Rating: 
Summary: Action at it's Best
Review: This is probably my favorite action movie of all time and it deserves it's title. Waiting for the Criterion collection of this DVD and paying the extra money was worth it. The extras range from standard to never before seen. In particular the history of Alcatraz, behind the scenes work and commentary audio track of the film is really interesting to listen to. The 5.1 DD sounds great and helps highlight Zimmer's first rate score (my favorite actually) One of those rare movies where you can forgive the cheesy lines and insane plot twists so you can sit back and have fun. A MUST HAVE addition to your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: The Rock Rocks!
Review: The Rock is an extremely entertaining film. A convict that escaped from Alcatraz, but was later captured must help the FBI to infiltrate the Alcatraz prison, which has been taken over by a group of soldiers. The tourists have also been taken hostage. The Rock is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. It is the second film from director, Michael Bay, who made his debut directing BAD BOYS (1995). Michael Bay who later went onto ARMAGEDDON and PEARL HARBOR is one of my favorite directors. THE ROCK is full of action with the right cast and crew. The only problem is that you have to pay about $ just for a copy of the film's Criterion Collection DVD which contains more special features than the original THE ROCK DVD released. Over all THE ROCK rocks!
Rating:
Summary: this movie kicks ...
Review: THE ROCK is one of the best movies ever made. Starring Sean Connery (who makes this movie funny and great) and of course nichlas cage(who is another supurb actor) this movie will keep you from breathin util the ending. not only does the moive kick sooo much ..., but the special collecter adition of this dvd makes it vastly better. plus, at a price you can't beat. im not high, im not a guy who works at amazon, im a rock lover and you will be too. JUST BUY THE ... MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Best movie ever
Review: this movie "rocks"! It is really cool and has good acting and a great storyline. The special effects were great and the chase scene was awesome. Definetely deserves five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Rock!
Review: Michael Bay's action-fest is an exciting, if not always original entry into the Bay/Bruckheimer cannon. This Alcatraz flick starring Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage is fun, but where's the plot?The trick is not to give the audience a breather to catch the seams. That and to really overdo the premise. The bad guys are the coverts' kind of covert, led with square-jawed nobility by Ed Harris (straight man to Connery's dry cracks and Cage's tomfoolery), whose renegade Marines hijack Alcatraz and train rockets, laced with ultra lethal chemical bath drops, on San Francisco. Who you gonna call? Try ex-SAS man Connery (stealer of every known secret of the US government and a prison break specialist so good he's been behind bars for 30 years) and not-up-to-it FBI guy Cage (chemo swot and Beatles freak). What the film does lack in novelty, it makes up for with fast-paced action, cool cars, some great set pieces and big noisy things exploding. Dumb, fun action. The DVD extras are great too.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to The Rock
Review: The Rock Dvd was the first disc I bought when I finally purchased a DVD player 4 years ago.It was my favorite movie at that time and it still remains so.Unfortunately the disc didn't include ANY extras at all and the picture transfer and sound quality were below average.Last year,when I heard that The Rock was getting a Criterion release it so much deserved,this was one of the best DVD news I ever got. General Hummel (Ed Harris)is highly frustrated because many soldiers under his command died in secret operations and they didn't get the treatment they deserved from the government.Hummel is determined to change that,and when all else fails, with the help of ex-marines,he seizes control of Alcatraz Prison,which is now a tourist attraction,and threatens to launch chemical weapons on San Fransisco unless his demands are met.The government decides to infiltrate the island with marines,and they also need the help of FBI biochemist Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage),who is more of a science man than an action man.However,nobody knows much about Alcatraz's infrastructure and the maze of tunnels below the rock,and the only person who owns that kind of information is the only person who has ever been able to escape from there,John Mason (Sean Connery),a man who has been held in prison for many years without trial,and we don't know why.Goodspeed,Mason and the marines team up to enter the rock,neutralize the chemical weapons and release the hostages.As the movie progresses,we also learn more about Mason,his past,why he was in prison and who he is. The Rock is one of the best action movies ever,if not the best.The primary reason is I think the presence of 3 great actors,who take their characters seriously,which sets the movie apart from the competition.Ed Harris plays General Hummel beautifully,we can never be sure whether he will actually "do it",Sean Connery is Sean Connery as usual and Mason character will remind many people of another character Connery is so famous for,and finally Nic Cage,in maybe his first great action movie,portays an original and often funny character.Director Michael Bay's fast cutting techniques and visual stylization is a nice fit for this kind of film,although many people don't take him as a serious director.The script seems composed of parts from many other movies we have seen before,but still,The Rock somehow manages to be interesting.The original score by Hans Zimmer is genuinely magnicifent and is one of the other reasons why the Rock is sensational. The Dvd extras are a handful and I don't think you will be disappointed.There is a commentary by Michael Bay,Cage,producer Bruckheimer and Ed Harris.It is a bit dull and I wish it included Connery as well.The other extras are special effect analysis,the history of Alcatraz,world premiere and some outtakes and deleted extended scenes.What sets the criterion edition apart from the previous version is the anomorphic digital transfer,and the picture&sound quality.If you want the Rock as a part of your collection,Criterion edition is the right one for you. If you are into action movies,I can not think of a reason why you shouldn't like The Rock.And even if you already own the previous dvd edition,you definitely should consider buying this one too..
Rating:
Summary: An explosive action packed movie
Review: One word to describe it "Great!" Ed Harris stars as General Frank Hummel who seizes control of Alcatraz. Only chemical specialist Goodspeed(Nicolas Cage) and a trained killer(Sean Connery) have what it takes to defuse the rockets and stop the bad guys. A great movie put together, one of the best in the 90's. Great job!
Rating:
Summary: Action Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!
Review: Jerry Bruckheimer might have made some bad movies in the last couple of years (Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, I'm looking at you!), but he and Don Simpson, along with director Michael Bay, teamed for one of the best action movies I've ever seen. Nicolas Cage is simply outstanding as Stanley Goodspeed, the FBI agent who is thrown into the hostage situation. Rather than play the role like your typical action hero, Cage chose to make Goodspeed an Everyman. While it's a little cliche, I haven't seen it done much better than in The Rock. He reacts the way most people would to his first dive, his first dead body, etc. Ed Harris is also excellent as General Hummel, who is not the typical bad guy. He really is more of a tragic figure and comes across that way on screen. Hummel doesn't want to kill people, but he knows it's the best way to get what he wants. But the best part of this movie is the chemistry between Cage and Sean Connery. Up until the very end, you never know whether he and Connery are really on the same team. But the interplay between the two is spectacular. From the car chase to the final moments on Alcatraz, the two go back and forth like they were married. They might seem like they hate each other, but you can see the mutual respect building. The action scenes are also incredible, helped in part by the outstanding soundtrack. The adrenaline runs high as Connery tears up San Francisco in a humvee, a massive gunfight takes place in the shower room of Alcatraz, and Goodspeed tries to disarm the rockets before the Air Force bombs the prison. The extras in the Criterion Collection aren't great, although there are some really interesting ones. The piece on Hollywood gunplay is really cool. Otherwise, the other extras include footage from the premier and the trailers, which probably could have been fit on one DVD. But the movie more than makes up for the lack of extras. Overall, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves action. The sharp script and outstanding action sequences make a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: Not so excellent special edition
Review: I waited for a long time to own The Rock in DVD, but I wanted an edition to do justice to the film. The Criterion edition comes close to what I expect of a special DVD edition, but it came a little short. The sound is excellent, and the movie is a pleasure to hear, but the image is not as good, in some scenes one can look that it is a little bit grainy, I don't know what happened in the restoration process, but it certainly came short. About the bonus material, they're just good. And one thing this edition lacks of is spanish subtitles, why is that important? Well, there's an important spanish-speaking community in the US and a growing one in Canada that would appreciate that! (and that goes for most of the Region 1 coded DVD's) and there are no criterion edition DVD's in Region 4 format. The film is one of the best I've seen so far, it's an action rollercoaster and even when it is not very original in some parts and uses some clichés, it is an excellent movie to watch over and over.
Rating:
Summary: A refreshingly smart and exciting action movie
Review: Michael Bay is a director that I was expecting a lot more from as his career progressed. Instead, his movies have become formulaic action yarns, overlong, contrived, and just plain mindless. But before they became that, he hit his stride with 'The Rock'. This is more than a good action movie. This is a great movie overall. It's an intelligent, funny, clever, fast-paced and action-packed film that will leave you absolutely breathless. There is a serious political message at the core concerning our goverment's disregard for soldiers who die defending our soil, as well as their families. And the real humanity lies not in its characters' fighting or blowing up ability, but in their hearts. The movie starts off full-throttle with American flag backdrops and Ed Harris, who plays war hero General Hummel, grieving at the grave of his wife, promising to make good and fulfill what he sees as his destiny. He is a psychologically unstable man and, after stealing several deadly chemicals from government labs, he and his men manage to seize the former prison island of Alcatraz. They take civilian hostages, and threaten to fire deadly rockets at San Francisco unless their demands are met. What are the demands? Hummel, who has three Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and the Medal of Honor, is angered that 83 men have died under his command and never been recognized, because they were on secret missions that the government denied even existed. He wants millions in payments to their next of kin. Hummel is known and respected in Washington, and his demands are taken seriously. A news blackout is imposed while the Pentagon assembles a team to break into Alcatraz and neutralize the poison gas missiles. This team is basically a crack-squad platoon of experienced Marines, but the two most necessary members of the team stick out like a sore thumb. One is Patrick Mason, played by veteran actor Sean Connery. Mason was a British spy who, we learn, successfully stole all of J. Edgar Hoover's secret files before being secretly jailed for life without a trial. What does that have to do with anything? He is a jailbreak expert who is the only man ever to escape successfully from Alcatraz. The other out-of-towner is Stanley Goodspeed, played excellently by the wonderful Nicolas Cage. Cage is one of my favorite actors working today, and in this role he makes Goodspeed an extremely down-to-earth likeable guy. He is a lab technician and FBI scientist, who is preparing to marry his longtime girlfriend and finally settle down. However with a government job comes a responsibility. To make a long story short, he's assigned to join the task force, even though he has minimal field or combat experience. A movie like 'The Rock' is a movie that will put you on the very edge of your seat, as it progresses from one action sequence to the next. What sets it apart from other movies of this genre is that in between and during the action sequences you aren't bored to death by bland characters or scoffing at melodramatic acting. Quite the contrary actually, the characters are well-drawn and you will actually find yourself caring greatly for them and hoping for their survival. The chemistry between Connery, as a reluctant soldier who has all the skills necessary to outsmart and outfight their enemies, and Cage, as the science nerd who can disarm the rockets but is not much in the killing department, is a real treat as well and there are several laugh-out loud dialogues between the two one of my favorites being the scene when they've finally decided to work together (Cage: "Well, I'll do my best." Connery: "Your best? Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and f--- the prom queen." Cage: "Carla was the prom queen.") There is a real intriguing complexity added to Ed Harris' character as well, something that you will take note of early in the movie, and that will give the film its political message. He's not so much the villain in the movie, but is merely misunderstood and tired of being dumped on all these years by our government. If you wish to really enjoy 'The Rock' to it's fullest extent, make sure you watch it on a big screen TV with booming 5.1 channel speakers. When you hear Hans Zimmer's terrific musical score, all the pain, drama and tears of the movie will be right there in your living room. Now, granted, as with most films of this genre, there are a few holes and loose ends. Doesn't it seem like the heroes are allowed to eavesdrop on any conversations that contain information they need to know? And somehow I don't think the tunnels under Alcatraz are the large and well-lighted labyrinth this film makes them out to be. Large enough so that an entire squad of Marines can simply walk around. Man, the builders must have wanted their invaders to be able to squeeze in as comfortably as possible. But, hey, don't let my dryness fool you, because I love this movie, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, throw-down, take-no-prisoners action fiest with a military plot and quirky and convincing characters to boot. And as far as DVDs go, this is one of the finest treatments Criterion has ever given a film.
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