Michael Bay directs Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris in this action blockbuster where an imprisoned spy and a chemical geek team up to rescue San Francisco in this “Die Hard in a” Alcatraz.

Blistering on initial taste. Teenage Bobby Carroll had a blast going to see this. My fingernails were cutting into my palms by the all-out finale when I first watched it. It became a mainstay of my VHS and then DVD viewing habits for the next ten years. The colours pop, the cast is rammed, the biggest set-pieces totally OTT. As a jaded adult you realise there are problems, the script doesn’t really know what to do after it has fun getting all its pieces spectacularly on the board, for every good chunk of carnage there’s an undercooked excuse of action that feels like filler, you’d hardly be able to state in a court of law that the three lead performances gel. Connery is the winner, leaning into the “what if 007 had be incarcerated by the yanks for three decades” vibes with minimal grimacing. Cage is off the chain and you wouldn’t want him any other way. The totalitarian score by Hans Zimmer gets the heart thumping. So… it’s the over eager runt of the litter compared to Con Air and Face / Off… it still has the Friday Night Goods. “Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.”

7

Perfect Double Bill: 13 Hours The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2013)

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/