Review: This is one of Michael Bay's few good movies, probably because it was one of his first films and he was more restrained from his later excess. Bay is famous for his action scenes, well-shot but senseless since he seems to have scripts written around his action set-pieces instead of the other way round. In "The Rock", he has three great actors bringing their 'A' game and a fun, energetic script that isn't overwhelmed by unnecessary action scenes. After Ed Harris' Marine General takes over Alcatraz Island and threatens San Francisco with chemical weapons, the government sends Nicholas Cage, a WMD expert to help disarm them with the only convict who escaped the famous prison, Sean Connery, as a guide.
Quotes:
"I'm one of those fortunate people who like my job, sir. Got my first chemistry set when I was seven, blew my eyebrows off, we never saw the cat again, been into it ever since."
"The men of marine force recon are selected to carry out illegal operations throughout the world. When they don't come home, their families are told fairy tales about what happened to them... and denied compensation. Well, I have choked on these lies my entire career. Well here and now the lies stop!"
"Have you ever been in a combat situation before?"
"Define combat, sir."
"An incursion underwater to re-take an impregnable fortress held by an elite team of U.S. Marines, in possession of eighty-one hostages and fifteen guided rockets loaded with V-X poison gas."
"Oh. In that case, no sir."
"Major Anderson, if you have any concern for the lives of your men, you will order them to safety their weapons and place them on the deck."
"Sir, we know why you're out here. God knows, I agree with you. But like you, I swore to defend this country against all enemies, foreign, sir... and domestic."
"You enjoying this?"
"Well, it's certainly more enjoyable than my average day... reading philosophy, avoiding gang rape in the washrooms... though, it's less of a problem these days. Maybe I'm losing my sex appeal."
"You've been around a lot of corpses. Is that normal?"
"What, the feet thing?"
"Yeah, the feet thing."
"Yeah, it happens."
"Well I'm having a hard time concentrating. Can you do something about it?"
"Like what, kill him again?"
"What is wrong with these people, huh? Mason? Don't you think there's a lot of, uh, a lot of anger flowing around this island? Kind of a pubescent volatility? Don't you think? A lot of angst, a lot of 'I'm sixteen, I'm angry at my father' syndrome? I mean, grow up! We're stuck on an island with a bunch of violence-for-pleasure-seeking psychopathic marines, SHAME-ON-THEM!"
"You know, I like history too, and maybe when this is all over you and I can stop by the souvenir shop together but right now I just... I just wanna find some rockets!"
"I'm not about to kill 80,000 innocent people! Do you think I'm out of my fucking mind? We bluffed, they called it. The mission is over."
"Excuse me, general... but what about the fucking money?"
"There is no fucking money. The mission's over."
"Bullshit, it's over!"
"You're talking to a General, marine! Maintain discipline."
"I'm not a marine, Major. The day we took hostages, we became mercenaries. And mercenaries get paid. I want my FUCKING money!"
4 1/2 out of 5 Stars
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