Technically speaking, The Rock is in no way, shape, or form a Bond movie. Except that the film's star, Sean Connery, is essentially playing Bond again but by another name. Heck, when Nicholas Cage's character Stanley Goodspeed introduces himself to Connery he responds, "But of course you are." The hints are all there for the audience to pick up on.
John Mason (played by Sean Connery) is a captured British Agent held without trial for 30 years after being caught stealing FBI files. When disgruntled General Hummel (played by Ed Harris) and his platoon of Marines take over Alcatraz, take the tourists viewing the prison hostage and threaten the San Francisco Bay Area with a dozen VX poison gas rockets, former Alcatraz prisoner Mason becomes their best hope. Mason is the only person to have escaped Alcatraz successfully and they need his help to get a team of Navy SEALS into Alcatraz and neutralize the threat. Also along for the ride is FBI chemical weapons specialist Stanley Goodspeed (played by Nicholas Cage). When the mission goes south and the SEAL team is wiped out, it's up to Goodspeed and Mason to defuse the rockets and take out the Marines holding Alcatraz and San Francisco hostage.
When one takes a look at The Rock, it is clearly not in the same vein as the Bond films. It is much more violent and there is a lot more cursing as well (hey, if you ever wanted to hear Bond say the F-word, this is your movie). It is also directed by Michael Bay and produced by the action powerhouse team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, known for their hyper-kinetic and over the top action films that are generally noisier and grittier than the Bond films. But at the same time, I can't help but think of Bond when watching Sean Connery in this film. He's basically playing an older, bitter and more vicious James Bond, no doubt a result of being held in confinement without trial for 30 years. Sure, some of the details of Mason's background are different. Mason was in the Army whereas Bond was in the Navy for instance, but the basic character remains the same. Of course, if I'm being serious, Mason was never intended to be James Bond and all the references are very wink-wink nudge-nudge. I don't buy into the fan theory at all that Mason is intended to be Bond. For starters, the dates don't work out. Mason was already incarcerated while Connery's Bond was fighting SPECTRE and Auric Goldfinger. The references to James Bond are simply the producers and Connery addressing the elephant in the room and having some fun with it. Still, there are enough similarities between the two characters, I thought it would be fun to include this one in my Bond retrospective.
That said, The Rock is a plenty entertaining movie in it's own right with plenty of action, suspense and a liberal dose of humor as well. Connery and Cage make for an interesting team of unlikely heroes, and both do well in their respective roles. It's hard to believe now, but there was a period of time before this movie came out where the idea of Nicholas Cage as an action hero seemed weird. In this one, much like Connery with Bond, they play to Cage's perceived eccentricities to great comedic effect, including a rooftop love scene with a huge backdrop of hundreds of lit candles that means Goodspeed and his girlfriend Carla cleaned out the candles section at Pier 1 at some point while Goodspeed is throwing out one nonsensical line after another. It easily ranks as one of the weirdest love scenes I've ever seen and I kind of love it for that.
Ed Harris makes for a unique villain in the sense that his character is bluffing the entire time. He has no intention of hurting anyone. He's trying to get the Government to pay dues he feels are owed to the families of fallen soldiers who died during Black Ops missions. Mason is able to see that in him from the first time the two meet. Unfortunately, Hummel's troops are a particularly unhinged group of psychopaths, itching at the bit to unleash chemical warfare on the San Francisco Bay Area.
While I concede that The Rock is not at all a Bond film, it is a very fun action film in it's own right, proving that even at the age of 66, Sean Connery could still kick ass, while at least unofficially giving him one last crack at playing Bond. This would be the one to go out on, for sure.
When one takes a look at The Rock, it is clearly not in the same vein as the Bond films. It is much more violent and there is a lot more cursing as well (hey, if you ever wanted to hear Bond say the F-word, this is your movie). It is also directed by Michael Bay and produced by the action powerhouse team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, known for their hyper-kinetic and over the top action films that are generally noisier and grittier than the Bond films. But at the same time, I can't help but think of Bond when watching Sean Connery in this film. He's basically playing an older, bitter and more vicious James Bond, no doubt a result of being held in confinement without trial for 30 years. Sure, some of the details of Mason's background are different. Mason was in the Army whereas Bond was in the Navy for instance, but the basic character remains the same. Of course, if I'm being serious, Mason was never intended to be James Bond and all the references are very wink-wink nudge-nudge. I don't buy into the fan theory at all that Mason is intended to be Bond. For starters, the dates don't work out. Mason was already incarcerated while Connery's Bond was fighting SPECTRE and Auric Goldfinger. The references to James Bond are simply the producers and Connery addressing the elephant in the room and having some fun with it. Still, there are enough similarities between the two characters, I thought it would be fun to include this one in my Bond retrospective.
That said, The Rock is a plenty entertaining movie in it's own right with plenty of action, suspense and a liberal dose of humor as well. Connery and Cage make for an interesting team of unlikely heroes, and both do well in their respective roles. It's hard to believe now, but there was a period of time before this movie came out where the idea of Nicholas Cage as an action hero seemed weird. In this one, much like Connery with Bond, they play to Cage's perceived eccentricities to great comedic effect, including a rooftop love scene with a huge backdrop of hundreds of lit candles that means Goodspeed and his girlfriend Carla cleaned out the candles section at Pier 1 at some point while Goodspeed is throwing out one nonsensical line after another. It easily ranks as one of the weirdest love scenes I've ever seen and I kind of love it for that.
Ed Harris makes for a unique villain in the sense that his character is bluffing the entire time. He has no intention of hurting anyone. He's trying to get the Government to pay dues he feels are owed to the families of fallen soldiers who died during Black Ops missions. Mason is able to see that in him from the first time the two meet. Unfortunately, Hummel's troops are a particularly unhinged group of psychopaths, itching at the bit to unleash chemical warfare on the San Francisco Bay Area.
While I concede that The Rock is not at all a Bond film, it is a very fun action film in it's own right, proving that even at the age of 66, Sean Connery could still kick ass, while at least unofficially giving him one last crack at playing Bond. This would be the one to go out on, for sure.
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