Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, John Spencer, David Morse, William Forsythe, Michael Biehn, Vanessa Marcil, John C. McGinley

- Reviewed by Tom

Ed Harris plays General Hummel, who is a pissed off former veteran. He isn't happy that the government pretty much gave up on all the soldiers that were lost in action at war or were taken as POWs.  The families didn't get any compensation for their losses or anything. Hummel and a few of his brave men take over Alcatraz Island (including a bunch of tourists that they lock in the cells) and point some rockets full of the nastiest chemicals known to man at San Francisco. Of course there is the time limit of 40 hours that the government has to come up with 100 million dollars to the families, or Hummel will launch the rockets and turn everyone in San Francisco into large, steaming, human blisters.

The heroes of the movie are Nicolas Cage (Stanley Goodspeed) and Sean Connery (Patrick Mason—the only guy that ever escaped from Alcatraz). Of course the mission goes wrong and Mason and Goodspeed end up trying to save the city.

The movie has great special effects—even the F-18s that are flying around are realistic looking.  None of the cheesy effects like in Independence Day. Plus having Cage and Connery together in a movie makes for some fine action, with lots of explosions, black helicopters, splashing blood and guts, and dangerous glass balls filled with yucky blister goo.

For an action/adventure movie, this one is pretty believable for some reason. I guess they just don't throw in as much silly technology, extra long fight scenes or bad airplane effects. Sure there are some errors in it—how did Hummel's satellite dish antenna for his telephone penetrate thick concrete walls and still get a good call through?  Why is there so much machinery in the basement of the closed prison that is still operating?

Of course I'm just being too picky; there has to be some place to have an exciting gun battle!

Great movie, and a great DVD! Good surround sound and subwoofer is a must for this movie!

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