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.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 9 wins & 10 nominations total
- Marine Captain Hendrix
- (as John C. Mc Ginley)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording 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.
- GoofsFor operational security reasons, Navy SEALS never acknowledge each other by rank, nor do they use their surnames. Everyone on a SEAL team, even the officers, only address each other by first name.
- 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 versionsAlthough 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.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Green Fog (2017)
- SoundtracksSan 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
This is nothing more than a big summer blockbuster that relies on plenty of big bangs to get it's audience. It relies on the usual Die Hard set-up of "one man (2 men!) take on heavily armed group in set location". However here the plot is a little iffy - Hummel isn't a terrorist, in fact his stance is almost sympathetic. This makes it all a little funny morally but the film turns it round at one point to go back into traditional good guy/bad guy roles so that the audience don't start to think too much! The action is very good - plenty of bangs for your buck! Even though it's all pretty OTT (like the car chase at the start) the mood of the film is such that it's all a great deal of fun.
Connery is really good in the lead and is funny and rather dashing! Cage's character is not as good and is too weedy at the start and some of his dialogue is grating. The support cast is deep and really good - usually big budget action movies have some well known support actors but this has tonnes! Check the names - Ed Harris, David Morse, John Spencer, William Forsythe, Michael Biehn, John C. McGinley, Bokeem Woodbine - the list goes on!
Overall, if you hate big, dumb summer movies then you'll hate this. I'm split down the middle but the sheer sense of fun that this brings combined with a great cast makes this a winner in my book!
- bob the moo
- Jan 22, 2002
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $75,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $134,069,511
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $25,069,525
- Jun 9, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $335,062,621
- Runtime2 hours 16 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1