I felt that this movie was good, but a little generic. I don't know for sure, but the plot just seemed like something I had already heard/seen. The battle-hardened, ex-military soldier, General Francis Hummel (Ed Harris), is a tortured soul. He is sick of seeing his men killed fighting for their country on top-secret missions and having the government make up lies about their deaths. They don't even get military funerals! No, General Hummel won't stand for this any longer. He decides to take the island of Alcatraz prisoner along with 81 tourists. He has threatened to destroy Los Angeles with missiles full of a deadly gas if the government doesn't meet his demands. His demands: the U.S. government has to pay him one million dollars for each of the men that he lost, and the money is to be payed to the men's families. That's not all: the government has to use the money from their secret weapons funding. Since this mission is so top-secret, the government has to foil it quickly and quietly. So, a special team of men is assembled to infiltrate the island and unarm the missiles. That's where Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) comes in. Goodspeed is a specialist about bombs and is the perfect man for the job. The complication: Goodspeed's girlfriend, Carla (Vanessa Marcil), has just become pregnant and is going to marry him soon. Although Carla begs Goodspeed not to leave, he must, and he does. This mission will not be nearly as easy as he thinks, though. First, he will need the help of John Mason (Sean Connery), a convicted escape artist who was the only person ever to escape Alcatraz. Working with a criminal? This could be tricky... Find out what happens when you see this movie. Rent it, you're only going to want to see it once.
