The Rock (1996)

The Rock rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb7.4/10· 377K votes

Rotten Tomatoes69%

Metacritic58%

TMDb7.147/10· 5K votes

With 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 7.4/10 on IMDb and 58/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been mixed.

About The Rock

When vengeful General Francis X. Hummel seizes control of Alcatraz Island and threatens to launch missiles loaded with deadly chemical weapons into San Francisco, only a young FBI chemical weapons expert and notorious Federal prisoner have the skills to penetrate the impregnable island fortress and take him down.

Cast of The Rock

• 

  Sean Connery

  as John Patrick Mason

• 

  Nicolas Cage

  as Dr. Stanley Goodspeed

• 

  Ed Harris

  as Brigadier General Francis X. Hummel, USMC

• 

  John Spencer

  as FBI Director James Womack

• 

  David Morse

  as Major Tom Baxter

• 

  William Forsythe

  as Special Agent Ernest Paxton

• 

  Michael Biehn

  as Commander Charles Anderson

• 

  Vanessa Marcil

  as Carla Pestalozzi

• 

  John C. McGinley

  as Marine Captain Hendrix

• 

  Gregory Sporleder

  as Captain Frye

• 

  Tony Todd

  as Captain Darrow

• 

  Bokeem Woodbine

  as Sergeant Crisp

The Rock facts

Budget

$75M

Box office

$335.1M

Our take on The Rock

Michael Bay's 1996 action thriller pits an unlikely duo against a rogue general who has seized Alcatraz and aimed chemical missiles at San Francisco. A young FBI chemical-weapons expert and a long-imprisoned man with unique knowledge of the fortress are the only pair capable of infiltrating the island and stopping the attack. Bay pushes his signature style hard here: glossy visuals, relentless pace, and big set pieces stacked one after another. The pleasure lies in the mismatched partnership and the ticking-clock stakes rather than plausibility. Best for viewers who want a slick, high-octane blockbuster with plenty of banter and momentum, and who don't need their action grounded in realism.