| The Rock | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Bay |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John Schwartzman |
| Edited by | Richard Francis-Bruce |
| Music by | |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 136 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75 million[2] |
| Box office | $335.6 million[2] |
The Rock is a 1996 Americanactionthriller film directed byMichael Bay, produced byDon Simpson andJerry Bruckheimer, and written byDavid Weisberg,Douglas S. Cook and Mark Rosner. It starsSean Connery,Nicolas Cage andEd Harris, with supporting roles played byMichael Biehn,William Forsythe,David Morse,Tony Todd andJohn Spencer. Connery plays a formerSAS captain and Cage anFBI chemist, who must rescue hostages from a rogue group ofForce Recon Marines onAlcatraz Island.
The Rock was dedicated to the memory of Simpson,[3] who died five months before its release. It was released byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution through theHollywood Pictures label on June 7, 1996. It received positive reviews and was nominated forBest Sound at the69th Academy Awards. It earned over $335 million at the box office on a production budget of $75 million, becoming thefourth highest-grossing film of 1996.The Rock was remade in India in 2003 asQayamat: City Under Threat.[4][5]
The Rock was the basis for false descriptions of theIraqi chemical weapons program. Britain'sSecret Intelligence Service was led to believeSaddam Hussein was continuing to produceweapons of mass destruction by a false agent who based his reports onThe Rock, according to theChilcot Inquiry.[6]
After many failed attempts to get his fallen men the recognition they deserved via the proper channels and fed up with the U.S. Government’s underhanded tactics,USMCBrigadier General Francis Hummel and his rogue group ofForce Recon Marines, including his loyal subordinateMajor Tom Baxter, steal 15rockets filled with lethalVX gas from aU.S. Navy facility. The next day, they seize control ofAlcatraz Island, taking the tourists and guards hostage. Hummel contacts theFBI and threatens to launch the rockets at theSan Francisco Bay Area unless the government pays him $100 million, of which some will be donated to the families of the men who died during his command but were never compensated.
TheDepartment of Defense and the FBI both attempt to retake Alcatraz by infiltrating the old tunnel system beneath the island, withNavy SEALs led by Commander Anderson. They recruit FBIchemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed to join them and disarm the rockets safely. With no knowledge of the latest architecture of the tunnels whatsoever,FBI Director Womack and others reluctantly call on the aid of the imprisoned John Mason, a former BritishMI6 andSAS operative and the only man to escape Alcatraz after he stole a microfilm created byJ. Edgar Hoover containing classified U.S. information. Mason refused to reveal the microfilm's location after being captured, knowing he would be killed and was imprisoned without trial. Mason agrees after signing a pardon that clears his record, though Womack destroys it shortly thereafter.
Mason escapes and leads the FBI on a car chase, causing a rampage through the city before being caught by Goodspeed when he meets with his estranged daughter, Jade. At the command center, Mason negotiates to join the team heading to Alcatraz. The team infiltrates the prison, but Hummel's men are alerted to their presence and ambush them in the shower room. Hummel tries to convince Anderson to surrender, but the zealousCaptain Frye and Captain Darrow deliberately cause a shootout that kills Anderson and his team. Mason and Goodspeed manage to evade them. Believing the mission to be a failure, Mason prepares to leave until Goodspeed reveals the truth about the VX, explaining that Mason's daughter and his pregnant fiancée, Carla (who came to San Francisco despite Goodspeed telling her to stay home), would be killed as well.
Mason works together with Goodspeed to disable twelve rockets and kill several Marines. After Hummel threatens to execute a hostage, Mason surrenders to stall him while Goodspeed disables another rocket before also being captured. They escape from their cells, but Mason, having assessed Hummel as a soldier who doesn't kill innocents, leaves, with Goodspeed continuing on his own. Caught and held at gunpoint, Goodspeed is forced to surrender, but Mason saves him, convinced that Goodspeed's unborn child needs its father.
As the ransom deadline passes, Frye and Darrow pressure Hummel into firing a rocket, but he redirects it to detonate in the sea. Hummel explains the rockets were a bluff and that he never intended to kill anyone. Realizing they will not be paid, Frye and Darrow convince the remaining soldiers to mutiny against Hummel and Baxter. Baxter is killed and Hummel is mortally wounded but tells Goodspeed the location of the last rocket.
With the SEALs dead, the government attempts to launch a secondary measure: an airstrike aimed at destroying Alcatraz with experimental thermite plasma bombs, which will neutralize the gas but kill everyone on the island. Goodspeed and Mason kill the remaining Marines before Goodspeed launches green flares, a signal that the attack be aborted. However, one of the bombs was already dropped at the back of the island. The blast throws Goodspeed into the bay, but Mason saves him from drowning.
Goodspeed confirms the mission's success to Womack but claims Mason was killed in the explosion before telling Mason that Womack shredded his pardon. The pair part ways amicably, with Goodspeed telling Mason the location offake papers and money. Mason suggests Goodspeed attend a church in Kansas where he kept the microfilm. Sometime later, Goodspeed and his newly wedded wife, Carla, recover the microfilm from the church, which apparently contains information on theassassination of John F. Kennedy and various other famous conspiracy theories.
Uncredited members of the cast includeStuart Wilson as General Al Kramer,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;[7][8]David Marshall Grant asWhite House Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair;[9][8]Philip Baker Hall as theChief Justice of the Supreme Court;[7][8]Xander Berkeley as FBI technician Lonner;[8] andStanley Anderson as the President of the United States.[8][10] Moreover,Luenell Campbell features as a tourist in a jail cell.
Other actors in smaller roles includeTodd Louiso as FBI agent Marvin Isherwood,David Bowe as Dr. Ling,Howard Platt as Louis Lindstrom,John Laughlin as General Peterson,Harry Humphries as Admiral Johansson,Willie Garson as Francis Reynolds,Anthony Clark as Paul the hairdresser,Tom Towles as an Alcatraz park ranger, andAnthony Guidera andJim Caviezel asF-18 pilots.
Members of Hummel's USMC unit are played byRaymond Cruz (uncredited) as Sergeant Rojas,[8][11]Jim Maniaci as Private Scarpetti,Greg Collins as Private Gamble,Brendan Kelly as Private Cox, andSteve Harris as Private McCoy.Dennis Chalker (Dando) andMarshall R. Teague (Reigert) play members of Anderson's SEAL team.
Jonathan Hensleigh participated in writing the script, which became the subject of a dispute with theWriters Guild of America. The spec script (byDavid Weisberg andDouglas Cook) was reworked by several writers, but other than the original team, Mark Rosner was the only one granted official credit by guild arbitration. The rule is that the credited writing team must contribute 50% of the final script (effectively limiting credits to the screenplay's initial authors, plus one re-write team). Despite his work on the script, Hensleigh was not credited in the film.Michael Bay wrote an open letter of protest, in which he criticized the arbitration procedure as a "sham" and a "travesty". He said Hensleigh had worked closely with him and should have received screen credit.[12]
British screenwriting teamDick Clement andIan La Frenais were brought in at Sean Connery's request to rewrite his lines, but ended up altering much of the film's dialogue.[13]Quentin Tarantino andAaron Sorkin were also uncredited script doctors.[14]
At one point,Arnold Schwarzenegger was to have played the role of Goodspeed. Schwarzenegger turned the role down because he did not like the script.[15]
Most ofThe Rock wasshot on location in theAlcatraz Prison onAlcatraz Island. As it is governed by theNational Park Service, it was not possible to close Alcatraz, and much of the filming had to accommodate tour parties.[16] The scene in which FBI Director Womack is thrown off the balcony was filmed on location at theFairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The filming led to numerous calls to the hotel by people who saw a man dangling from the balcony.[17] The closing scene was shot outside the Sacred Heart Mission Church inSaticoy, California.[18]
The Rock was Bay's first film shot in a widescreen2.39:1 aspect ratio, viaSuper 35. On the commentary track for theCriterion Collection DVD ofArmageddon, Bay recalls not liking the format, due to the quality of the release prints, and did not touch the format again untilBad Boys II, at which point thedigital intermediate process was available.[19]
There were tensions during shooting between Bay andWalt Disney Studios executives who were supervising the production. On the commentary track for theCriterion Collection DVD, Bay recalls a time when he was preparing to leave the set for a meeting with the executives when he was approached by Connery in golfing attire.[20] Connery, who also produced the film, asked Bay where he was going, and when Bay explained he had a meeting with the executives, Connery asked if he could accompany him. When Bay arrived in the conference room, the executives were surprised when they saw Connery behind him. According to Bay, Connery stood up for Bay and insisted that he was doing a good job and should be left alone.[21]
The soundtrack toThe Rock was released on the same day as the film, June 7, 1996, byHollywood Records.Hans Zimmer and his longtime collaboratorNick Glennie-Smith were the principal composers, whileHarry Gregson-Williams[22][23] was the score producer, with additional music composed byDon Harper, Steven M. Stern and Gregson-Williams.[24] The film represents the first collaboration between Zimmer and Bay, the composer would write and/or produce the scores for many of Bay’s films moving forward.
For its opening weekend,The Rock grossed $25 million, beating outMission: Impossible to reach the number one spot.[25] Upon opening, it surpassedDick Tracy to achieve the highest opening weekend for a live-action Disney film.[26] It would be overtaken byThe Cable Guy during its second weekend, earning $18.5 million with a 26.2% decline.[27] The film would hold well in its third weekend, collecting $14.3 million and ranking third behindEraser and Disney's ownThe Hunchback of Notre Dame.[28] Produced on a $75 million budget,The Rock grossed a total of $134 million in the U.S. and Canada and $201 million elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $335 million.[29] It was the seventh-highest-grossing film for the U.S. box office in 1996, and the fourth highest-grossing U.S. film worldwide that year.[2]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "For visceral thrills, it can't be beat. Just don't expectThe Rock to engage your brain."[30] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[31] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[32]
Roger Ebert awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising it as "a first-rate, slam-bang action thriller with a lot of style and no little humor".[33]Todd McCarthy ofVariety gave the film a positive review, commenting "The yarn has its share of gaping holes and jaw-dropping improbabilities, but director Michael Bay sweeps them all aside with his never-take-a-breath pacing."[34]Richard Corliss, writing forTime, wrote: "Slick, brutal and almost human, this is the team-spirit action movieMission: Impossible should have been."[35]
The Rock won several minor awards, including 'Best On-Screen Duo' for Connery and Cage at theMTV Movie Awards. It was also nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Sound (Kevin O'Connell,Greg P. Russell andKeith A. Wester).[36]
The film was selected for a limited edition DVD release by theCriterion Collection, a distributor of primarilyarthouse films it categorizes as "important classic and contemporary films" and "cinema at its finest". In an essay supporting the selection ofThe Rock,Roger Ebert, who was strongly critical of most of Bay's later films, gave the film 3 1/2 out of four stars, calling it "an action picture that rises to the top of the genre because of a literate, witty screenplay and skilled craftsmanship in the direction and special effects."[37]
In 2014,Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films.[38]The Rock was listed at 74th place on the list.[39] In 2019, Tom Reimann from Collider rankedThe Rock as Bay's best film and "a perfect snapshot of the height of 90s action movies".[40]
In September 2002, MI6 chief SirRichard Dearlove said the agency had acquired information from a new source revealing that Iraq was stepping up production of chemical and biological warfare agents. The source, who was said to have "direct access", claimed senior staff were working seven days a week while the regime was concentrating a great deal of effort on the production ofanthrax. Dearlove told the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), SirJohn Scarlett, that they were "on the edge of (a) significant intel breakthrough" which could be the "key to unlock" Iraq's weapons programme.[41]
However, it was noticed that the agent's description of glass containers, not typically used for chemical munitions, resembled the nerve gas inaccurately depicted in glass beads or spheres inThe Rock. By February 2003 – a month before theinvasion of Iraq – MI6 concluded that their source had been lying "over a period of time" but failed to informNo 10 or others, even though Prime MinisterTony Blair had been briefed on this intelligence.[42][43][44] According toThe Independent, the false claims of weapons of mass destruction were the justification for UK's entering the war.[44]
Screenwriter David Weisberg said, "What was so amazing was anybody in the poison gas community would immediately know that this was total bullshit – such obvious bullshit". Weisberg said he was unsurprised a desperate agent might resort to films for inspiration, but dismayed that authorities "didn't do apparently the most basic fact-checking or vetting of the information. If you'd just asked a chemical weapons expert, it would have been immediately obvious it was ludicrous." Weisberg said he had had some "funny emails" after the report, but he felt "it's not a nice legacy for the film." "It's tragic that we went to war," he concluded.[45]
In June 2017, director Michael Bay discussed his idea for a follow-up toThe Rock that never developed past the concept that Goodspeed and Mason are chased by the government after escaping, due to possession of the microfilm as shown in the ending.[46]
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