Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: Renegade general holds San Francisco hostage from Alcatraz.
Biased, pithy comments: Why did I mark this movie GOOD when it's the definition of the word ``derivative'' with almost no redeeming moments of creativity? Why did I like this movie that strung together the best action sequences of around twenty other action movies (including ``Pulp Fiction,'' ``Die Hard,'' ``Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' [where did those mine carts come from?], and ``Aliens'') unapologetically? They even got the venerable Connery to be a British secret agent---now *there's* creativity. So, given many of my other ratings, why did I like this movie when it totally failed to push back the frontiers of interesting cinema, instead taking everyone else's ideas and mushing them together like gumbo? Because, darn it, I had fun. Cage, Connery, Harris, Biehn, and everyone else on screen is working earnestly to make this high-budget, high-action film a Big Dumb Summer Movie with Lots of Exploding Things, and it totally works. There is good quipping, some character turmoil (fortunately not concentrated on), and some really neat action sequences. More importantly, each of the characters actually has a character, even if it's borrowed from some other movie, and the force of their acting makes you believe in this story long enough to have a good time, if not to be elucidated. It's like watching Patrick Stewart in ``First Contact''---here are these dumb lines in this totally implausible story, but he says 'em like he believes them and darn if you don't believe him too. So, find the surround sound, pop the popcorn, and *enjoy*, even if it doesn't always hang together.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris, William Forsythe, Michael Biehn, Vanessa Marcil.
Directed by: Michael Bay