The Rock

Starring:  Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris

Review by The Ranting WolfCastle

    Most action movies' plots aren't very original.  Well, neither is this one.  It follows the all too common "Die Hard" theme.  But sometimes the best inventions are the ones that only improve on other items.  Such as "The Rock."  I also think that action movies that are too serious are bad, I feel it is important to be able to laugh with action movies, not so much at them, although that's fun sometimes too.

    Ed Harris co-stars as a vengeful General who takes over Alcatraz Island, and is threatening to launch V-X poison gas rockets at the mainland, unless his demands are met.  So, our heroes are sent in, lead by a team of top-notch Navy SealS, are Mason (Connery), whom is let out of prison to help with the Alcatraz architecture (he's the only man to ever escape from the island) and Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), an FBI chemical "super freak."  It isn't long before the entire Seal team is slaughtered by Harris's marines, and the two wildcards are left to save the world alone.

    So basically without a tremendous cast, this movie doesn't have much.  But that is actually all it needed.  Ed Harris is a great actor, and one of those bad guys that you can't help but relate to.  He does an excellent job of giving his character, well, character.  Sean Connery is one of my favorite actors, due mainly to his performance in this film, and then there's Nicolas Cage, who gives all his lines a funny edge, I don't know how he does it!  You find yourself laughing at the most bland lines, like "Oh well why not," and "...I just want to find some rockets!"  The interaction between the two stars is nothing short of tremendous, and the supporting actors are just as great.  I don't know any of their names, but they all did a wonderful job, especially the FBI trainee that worked with Stanley Goodspeed.  I left the movie theater feeling kind of inspired, and that really doesn't happen to me often.  That's when I knew that "The Rock" would be my next favorite action movie.  However, I don't know if this is one of those movies you can watch over and over again.  The second time I saw it, I was kind of bored.  But then a friend of mine bought me a copy and I haven't been bored watching it since.  I can't tell you if you'll like it twice, but I think you should like it once.  So, overall it had an overused plot, but great acting and lots of laughs pull it through.  I would have given it ten checks if the plot was a little better, but nine is still a damn good score.

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