A throughly enjoyable film that has some nice twists to the usual story of the megalomaniac that succumbs to the suave and plucky hero(es).
The film starts off proper with an exercise that requires two of the FBI’s crack scientists locked in an airtight chamber in a seemingly harmless diffusing of a bomb disguised as a toy....little do they know that it’s something more than they expected and sets off a brief and exhilarating scene of a race against time to save themselves.
The scene sets not much of a purpose but to show Goodspeed can think fast on his feet (and a little of what we can expect later on....).
Ncholas Cage is Dr. Stanley Goodspeed, your usual everyman type who just wants to be with his wife, listen to original copies of ‘The Beatles’ on vinyl and stay out of trouble. Little does he know, he is to be called into action in the big leagues....
Ed Harris is General Hummel, a man who we are constantly reminded is supremely respected and holds such enviable trinkets of war such as three Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and the Medal of Honor (your typical fictional all-American hero).
The situation? Morality pays dividends as we witness what appears to be a typical day out in Alcatraz. We witness some burly, shifty men (hardly subtle direction from Mr. Bay....) scouring round the empty prison. Witness the poor Ranger who gets in their way and Hummel telling some kids to tell
their teacher they should get off the island....and whoomph! Guess when they strike? When it’s suggested the visitors should try out a prison cell to feel what it’s like to be locked up....a litle low-key, very obvious and crass BUT does the job efficiently.
The situation is relayed to Washington’s top men through Hummel and his video phone and you can’t help rooting for the guy as he tells as solemnly that 83 men died under his command and that their deaths were ignored because the missions were secret and thus the government denied their existence.
Along with a bunch of equally tough soldiers turned mercenaries, Hummel demands $100 million in reparations to their next of kin. What does the men under Hummel’s command get in return for helping him? A cool $1 million....well it’s more fun than sitting in front of the smug Chris Tarrant....and you can fire deadly missiles on the helpless inhabitants of San Francisco as well! It’s even better whe you have some hostages as another bargaining tool.
Will the American gov’t give in to Hummel’s demands? Well no, obviously we wouldn’t have much of a film if they did.
The American government is stuck though as to what to do. Alcatraz seems easy enough to penetrate BUT they can’t just barge through the front door. Well, there goes one solution....
Enter Sean Connery....
John Mason is a crack British intelligence officer (I wonder where they got that idea from....) who in the Sixties managed to infiltrate the FBI and pilfer J. Edgar Hoover’s very confidential files (the truth about JFK’s assassination, we’re told....) who managed to get captured and jailed for life. The British deny his existence and he is effectively left to rot. He managed to escape from Alcatraz though and woo-hah, that’s when he’s called into action and roused from his prison bed.
Someone’s gotta sort out the chemical aspect....enter the return of Nicholas Cage. Goodspeed has never needed to go on a mission AND is even in need for a gun from a Secret Service agent.
Mason’s requirements? After head-to-heads between Cage and Connery and various Secret Service agents, Mason decides on a suite at a swanky hotel.
A fine opportunity to escape for Mason? You betcha ass,it is...and what a fine bunch of set-pieces it is too as Mason gets his revenge on his nemesis (played by John Spencer) and then proceeds to lead a merry and very messy dance all around San Francisco and landing a punch on Cage as well (something that many a movie fan is want to do after all these years....). Very funny, very fast, very thrilling....
Silly thing is though, he allows himself to be recaptured BUT there wouldn’t be much of an action film if there was (it’d be a disaster movie in every sense of the phrase otherwise....).
The film belies it’s James Bond-esque type shenanigans with it’s very own procured James Bond and you can’t get better than Sean Connery who is annoyingly sufferable as usual (I always want him to fall on his face for some reason....) in the role of John Mason.
The story is mired with occasional morality (particularly the ‘villain’ and his intentions....fair enough, I suppose....) and scenes lifted from other movies (I can name five, ‘Die Hard’, ‘Escape From Alcatraz’ ~ bloody obvious really ~ , ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘The Third Man’) BUT they’re skilfully recreated and most action fans won’t be able to tell what from what (they usually don’t).
Suffers from it’s own occasional smugness though and it’s occasional lack of logic (we know Goodspeed is there because his wife doesn’t believe him, when he tells her she should stay away from San Francisco, Mason though has his only known relative living in San Francisco, he isn’t told much about the poison until he gets inside the prison....well, there’s a motive, if Mason has one....and of course, the two are almost inexplicably dry when they should be wet from emerging from water....oh well, you can’t have everything....) and probably doesn’t survive repeated viewings even though the humour is wry, knowledgable and very droll.
The chemstry between Connery and Cage is superb with Connery, the aged action man who has lost none of his skills AND Cage, the nerd who isn’t as adverse to killing as first thought AND Harris proves to be an interesting villain, and not the one-dimensional character, he threatened to be who finally falls foul of his conscience. They’re all too believable and convincing (even when thoroughly implausible....).
Still a very damn fine action movie.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Action/Adventure - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Jack Ging, Marla Heasley, Lance Legault, Melinda Culea, Mr T, Dwight Schultz, Dirk Benedict, George Peppard, Carl Franklin
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
May 28th, 2001
very helpful by (83%):
helpful by (8%):
not helpful by (8%):
