Rating: R (strong violence, language and a sex scene)
Length: 136 minutes

Widescreen 2.35:1 Color

ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 2.0

Spanish

A highly decorated Marine General and a group of his commandos steal military nerve gas and threaten to use this gas on San Francisco unless a ransom is paid. They want $100 million dollars, part for themselves but most for the families of soldiers that died in illegal operations and were not compensated for it. The commandos and the weapons are holed up in Alcatraz with hostages awaiting payment or they launch the weapons in 48 hours. The government recruits the only living man to escape from Alcatraz (Connery) to help them break into the prison.

Lots of action and an impressive cast of actors; Harris, Connery, Cage, Forsythe and the late John Spencer. Ed Harris gives the performance of his life and the Marine General and the soundtrack for this film is outstanding.

I would like to think stealing chemical weapons would be a lot harder to accomplish. Why does every action movie have to have both an extensive car chase and a love interest for one of the main characters (removing them would have made for a tighter film by keeping it less than two hours)? And who decided on the name of Dr. Goodspeed? It sounds like something straight out of a Bond movie. Then again, Connery does play an ex-British agent.

• Theatrical Trailer

Though there is a sentimental reason behind what happens, this is purely an action movie through-and-through. It has a very strong cast from top-to-bottom. It does let you think about one thing, if you had to shove a needle into your heart to live, could you? I would be a dead man.

Michael Bay   [Armageddon, Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, The Island, Pearl Harbor]

Michael Biehn - Commander Anderson

[The Abyss, Aliens, Planet Terror, The Terminator, Tombstone]

Nicolas Cage - Dr. Stanley Goodspeed

[Con Air, Face/Off, Gone in 60 Seconds, Lord of War, Matchstick Men, National Treasure, National Treasure 2, Raising Arizona, The Wicker Man (2006), Windtalkers]

Greg Collins - Private Gamble

Sean Connery - John Patrick Mason

[Diamonds are Forever, Dr. No, Entrapment, Goldfinger, The Hunt For Red October, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Untouchables, The Wind and the Lion, You Only Live Twice]

William Forsythe - Special Agent Ernest Paxton

[City by the Sea, The Devil's Rejects, Gotti, Halloween (2007), Raising Arizona]

Ed Harris - General Francis X. Hummel

[A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, Absolute Power, The Abyss, Apollo 13, Buffalo Soldiers, Enemy at the Gates, Glengarry Glen Ross, National Treasure 2, Needful Things, Nixon, The Right Stuff, The Stand]

Brendan Kelly - Private Cox

Jim Maniaci - Private Scarpetti

Vanessa Marcil - Carla Pestalozzi

John C. McGinley - Captain Hendrix

[Fat Man and Little Boy, Identity, Office Space, Platoon, Wall Street]

David Morse - Major Tom Baxter

[Contact, The Green Mile, The Langoliers]

John Spencer - FBI Director James Womack

[Cop Land]

Gregory Sporleder - Captain Frye

[Twister]

Tony Todd - Captain Darrow

[The Crow, Final Destination, Final Destination 2, Hatchet, Night of the Living Dead (1990), Platoon]

Bokeem Woodbine - Sergeant Crisp

[3000 Miles to Graceland, The Breed, Sniper 2]