The Rock

The Rock (Not to be confused by Dwayne Johnson) is a 1996 action thriller film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don Simpson. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, and Ed Harris.

Plot
Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel (Ed Harris) is a Vietnam War veteran and US Marine Force Recon commander who has led many clandestine operations throughout the world; the marines who died in these operations were never compensated by the US government. Angry at how his men have been treated, he goes rogue and steals rockets equipped with deadly VX gas, and seizes control of Alcatraz Island, taking 81 hostages. He demands that the government pay him $100 million, which he intends to use as both reparation to the families of the fallen marines and fee to his men.

The FBI and the Pentagon form a joint operation to retake the island and stop Hummel from launching the VX rockets into San Francisco by sending in a Navy SEAL team led by Commander Anderson (Michael Biehn). Accompanying them is FBI chemical expert Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) and former SAS Operative Captain John Mason (Sean Connery), who has been imprisoned by the FBI without charges.

Why It "Rocks" (no pun intended)

 * 1) Amazing acting from the three lead actors. Like for Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris.
 * 2) Nice chemistry between Goodspeed and Mason.
 * 3) Excellent soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, and Nick Glennie-Smith.
 * 4) Like Bad Boys, the directing by Michael Bay is very solid.
 * 5) The story is surprisingly really good. It should be noted that an uncredited Quentin Tarantino co-wrote the script.
 * 6) SAS Captain John Patrick Mason and FBI Special Agent Dr. Stanley Goodspeed are really likable and impressive character.
 * 7) Plenty of memorable quotes.
 * 8) Impressive action scenes.
 * 9) Hummel is depicted as a sympathetic anti-villain and not as a stereotypical warmonger.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) This being a Michael Bay movie means that there are too many explosions.
 * 2) Some characters are rather pointless and forgettable, such as Carla, Goodspeed's fiancée.

Reception
The Rock received mixed-to-positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 68 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "For visceral thrills, it can't be beat. Just don't expect The Rock to engage your brain.". To date, The Rock remains the highest rated film directed by Bay on the site and the only one to have a "fresh" (positive) score until 26 years later in 2022, when Ambulance got the second film to have the highest and fresh score, when early many people found out. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert, who was critical of Bay's later movies, even gave the film a three-and-a-half out of four stars. On IMDb, the film has a rating of 7.4/10; the highest of Bay's movies, following 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (7.3/10) and Transformers (7.1/10).

Box Office
The Rock is also commercially successful, grossing over $335 million out of a $75 million budget, becoming the fourth highest-grossing US film worldwide in 1996.

Trivia

 * The late Tony Scott was originally supposed to direct the film, but turned it down to direct The Fan (1996).