The Rock (1996)

An FBI chemical weapons expert (Oscar-winner Nicholas Cage) and a former SAS soldier turned political prisoner (Oscar-winner Sean Connery) must break into Alcatraz prison when a rogue military group, lead by a renegade general (Oscar-nominee Ed Harris), has taken it over and are now threatening a nerve gas attack on San Franscisco.  This high-octane action thriller was a huge smash when released in the Summer of 1996 and helped cement director Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Armageddon, Transformers, Pearl Harbor) as an established brand of filmmaker for decades to come.  The stacked supporting cast also includes John Spencer, David Morse, William Forsythe, Vanessa Marcil, Tony Todd, Bokeem Woodbine, and Michael Biehn among several others.  Get ready to ROCK!

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

THE ROCK - 1996

Directed by Michael Bay

Starring Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, John Spencer, David Morse, William Forsythe, Vanessa Marcil, John C. McGinley, Gregory Sporleder, Tony Todd, Bokeem Woodbine, Jim Maniaci, Brendan Kelly, Danny Nucci, Claire Forlani, Todd Louiso, Xander Berkeley, Anthony Clark, and Michael Biehn

Genre: Action Thriller

"Your BESHT? LOSHERS are alwaysh whining about doing their BESHT! Winnerz go home and f$%k da prom queen!"

Nobody could sell a nonsensical line like that. :o Nobody except the man who 32 years prior was able to successfully sell this particular exchange:

"Who are you?"
 "My name is Pussy Galore."
 "I musht be dreaming."

This is why you would hire some one like Connery, he was a true movie star - RIP Sean. :( And in the case of The Rock, you had three genuine movie stars doing genuine movie star things very well. Cage is spinning every line of dialogue for maximum quirky or comic effect as Stanley Goodspeed, Connery is capitalizing on several decades of iconic roles to kind of create a shorthand for what makes this particular character so dominant….John Patrick Mason but he might as well be a later version of James Bond, And Harris as General Hummell with his steely eyes and mannerisms is lending a ton a weight and seriousness to a standard villain character. And when you have movie stars like these earning their paychecks, it can help to obscure a lot of flaws.

Because this film is VERY flawed....and yet highly watchable and pretty beloved. I remember I was working in a movie theater the summer this came out - the summer of Independence Day, Twister, Mission Impossible - and no film had audiences eating out of the palms of its hands like this one. Folks LOVED this movie....whether earned or not, it just came off as smarter and more touching than your typical action movie no joke! :)

The intelligence SEEMED to come from how Cage and Harris played their characters and how they were presented - these didn't seem like your typical hero and villain respectively: Cage was stammering a lot and he was a self-proclaimed "Beatlemaniac" or "chemical super-freak" and that just sounded kind of hip and funny at the time. Harris is just SO passionate and sympathetic in those early scenes...he's grimly talking to his wife's grave at the beginning so of course he must have genuine motivations for taking Alcatraz and threatening to bombard San Francisco with VX gas. :o

And that's where Bay comes in - this was only Michael Bay's second movie and rewatching it now, it's easy to see why he became SUCH a big deal in the '90's after this came out....he knew off the bat how to play the audience, how to make the things they were seeing and hearing elicit feelings of cleverness, high drama, patriotism. That's not to say he didn't have talent - it takes talent to make your hero and villain seem equally sympathetic in the first act. Everything in the film also LOOKS good from the circling shots of Cage looking determined to Connery's spiffy haircut to the San Francisco Bay...but I guess my overall issue with it and I’m not the only one, is that it’s just TOO much: too many characters, too much action, too many extended setpiences which are SO overblown that they would be the climax of most other action films.  I mean it’s all well-shot and entertaining to watch but the film’s runtime clocks in at around 140 minutes….and it takes well over 70 minutes until we actually GET to the titular ROCK.  And by that point, we’ve already had one crazy car chase involving a Humvee and trolly car which has seemingly demolished half of downtown San Francsisco. 

Overall though, this movie is still jam-packed with highly entertaining setpieces as they leave several lingering questions: 

How can a 60+ man who's been in jail for 30+ years easily dispense with highly trained Special Ops soldiers half his age?? And drive a Humvee...and operate a cell phone for that matter? 😛

WHY would there be a need for an endless labyrinth of Temple of Doom-like mine-shafts and traps underneath a prison built in the '30's?? :p

And how come the main issue driving General Hummell (Harris) - fallen soldiers under him whose families never received death benefits - is pretty much forgotten by the  midpoint of the film ESPECIALLY as HIS team of domestic terrorists just murdered about a dozen more active US military? 🤔Maybe he’ll request extra death benefits for THEIR families too? 

Questions like those just don't matter when everything you see on screen seems so appealing and sure of itself. The Rock is the cinematic equivalent of some one who is "young, dumb, and full of cum"...just like its director and there's nothing wrong with that! ;) Of the mid '90's Cage Action Trifecta, my personal preference is STILL for the bat-shit Woo-ish insanity of Face/Off but that film was just on another level and going for something more unique. To each his or her own.. rewatching the adventures of Stanley Goodspeed, Chemical Super-freak is still a good time.

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

While I wouldn’t consider his music for this film to among his better ones, Hans “The Zimm” Zimmer once again returns to compose yet another banger action score.  Collaborating with esteemed protégé Harry Gregson-Williams, he delivers rousing, pulse-pounding music loaded with synth and soaring strings. (Audio clip) 

And in case you didn’t notice, it even sounds somewhat similar to big scores he had composed for other recent action blockbusters at the time, including previous episodes Crimson Tide and Backdraft.  But definitely what sets this one apart is the main theme which we hear throughout the film…..FIRST during the opening action sequence when General Hummel’s gang robs a military weapons depot to nab those VX gas missiles.  It’s a fairly catchy theme too punctuated with some nice horns to deliver the emotion.  Many refer to this as the main theme from The Rock but the official track listing is actually…..”Hummel Gets the Rockets.” (Audio clip)   

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

As was the case with several Jerry Bruckheimer productions during this time period, this was just a SUPER-stacked cast filled with several strong actors who were yet to break out and/or were already well-known but STILL just given maybe ONE scene of note.  Now would I say that they were WASTED in this film?  Possibly not but LIKE recent previous episode Silkwood, rewatching this film now just becomes a distracting game throughout of…”Spot That Guy” because they just keep popping up and apparently several of them were even “uncredited” amongst the OFFICIAL cast list.  (Audio clip) 

Let’s just go through a brief rundown of notable actors who appear in this movie whether you noticed them or not…..later this same year, he would play the jazz-loving babysitter in Jerry Maguire, TODD LOUISO as Marvin who is working alongside Cage’s Stanley in that opening bomb diffusing sequence…..eight years prior he played Jimmy, the bad-ass thug whose throat gets ripped out by Dalton in Roadhouse, MARSHALL TEAGUE as Seal Reigert….CANDYMAN himself, the late great Tony Todd as Captain Darrow….speaking of Candyman as he played Virginia Madsen’s asshole boyfriend in that movie XANDER BERKELEY as Lonner who is running the defusing station in that early sequence…..soon-to-be-costar of HBO’s “Sex & the City WILLIE GARSON as Francis Reynolds, I think he appears in the interrogation scene…..and…..wait for it…..JESUS himself.  Yes he would play Christ in the Passion of the Christ only eight years later JIM CAVIEZEL as Rear F-18 Pilot in that climactic sequence towards the end, I THINK you can hear him. 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

I alluded to this earlier….this film has several powerhouse setpieces throughout its runtime, many of which would qualify as THE MAIN climax for most other action thrillers. But none more so than what I consider – and I think many fans of this films as well consider as well – to be THE most impressive sequence and also the most emotionally charged.  It occurs about 80 minutes into the film, two words: SHOWER ROOM. (Audio clip) 

Interestingly, neither Cage nor Connery actually factor into this sequence but it’s a genuine scenery chewing acting showcase for Ed Harris AND…..the man, the myth, the legend, one of my personal favorite genre stars from this era as he has given memorable performances in previous episodes Tombstone, The Abyss, The Terminator, AND Aliens….Annison, Alabama’s favorite son…MICHAEL BIEHN.  Even though this remains his last scene as Commander Anderson, the head of the Navy Seal team entering The Rock with Mason and Goodspeed, he DEFINITELY goes with a bang!  His verbal back-and-forth with Harris REMAINS the highpoint of the film. (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Oooh, TOUGH call here!  I’m tempted to choose Bay as he DOES direct the hell out of this thing and I THINK I’m even of the opinion shared by many that this remains his best film overall.  And I’m ALSO tempted to go the route which this podcast has gone with many a memorable action thriller from this era, a saying of mine…”It’s all about the villain.”  (Audio clip) 

Ed Harris is undeniably great in this, probably even delivering more than what he what he was given on the page as one of this era’s most memorable villains.  That also leaves Connery whom I DON’T think is particularly great in this but he’s doing the job of delivering a 100% full-on charismatic movie star performance.  Nope sorry but I have to go with Cage here….he does what few movie stars are often willing to do when it comes to bombastic action epics like this one:  He just brings a unique blend of humor, vulnerability, AND quirky charm to this role….to the point where I can’t honestly think of ONE line reading of his which any other particular movie star (maybe besides Johnny Depp a few years later) would even THINK to try.  In retrospect, it’s KIND of an underrated performance and for delivering this film’s BEST performance along with its beating heart, Nicholas Cage is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5

Happy 30th Anniversary to the action smash which launched a thousand memes.

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And that ends another CHEMICAL SUPERFREAK review!