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Across the country chemical weapon's expert Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) shoots the breeze with fellow FBI workers. The pace is slow and Goodspeed is bored. If only he could see into Alcatraz, where Hummel has smoothly taken 81 unsuspecting tourists hostage. With Hummel's mercenary troops assembled on the island, he calmly phones FBI Director Womack (John Spencer) and states his demand; $100 million in compensation for the Marines killed on covert missions. Since Womack is never going to agree to the terms, Goodspeed gets called away from his girlfriend Carla Pestalozzi (Vanessa Marcil) during an intimate moment. The only problem is that to get Goodspeed inside the fortress prison they need the help of the only man who's ever escaped, John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery).
In many ways The Rock is a typical action movie; it's merely a succession of set pieces, making for an undeniably exciting ride. The difference is that special effects are not the unique selling point, it's the central duo of Cage and Connery who provide the bait. Now for this tactic to work the audience have to believe in the actors, that they could plausibly function on a battlefield.
While Connery has earned his stripes many times over in this department, popular wisdom would have it that he's too old to be rolling around with a gun. More fool them. He may overact atrociously but Connery can believably fight it out with men half his age. In the case of Cage, a litany of quirky roles would suggest that ripped vests are not his line. Wrong again. While he retains the air of intelligence that has served him so well in the past, The Rock sees Cage confidently burst into the realm of bulging budgets and lowest common denominator plots.
This acting is probably The Rock's best feature, with the three lead roles each adding a new flavour to the mix. Connery plays himself, making little effort to use Mason's supposed background, which is just fine. His rich accent, physical flair and natural comic ability take us a long way. Cage is almost the exact opposite, a fish out of water whose comfort zone involves a chemistry set (which doesn't stop him being an expert at disarming rockets). The interplay between these two is a bountiful source of amusement, even as you know that their initial antagonism will dissolve into macho respect. The final corner of this triangle is Harris, a masterful piece of casting. Long utilised as an all-American good guy, Harris gets the chance to subvert this typecast and makes the most of his opportunity. As a consequence, the implausible (even silly) scenarios of The Rock fail to derail the story in any significant way.
However, by the same token that The Rock never stops to catch its breath, it inevitably displays a crucial lack of cohesion, suspense and motivation. The problem is that the film wishes to cover every base while maintaining its frantic pace. Thus minor characters and plot details are constantly being added, in a bid to shore up the storyline, then discarded when they get in the way. Ironically the opposite effect to that intended occurs; the plot holes become ever more obvious, especially when the film continues far beyond its optimum running time. Considered in retrospect The Rock is a total mess, one that could have benefited from a decent editing job. This means that you should sit back and enjoy it for what it is; a superficial action flick.
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