The Rock (1996)

Title - The Rock 

Year of release - 1996

Genre - Action/Thriller

Length - 2 hours 16 minutes

Rating - 15

Director - Michael Bay

Writer(s) - David Weisberg, Douglas Cook and Mark Rosner

Who is in it? - Sean Connery as John Patrick Mason, Nicholas Cage as Stanley Goodspeed, Ed Harris as General Francis Xavier Hummel, David Morse as Major Tom Baxter and John Spencer as FBI Director Womak to name a few.

What's it about? - Alcatraz Island has been taken over by a group of marines led by General Francis Xavier Hummel. They also have taken 81 tourists who were on the island as hostages. He is using these hostages as his leverage in his bid to make the government pay benefits to those who have lost loved ones in secret military operations. His wife died recently and this pushed him far over the edge, hence the hostage taking.

An FBI biochemist whose partner has just announced that she is pregnant gets the call that Alcatraz is now under terrorist control. His name is Stanley Goodspeed. Stanley discovers that the general has a selection of deadly warheads containing a gas called VX. The general has threatened to use these nukes on American soil unless his demands are met.

Luckily Stanley knows how to disarm these nukes. The only down side is that he doesn't know his way around Alcatraz island.

This is where John Patrick Mason comes in handy. An ex MI5 or 6 operative, John is the only person to have ever escaped from Alcatraz so is the best suited man for the job. Although John is currently in prison for supposedly stealing the personal files of ex president Hoover. However John even though he would love to see the FBI fail he joins forces with Stanley to put an end to the generals terrorism.

Together John and Stanley enter Alcatraz island with a team of higly trained US Navy Seals. As the move through the prison facility the seal team are killed, leaving John and Stanley to finish this themselves.

Will they reach the hostages and free them, will they neutralize the bombs and take down the general and his men??

Is it any good? - Nicholas Cage as Stanley and Sean Connery as John make a perfect pair. The explosive match they have is perfect to this film. This is such a great film and is one I personally could watch over and over again.

Why should I watch it? - For the thrill ride and the edge of the seat suspense

How do you rate it overall? - 10/10