I just concluded my third viewing of the Jerry Bruckheimer film "The Rock", and I was quite impressed. This movie has everything to make it a classic, a solid storyline and plot, excellent casting, and a beautifully written script. Everyone that was casted in this movie fits their role perfectly. This movie is definitely worthy of it's Criterion DVD.

Nicolas Cage plays Stanley Goodspeed, a well educated FBI agent and chemical weapons expert, who is recruited to help a hostage situation and take over an attack base on the island of Alcatraz. Ed Harris plays General Frank Hummel, a Marine veteran and renegade who is fighting for the rights of the men that have died under his command, and were betrayed by their own government. His fight includes the seize of 15 rockets, armed with the VX chemical gas, pointed in the heart of the San Francisco bay area. The only man who knows how to get in and out of Alcatraz is John Mason, a convict who was the only to bust out of Alcatraz, and was forgotten about by the government and had his identity erased, is played by screen veteran Sean Connery.

The dialogue in this film is outstanding. Connery has some of the most hilarious lines that I have ever heard before. Even after his days of James Bond, Connery has still got all the moves and all the action still in him. Cage is the nerdy type who doesn't want anything to do with the operation, but is the only one who knows how to disarm the missles, so he must be dragged along against his will. Ed Harris and his performance rival his role as Gene Kranz in Apollo 13, which was an Oscar nominated role. The plot to this film is ironclad, without me finding one hole to it. If you have the means of picking up the Criterion DVD, I highly recommend it, mainly because of all the extra features, and the better sound quality. Otherwise, go on out and rent it or buy it, and you will not at all be disappointed.

Mark Martinovich

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