage pursues him . They ping over a screaming amount of clobber in the hotel kitchen and on escalators before they both get into ridiculous cars for a chase scene .
Connery apply his Humvee like a battering ram , and runs over a VW Bug with a ataraxis signal pull on it because the producers would like you to make out we ’re in San Francisco , then suppress a water truck and yell , " I hope you ’re ascertain , " because , above everything else , this motion picture is actually a commentary on the flagellum that is unaccredited driving .
Other thing happen – a overseas telegram auto blows up , Cage has to shoot his Lamborghini airbag and push a bozo off a motorcycle – but then we get to Connery meeting up with his daughter . John Milton Cage Jr. hang out nearby and overhears how Connery ’s daughter ’s mother met him at a Led Zeppelin concert and then they did sex and had her before six marshals work him back to prison . He asks that his girl believe he ’s not an evil mankind , but she ’s suspicious because he name her Jade , and also a bunch of cop machine ring them . Cage makes sure he is n’t humiliated , and Connery likes that .
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You know who does n’t like that ? Leo Garrity , who somehow is n’t dead despite being hung by his weapon off a hotel , but Connery tells him he ’s in between a rock and a hard caseful , and I contemplate burning my iPad in a dialogue garbage fire .
“Winners go home and fuck the prom queen”
Let ’s bike through some thing apace here . Connery and Cage are forced to go with a Navy SEAL squad inside Alcatraz . General Frank say , " Be fain to reap the whirlwind , valet ! " which makes no sense but sounds cool . The SEALs take mini subs and derive in through the cistern way , which is lock . Connery tells them he ’s move through the video biz - style obstruction course fire to go unlock the threshold , opens the threshold and say " Welcome to The Rock " so they can use that tantrum in promos , and they enter the tunnel system and agree to make out up through the washrooms while guitar euphony play , stand for hope .
Hope is turn a loss , though , when they insert the cascade way and the Marines have them besiege . There ’s lecture between the SEAL squad leader and General Frank in which the phrase " We ’ve disgorge the same roue in the same mud " is used . General Frank is a Good Guy , so he does n’t want anything to fall out , but then a rock ( ! ! ) overlook and the Marines murder all the SEALs , each in a gloriously honest slo - second shot . General Frank blames the political science , and then the Marines clear two mass are still active .
Now the movie shifts again as Cage and Connery team up , and Cage is force to go through the action - movie interpretation of when the horrible girl in the stripling read-only memory - com movie takes off her glass and overall and becomes pop .
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They make their way into the morgue to look for the rocket salad . As they get lay out to go up the step , Connery asks Cage if he ’s ready for this . Cage tells him he ’ll do his best . Connery is n’t into that .
" also-ran always whine about their good . Winners go home and bed the prom queen . “Cage : " Carla was the promenade queen . "
And then coop tittup his pistol , which could also represent his penis , I guess .
“I’d take pleasure in guttin' you… boy”
The Marines keep set on in a serial publication of effect that seem to take post on desert Disney World ride , but Connery dispatches them more brutally than I remembered , like throwing a knife through a guy ’s pharynx while calmly differentiate Cage never to hesitate , then shooting an breeze conditioner so it falls on top of another guy . Finally , Connery get bored killing the great unwashed and determine to go talk to General Frank , walk past the hostages in their cell , who look like starved lepers all of a sudden , even though they ’ve been there for less than a day .
Cage is seek to get more of the chips out of the projectile , but two guys Spider - Man down and exhaust him up and cast him in a cell . Meanwhile , General Frank and Connery have a argumentation about what is happening , during which Connery makes the very logical point , " I do n’t quite see how to treasure the computer memory of the dead by killing another million . And this is not combat , it ’s an deed of lunacy , General , sir . Personally , I think you ’re a crashing idiot . "
General Frank drop a Jefferson quote about the tree of shore leave and blood , but Mason has already bring home the bacon the day , and so they put him in a pokey cell and do n’t guard him . John Cage then goes on my favorite rant of the movie , one of those only - by - Cage diatribes in which he sort of meta - calls out the stupid , over - the - top testosterone of the moving-picture show :
" ' I ’d take joy in guttin ' you , boy . I ’d take delight inguttin ' you … boy . ' What is wrong with these people , huh ? Mason ? Do n’t you think there ’s a tidy sum of , uh , anger flowing around this island ? Kind of a pubescent volatility ? Do n’t you retrieve ? A lotta angst , a lotta ' I ’m 16 , I ’m angry at my beginner ' syndrome ? produce up ! We ’re stuck on an island with a bunch of violence - for - pleasure - quest , psychopathologic Marines , SHAME ON THEM ! "
Then Connery escapes from his prison cell and get Cage out because they know this is right about the sentence General Frank is go to realise that he ’s fucking General Frank Hummel , and that his wife would be pretty riled if he killed a million multitude with a projectile to make a power point about soldier recompense rather than just taking it to theTimesor something , and so he launches a missile but changes its flight at the last second , and it blows up harmlessly in the ocean . He then calls the mission over .
This anger the mercantile crowd he ’s with , who were pretty sure they were decease to get a million dollar to go live in Venezuela , and they all have one of those classic face - offs where everyone is pointing gas at everyone else . It turns into a shoot - out , and Connery and Cage opt to take part on General Frank ’s side , pulling him out as he signals his sorrow for potentially getting into a spat with his married woman in the hereafter , and then he become flat a semi - honorable human , or something .
CAN YOU BELIEVE THE MOVIE ISN’T OVER YET?
The final part of the film is essentially Connery and Cage figuring out creative ways to kill Marines , admit throw them off buildings , shoving the VX gas pedal canister in their mouths , and LAUNCHING A FUCKING MISSILE INTO ONE AFTER ASKING IF HE like " ROCKET MAN . "
Oh , also , the President has approve an melodic line strike with that poppycock that kills VX gaseous state , so planing machine are coming to rug - bomb Alcatraz , but Cage , who had to stab himself in the heart with drugs to not die from VX , somehow still has the physical and mental capability to go alfresco and fall green flare . They tell apart the pilots to abort , but one pilot ’s like , " Oops ! Promise you wo n’t get mad at me , but I already knock off a bomb . " fortunately , that fucking bomb was lame , and it only hit the back of the island and blew Cage into the water . Connery gets him , and they ’re about to osculate , but Leo Garrity has Margaret call him on the radio and ask about President Bartlett ’s economic plan , and also whether Connery is animated .
John Milton Cage Jr. front at Connery in a tender way and tells him he ’s dead and was screw up out to ocean and vaporized . Then he tells Connery to escape using one of those cool scuba subs the SEALs had , and go back to the hotel to get Cage ’s clothes and some money he inexplicably left in a Bible . Connery then enjoin him to go to a church service in Kansas and get all of the country ’s secrets .
Cut to Cage and90210Gina in a " Just matrimonial " car in Kansas , running out of an old church service as the non-Christian priest chases them . And then Cage take Gina if she wants to know who killed JFK . And then this movie , which , despite itsFamily Circus - esque nuance and insistence on ending every scene with a hyper - masculine quotation and/or an improbably gruesome slaying , still confine up as somewhere between just and splendid , ends .
Oh , and Sam Seaborn killed JFK . Pretty certain you encounter out in the Director ’s Cut .
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