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The Rock (1996)
Starring: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage Director: Michael Bay
Between his high-octane debut, Bad Boys, and 1998's wannabe blockbuster Armageddon, hotshot director Michael Bay forged his dubious reputation with this crowd-pleasing action extravaganza.
In The Rock
(DVD) a psychotically disgruntled war hero (Ed Harris) seizes the island prison of Alcatraz and threatens to wage chemical warfare against nearby San Francisco unless the government publicly recognizes the men who were killed under Harris's top-secret command.
Nicolas Cage plays the biochemist who teams up with the only man ever to have escaped from Alcatraz (Sean Connery) in an attempt to foil Harris's terrorist scheme.
As one might expect, what follows is an action-packed barrage of bullets, bodies, and climactic confrontations, replete with enough plot contrivances to give even the most jaded action fan cause for alarm.
It's a load of hooey, but the cast is obviously having a grand old time, and there's enough wit to make the recycled action sequences tolerable.
If you're ordering this movie on DVD, be careful with the volume knobs on your home-theater sound systems, because The Rock could cause partial hearing loss and structural damage to your home.
A highly decorated, retired U.S. Marine general (Ed Harris) seizes a stockpile of chemical weapons and takes over Alcatraz, with 81 tourists as hostages on the San Francisco Bay isle.
His demand: Restitution to families of soldiers who died in covert operations. The response: An elite Navy SEAL team, with support from an FBI chemical-warfare expert (Nicolas Cage) and a former Alcatraz escapee (Sean Connery), is assembled to penetrate the terrorists' defenses on the island and neutralize the threat before time runs out.
The result: A fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller with a first-rate cast, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry
bruckheimer.
Other Formats: VHS,
VHS
widescreen, DVD
The Rock - Criterion Collection (1996)
Encoding: Region 1 (US and Canada only)
Format: Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby
Rated: Not for sale to persons under age 18.
Studio: Walt Disney Home Video
DVD Features:
- Commentary by director Michael Bay, stars Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, technical advisor Harry Humphries, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer
Two Disc Set
Disc Two:
- Analysis of the dive sequence by Hoyt Yeatman of Dream Quest Images
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"Movie Magic" episode on the film's special effects
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Outtakes selected by Michael Bay
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Production Stills
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Storyboards
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Production design drawings
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Do's and Don'ts of Hollywood gunplay with Harry Humphries and Marshall Teague
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Interview with Jerry Bruckheimer
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Excerpts from "Secrets of Alcatraz" documentary
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"The Rock" world premiere on Alcatraz
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Widescreen anamorphic format
Number of discs: 2
Other Formats: VHS,
VHS
widescreen, DVD
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