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The Rock (1996)

Director: Michael Bay

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From Time Out Film Guide

The Rock, of course, is Alcatraz, prison-turned-tourist site, which is seized by disgruntled, decorated-to-hell General Harris with his elite corps (psycho captain, loyal colonel); they take 83 hostages and aim four VX-gas missiles at San Francisco; the rockets will be fired unless pensions are provided for the families of dead, 'deniable' Special Forces. The twist here is getting Navy SEALS into the rock to take the bastards out. Step forward as team-leaders reluctant heroes Cage, a Beatles-lovin' FBI boffin with chemical-weapons badges, and ex-SAS officer Sean Connery, the only man to escape from Alcatraz, and presently serving 30-odd years for obtaining US government secrets. Director Michael Bay (with only Bad Boys to his name) propels this brew of combat war-movie, Die Hard-style actioner and Indiana Jones adventure on enough octane to leave objections to the clichéd dialogue and implausible of the plot in the slipstream. Fake countdown and knowing reactionary tone, but the best SF car chase to date.

Author: WH 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


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