The Rock

Rating:
Summary: Top 5 action movie ever!
Review: THE ROCK is one of the top 5 action movies ever made! It makes no apologies for its all-out style, either. I don't usually fall for one-liners, but Sean Connery's quote about the prom queen (see it yourself!) is hilarious.

I don't usually even watch movies twice. But I pop in this DVD every now and again as "background," and always end up totally engrossed. My "real work" always gets dropped in favor of the movie. Do yourself a favor and see THE ROCK.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Movie - One of the best DVD's
Review: I am referring to the criterion collection. The movie here is revamped with beautiful sound, unbelievable color, and nice features. Although the movie is, as was pointed previously, lack of any artistic value, the adrenalin rush you get out of it is very high. This is further hightened by the brilliant sound.

Buy it only if you love the movie. Use this to test your home theater system to the limits. And to show-off what great sound system you have.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Rock !
Review: Great action film. The battle between the SEALs and the hired guns came off great, the chase through San Francisco was also quite dynamic. To me, the best part of the film was the tour viewers get to see of Alcatraz itself. Granted, some of the areas may not exist and were added for storyline purposes, but I enjoyed getting to see so much of the infamous old prison. Nicolas Cage does a great job as Stanley Goodspeed, and any action movie with Sean Connery should be strong as well. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: "ROCK-SOLID" ENTERTAINMENT!
Review: Nicolas Cage deserved a second Best Actor nomination for his bang-on portrayal of the legendary WWF champion in this entertaining, family-friendly biopic. Brimming with heart and wholly inspiring, THE ROCK is the best "feel good" flick since THE KARATE KID III. Don't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: The Rock- Criterion
Review: A superb popcorn action movie, directed with style & flair by Bay (working with decent material for a change), The Rock is a perfect example or how action should be done. The excellent cast certainly helps, with Harris & Connery standing out in particular. Picture quality is superb (& widescreen enhanced) & the DTS soundtrack will have your house shaking. Besides the commentary, the extras are very much take it or leave it, & will probably only get 1 viewing. Well worth buying for the movie though, as dumb action movies don't get much better. Sit back, switch off your brain for 2 hours, & enjoy the ride.

Rating:
Summary: Great Sean Connery
Review: This is a great movie. I'd recommend the movie to any lover of Sean Connery, Nick Cage, Ed Harris, or action movies. Any type of movie for that matter. Sean Connery seems made for this role, a bitter British agent improsoned for life without trial. His cynisism and great quips make this movie a joy to watch. He constantly will snap back to Nick Cage with a wonderful little quote, my favorite being "Loser's whine about doing their best..... Nick Cage also gives a great performance, and he seems almost made for the role as a reluctant chemical engeneer thrust into an environment he doesn't understand with a man he doesn't trust or know. The movie plays Cage off of Connery, and the result is great dialouge mixed with awesome action sequences. Ed Harris plays the angered general who doesn't want his men, killed in top secret missions with him, to have their families go uncompinsated. You get a great view at his inner torments of wanting his goals to be completed, however, he doesn't want to be responsible for the deaths of many people in San Fransisco. The movie's action and acting is superb, and it is one of my favorite movies. I'd definatly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Not Exactly An Accurate Picture...
Review: Taken simply as a fast-paced shoot-'em-up action thriller, this film works well enough. But the actions and motivations behind Ed Harris (General Hummel) and the Force Recon marines who side with him leave much to be desired. A few simple facts for those interested:

Marines volunteer for Force Recon, and they do so with full knowledge of the risks and sacrifices being asked of them, including annonimity. These gentlemen are not in the military for college benefits. They are warriors, and have chosen to live - and die, if needed - in a warrior culture. So the idea that a high-ranking officer and active members would desert and become terrorists is both ridiculous and repugnant, for to do so would betray the honor and sacrifice of the men who had died in combat.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Action Movie Ever!!!!!
Review: This film is simply the bomb!! I absoultely love it 2 bits. I have watched it maybe 10 times and I still love it. The action sequences r stunning and the plot complex and vastly entertaining. But the best thing about the film are the characters. Connery and Cage's characters are excellent 2 watch and it is hillarious how different they r. Connery is the...SAS ultimate solder and Cage is the timid..."lab rat!!" Fab movie and defintly one of the best action movies of all times. Another refreshing thing is that the characters r really well developed and throughout the flick u begin 2 understand them and begin to bond with them. Da bomb!!!

Rating:
Summary: So much talent...impossible to resist!
Review: Mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Con Air", "Bad Company") and director Michael Bay ("Pearl Harbor", "Armageddon") bring you this awesome action thriller. The lineup of stars is fit to please all: Sean Connery (yeah, yeah, the first 007), Nicholas Cage ("Face Off", "Con Air"), Ed Harris ("The Abyss", "A Beautiful Mind"). Also available are some of my personal favorite, yet lesser known, actors: Michael Biehn ("Terminator", "The Abyss"), David Morse ("Bait"), Tony Todd ("Candyman"), and William Forsythe ("Out For Justice", "Firestorm").

It all starts when a misguided general (Harris, in what is possibly his best role ever)breaks into a military compound--without seriously hurting any of the guars--and steals fifteen rockets of VX gas. This stuff is bad; as Cage's character later puts it: "It's one of those things we wish we could dis-invent."

The general then takes over Alcatraz Island, taking hostage the tourists. He aims the rockets at San Fransisco, and makes his demands to the Pentagon.

Enter Stanly Goodspeed (Cage), a biochemist working for the FBI. He's their best man; and he's just been called to action. His first job: to watch over inmate John Mason (Connery), a man who's been held without trial since the sixties when he was caught spying for the British government. Mason was once a prisoner of Alcatraz, and the only man to successfully escape. If he wants his freedom, he must lead a SEAL team--and the reluctant and all-to-human Goodspeed--into the heart of the prison to disable the rockets.

What follows is a heart-stopping movie filled with enough suspense to leave you awake for hours afterward, letting your heartbeat slow down. Bruckheimer and Bay know what they're doing here; so does the wonderful cast. Buy "The Rock" today...and it'll rock YOU for a long, long time.

Rating:
Summary: As much as I hate to admit it, I loved this film.
Review: The words "Jerry Bruckhemier production" make me cringe, since that typically equates to unexciting action movies that follow a "race against the clock" formula and lots and lots of comic relief humor that doesn't work. Even though The Rock follows the formula to a T, yep, it works, and I'm not even sure how. All I know is that I was too enthralled to give a damn about things like plot holes, character development (which the film actually has a decent amount of), and predictability.

The plot goes like this: General Hummel (Ed Harris) is a highly decorated military man upset that the men that died under his command received no medals, their families given no compensation, and not even proper burials. So, he and nineteen highly trained soldiers steal several rounds worth of deadly VX gas, hole up in Alcatraz, complete with rockets to launch the poisonous substance into the general vicinity in San Francisco. Once informed of Hummel's demands (83 million dollars in one day), the FBI brings in top chemical expert Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) and former Alcatraz prisoner and British Spy, John Mason (Sean Connery) to help the Navy Seals break in and defuse the situation. Things don't go according to plan, and Goodspeed and Mason are left alone to battle Hummel's men and keep the rockets from launching.

Infamous director Michael Bay, known for his hyperkinetic editing, displays his speedy style prominently, which is definitely a problem, but for the most part, the action sequences are very tense and exciting (bolstered by Hans Zimmer's blistering score). Cage and Connery are both likeable, enough that we certainly want them to get out of the situation alive and unharmed, which adds some good suspense to the proceedings. Ed Harris brings a bit of depth into his "villain" role, making him more sympathetic than hissable (that should be saved for the men under his command). Place in some big laughs, and we've got a jolly good crowdpleaser that, despite a hell of a lot of silly and stupid moments, comes across as first-rate entertainment.
**** 1/2 out of *****