'THE ROCK' was directed by Michael Bay, and stars Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery and Ed Harris. ​When ex US General Frank Hammel(Ed Harris) threatens to launch chemical weapons against San Fransisco from Alcatraz, the US government send in Stanley Goodspead(Nicholas Cage), a biochemist, and John Mason(Sean Connery), the only man to ever escape Alcatraz alive, to combat the general and save the city from annihilation.This is the best action movie with mediocre action. It's endlessly quotable(I found that out the hard way) and succeeds purely because of its talented cast of actors and Bay's solid direction(blasphemy, I know). Mason and Goodspeed are the driving force of this movie and elevate it from average at best, to freaking awesome. The action is passable and will please the majority of audiences but that isn't the reason to see the movie.A sentence I never figured I'd have to say when referring a Michael Bay movie is 'The story for this film is well written, concise and provides clear motivations for all its characters'. The premise of setting a movie like this on Alcatraz is genius and Bay builds a genuinely good story around that. There is a first time for everything, and this was apparently also his last.Nicholas Cage is both the best and worst actor in existence simultaneously. He's mental but mental in a way were he's not annoying like Travolta and not intentionally funny like Carrey. He's Nicholas Cage and no one can take that away from him, and that is the reason he was great in this movie as a man pushed to the brink of his sanity. Sean Connery(you just read that in his voice) clearly uses his period as Bond to sell the character of John Mason and anyone that says Mason is anything less than a freaking bad ass is kidding themselves. Ed Harris was brilliant as General Hummel and provided a layered, interesting performance. Hummel was smart, interesting and intimidating, and made a great adversary for the two leads. My main issue with the movie is an aspect of the villain. I won't spoil as to what but I figured it best to mention it, even if you don't know specifically why.The effects in this movie are atrocious but I cannot blame them for that and don't hold it against them. John Schwartzmen shoots the movie very well and the movie was also very well lit. I have issues with some of the editing but not to the point were it actively annoyed me throughout the run time. Both the set design and the costume design were pretty bland. Setting the movie on Alcatraz was genius but I feel they could have done more with the sets.The action is this movie is fine. The comedy is fine. The dialogue is good. The characters are fantastic and amazing and incredible and are the main reason I recommend you see this movie. They are all so likable and elevate the movie from good to great and for that I congratulate them. I highly recommend this movie, and I'll rate it 9 Concerned Hairdressers out of 10.

Continuing my plant to watch every Sean Connery movie in order, I come to The Rock (1996)Plot In A Paragraph: A group of U.S. marines, under command of a renegade general, take over Alcatraz and threaten San Francisco Bay with biological weapons. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicholas Cage) chemical weapons specialist and John Mason (Connery) the only man to have ever escaped from the Rock are the only ones who can save the day.I love this movie. Both my kids love this movie. Everyone loves this movie. Even people who think it's rubbish, love this movie. Anyone who doesn't love this movie is just wrong. Any way you look at it, The Rock stands the text of time, and after 21 years, remains a perfect example of nineties action cinema and one of the most is one entertaining action movies ever made.The cast are all on top form, Connery and Cage make for a great double act, and it is a pity that nobody had the idea to reteam these characters in a sequel (OK it may have been more than a tad far fetched) or someone else reteamed them as they do have genuine chemistry that you can not buy. Ed Harris invests Hummel with real empathy!! In fact, of all the villains in most movies, Hummel has a genuinely understandable motivation. Personally I think more should have been made of this. John Spencer, David Morse, Michael Biehn and John C McGinley all offer solid support It's not perfect, there are parts of this movie, which drive me crazy. The car chase in San Francisco is a major culprit - the cutting is so fast and disorganized that the it's a headache!! You get an even bigger one if you look at the destruction of property and the lives endangered. Isn't this movie all about saving people from a terrorist attack?? That's my only gripe!! The Rock went on to become the highest grossing movie starring Connery in a leading role, as it grossed $134 million at the domestic box office, to end the year, the 7th highest grossing movie of 1996.

General Francis X. Hummel has had enough of the way US service personnel have been treated; especially how the families of those who died on top secret missions are told a string of lies and not compensated for their loss… to this end he decides to blackmailing the government by stealing a quantity of deadly VX gas; taking over the island of Alcatraz and threatening to launch the gas into the city of San Francisco if is demands to compensate the families aren't met within forty hours. Of course he can't do this alone; he is supported by a squad of ex-marines who expect to be paid handsomely.The government have no intention of paying him so assemble a team to go to Alcatraz and neutralise the VX rockets that are to deploy the gas. The team will consist of a squad of Navy Seals; Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI specialist in chemical weapons and finally John Patrick Mason, the only man to have escaped from Alcatraz who will be needed to guide the team in. Mason could be a problem; he is a former captain in the SAS who has spent the last thirty years in jail but has never been formally charged with any crime and is considered extremely dangerous. Once inside Alcatraz the Seals are quickly eliminated leaving Goodspeed and Mason to deal with Hummel and his men and neutralise the weapons.This film is packed with action; there are shootouts, a car chase, explosions and the threat of a deadly attack on a major city… the action moves at such a pace it is easy to overlook many of the more unlikely moments… the scenes in what looked like ancient mine carts under the old jail seemed too far-fetched but once that was over it was soon forgotten; at least while watching the film. The story may include numerous clichés but that doesn't matter as it is a lot of fun. Nicolas Cage does a solid job as Goodspeed and Sean Connery is in top form as Mason; he may be old but he makes us believe that is character is tougher than the young marines he is up against. Ed Harris does a fine job as General Hummel; a character who isn't just a pantomime villain. This is probably director Michael Bay's best film; he keeps the action moving at a cracking pace without losing the story in the process; don't be put off if you dislike his 'Transformers' franchise. Overall I found this to be a lot of fun; it won't be for everybody but if you want a solid action film it is definitely worth watching.

I don't look at IMDb until after I've seen a movie, but it's pretty rare that the IMDb rating is far off from what I would rate (or at least in the same general goodness or badness range). This is apparently one of those rare cases, though. I had to double check that I pulled up the right title when I saw a rating of 7.4 (at least at the time of this writing).I honestly can't understand what people see here. It's over 2 hours long, and I was watching the clock after the first hour, hoping it was getting near the end. I mean, it's a light enough action ride - I was leaning towards rating it a "5", but then the number of things that bothered me just kept mounting, and I finally decided "4" was more appropriate. Here's some of those things (I don't intend any significant spoilers, but clicked the spoiler alert just in case):The movie couldn't seem to decide whether it was a gritty war drama (lots of scowling, shooting, and F-bombs), or a slightly tongue-in-cheek action movie (comic relief characters, trying-to-be-witty dialogue). Heck, it even seemed like Nicolas Cage couldn't decide either, because he bounced back and forth between the two.Similarly, a fair amount of carnage during the shooting scenes, but Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery dove, walked, or swam away from everything, no matter how many people were shooting, or how big the explosive device, or how far their bodies were thrown.The characters were wooden and stereotypical. A flamboyant gay hair stylist? Some "Sir, yes sir!" Marines, the wronged ex-con, the never-been-in-the-field agent, the trolley driver, ...The plot was predictable and clichéThe drawn out shoot-em-up, crash-em-up sequences. I haven't seen so many cars trashed in a chase scene since the Blues Brothers. And geez, that Humvee didn't even get a broken headlight.In short, it was just one cliché scene after another, strung together over a tired and predictable story line. OK, I watched it in 2016. Maybe it was fresh in 1996 when it came out, but I find that hard to believe.