The Rock

1996
R
2h 16m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

365K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,004

Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris in The Rock (1996)

Play trailer2:54

2 Videos

99+ Photos

Action Adventure Thriller

A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francis... Read allA mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

365K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,004

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 9 wins & 10 nominations total

Trivia
According to director Michael Bay, the script was written much more straight and serious than the final movie. Most of the humorous moments and lines were improvised during filming.

Goofs
(at around 1h 5 mins) When Mason is with the troops in the basement of Alcatraz, he states that he studied the timing of the boiler that he must roll through. The question has often been asked why he wouldn't then just be able to open the door during his original escape. However, when Alcatraz was functional, the door may well have been guarded or locked from the other side.

Quotes
John Mason: [while on the stairs leading to the prison morgue] Are you sure you're ready for this?
Stanley Goodspeed: I'll do my best.
John Mason: Your "best"! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.
Stanley Goodspeed: Carla *was* the prom queen.
John Mason: Really?
Stanley Goodspeed: [cocks his gun] Yeah.

Alternate versions
Although the film was shot in the Super 35 process, the HDTV version (which uses the 2001 Criterion Collection remaster) Pans and Scans as if it were shot in Anamorphic Widescreen instead of properly framing it for Full Frame as most Super 35 films are. The 4:3 version that is found on the original VHS release is mostly open matte with some mild cropping.

Connections
Edited into The Green Fog (2017)

Soundtracks
San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)
Written by John Phillips
Performed by Scott McKenzie
Courtesy of Epic Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User reviews583

Review

Featured review

Actioner a league ahead of the others!

Wow! The Rock is one of the most rewatchable films I own. I've watched it countlessly, and it seems to have the quick, energizing effect of a good song that we love to play again and again. The dialogue is at times funny, always fresh, and sometimes intelligent. This film shines as an actioner that actually has a great, plausible plot, with some characters we wouldn't mind following on a journey. (I really liked Sean Connery's character; maybe a sequel with "Mr.John Mason"?)

And then there are the heavyweights in acting, a rarity in action films. Ed Harris, Sean Connery, Nic Cage, and a few others are so talented in reading their lines in a unique way, one can see that these are truly great actors. I loved Ed Harris' character, since it was not the standard black & white type, but a complex person. Who would've thought I'd be saying "complex" in an actioner? Well, that's how The Rock surprises you, like a vicious left hook to the face. Oh yeah, the Hans Zimmer score is a knockout, as always.