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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Michael Bay’s The Rock
(1996) is a high octane buddy-buddy
action/thriller that costars Sean Connery and
Nicholas Cage as an unlikely pair working against
time to save San Francsico from nuclear
Armageddon. Cage is Stanley Goodspeed, a
Cracker-Jack FBI bomb expert who is called in to
negotiate the rules of engagement against a rogue
team of military defectors frontlined by Brigadier
General Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris). Seems
Hummel holds the military responsible for his
wife’s death and has decided that he will expose
their lies and secrets by holding them accountable
with the threat of destroying a major U.S. city in
a nuclear explosion.
The FBI wants to invade Hummel’s hideout –
Alcatraz Prison, only they need someone who has
intimate knowledge of the interior layout. Enter
military prisoner, John Patrick Mason (Sean
Connery). Wrongfully locked up for the secrets he
knows Mason strikes a deal with Stanley. He will
get Stanley inside Hummel’s hideaway in exchange
for Stanley looking the other way when he, Mason,
makes a break for freedom.
The rest of the narrative is basically a race
against time with the bomb ticking away somewhere
within the prison walls and Hummel’s squadron
lurking around every corner, ready to exterminate
anyone who tries to enter uninvited.
The film is dedicated to producer Don Simpson who,
together with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, is
responsible for creating many of the memorable
action/adventure movies of the mid-eighties.
Seemingly suffering from an inferiority complex,
Simpson took his own life during the production;
his final testament to a vision and prowess in the
medium that remains unsurpassed.
Criterion’s 2-disc DVD is the preferred edition of
this movie. Touchstone also has a DVD, but its’
overall image quality is so poor that it behooves
this reviewer to NOT recommend that edition to the
consumer. Criterion’s mastering efforts, on the
other hand, are superb. This is a reference
quality disc with rich, bold and fully saturated
colors, deep solid blacks and very clean whites.
Contrast is ideally realized with a considerable
amount of fine detail evident throughout the film,
even during the darkest scenes. Flesh tones are
quite natural. There is a hint of edge
enhancement, but nothing that will distract. The
audio is 5.1 Dolby Digital and provides an
aggressive sonic spread across all five channels.
Numerous extras include an interview with
Bruckheimer, a television program excerpt
explaining some of the film’s special effects, a
further analysis of special effects and the film’s
original theatrical trailer. Highly recommended! |
