Film - The Rock - Starring Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris (released in 1996)

Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer are famous in the film making world, known for the action and fast paced movies that they make. This post is about a movie that they made a fairly long time back, a movie that is still popular on its re-runs, and which made a fairly large amount of money. Nowadays, movies can make upwards of a billion dollars, and Michael Bay has directed the Transformer series, the return of which exceed 2 billion dollars, but this was in 1996, and for a movie to make the $335 million that The Rock made was a big amount. The movie also won praise from critics, something that Bay's later movies have not got.
The movie had some interesting moments, with there being disputes regarding the credits for writing the movie, and even some tension between Michael Bay and the studio executives (Walt Disney Studio). And for an interesting moment, when there is a scene in the film where the character played by Sean Connery throws off the FBI Director from the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, and he dangles from the edge of the hotel; the shooting led to calls to the hotel from concerned bystanders who could see a person hanging from the edge of the building. The movie shows a lot of the Alcatraz Island, located in San Francisco Bay area, close to the Golden Gate Bridge, almost like an advertisement for people to come and visit it.




The movie takes the line of a crisis situation, where the experts are not available, and suddenly, you have to depend on somebody else to help resolve the situation. In the movie, a group of rogue marines (Recon Marines) led by a disenchanted leader, Brigadier General Frank Hummel (Ed Harris), plan a situation where they will force the Government into a crisis situation. He is very disenchanted with the Government ignoring the marines and other soldiers who have done so much for the country, but have been ignored, and in their deaths, their families have been ignored. So, he plans to force the situation. He and his men capture a very dangerous weapon, multiple sets of VX gas–armed M55 rockets, force their way into Alcatraz Island, and capture the tourists visiting that place. They set up the rockets, and then threaten the Government that unless the Government pays them $100 million (which will be distributed to his men and to others who died in situations which the Government will not acknowledge). This sets up a crisis situation, pulling in the military and the FBI.
The first rush of any Government in such a situation is to send in forces to end this kind of situation, but there is some complexity. They need somebody who is an expert in such weapons, which pushes in Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage), who did not expect that he would need to go with them, but is informed that he will also be going in with the team. The bigger problem is about getting inside the island undetected, which has to be an underwater mission, utilizing the inner network of the island. There is only such person, a high security prisoner who once broke out of the Alcatraz jail, John Mason (Sean Connery). Mason is in prison for a long time, without any record of his detention, his main crime being that he learnt too many secrets that the Government will not want to disclose. But he is important for the mission, and hence he needs to be let out of the jail, showing an interesting chase sequence through the hilly roads of San Francisco, with Stanley chasing after Mason.
So they finally enter the former prison, and Mason is able to guide them inside. However, there are preventive measures that the FBI and military did not know about, and the skilled squad is detected and forced into a fire-fight, where they are all killed at the hands of the rogue soldiers. Who is left ? Mason and Stanley. Mason has not interest in all this, and wants to leave, with Stanley urging him to stay on and help to complete the mission. There is an alternative mechanism also being put in place, by bombing the entire island with special explosives that will destroy the chemical weapon but also kill all the tourists who have been detailed on the island. It's a fast paced movie, and well worth watching.

Film - Enemy at the Gates - clash between 2 snipers in WWII (released in 2001)

The Second World War was a huge war, a war of biblical proportions, which caused the death of millions. The devastation caused was not only a military war, but the battle for cities and population centers caused untold grief to large cities and their populations. Of the cities impacted, outside of Germany whose cities were devastated in the battle to defeat the Nazis, one of the most impacted cities was Stalingrad, the city which is seen by many as the place where the tide of the battle turned and the last point where the German army was able to establish some amount of control, with the Soviet Army using huge reinforcements (and losing people at a critical rate) to turn the Germans back. It is said that from Stalingrad, the Red Army made a march that finally ended up in Berlin.
The story is set in this battle, showcasing the story of a famous sniper. The movie is based on a book, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad, written in 1973 by the author William Craig. One of the most famous soldiers from this battle is Vasily Zaytsev (Wikipedia link) (Vassili Zaitsev - His book), a solider who became a sniper and was responsible for the deaths of more than 400 German soldiers. He was a much decorated soldier who did most of his killing in a 2 week period in November-December 1942, a period in which the fighting was in the city, at eyeball level. The fight in the city cause destruction of large parts of the city. The movie showcases a fight between Vasily and a German sniper, a major with whom he had a running battle which has to result in the death of one of them.




The movies tells the story during the war of a Vassili Zaitsev (acted by Jude Law), a shepherd who like many others is now a soldier in the Red Army. With the quest to push back the Germans and prevent the Germans from crossing the line of Stalingrad, the defense of Stalingrad was a critical point. Army units were pushed into this battle, and Vassili was one of the fighters there, finding himself in the company of a political commissar Danilov (played splendidly by Joseph Fiennes). In one such push, Danilov sees impressive shooting by Vassili and works on the visiting Nikita Khrushchev to portray Vassili as a Soviet hero; the people need a hero and Vassili would be such a hero. He is transferred to the sniper school. And in a interesting touch, both Vassili and Danilov become interested in a female militia soldier, Tania (played by Rachel Weissz). This rivalry between them is going to strain their friendship.
The snipers play an important role in defeating the Germans (having an effective sniper is devastating to morale, since it means that a soldier is afraid of getting killed any instant), and the Germans bring in a senior sniper, major Erwin Koing (played to great effect by Ed Harris). He is also a very effective sniper and almost traps Vassili, killing 2 of his fellow snipers. Even a sniper sent to kill Erwin is killed, which makes Khrushchev impatient to get rid of Erwin.
A small boy, Sacha, becomes a helper to Konig, to get information about the whereabouts of the Major so that Vassili could trap him and kill him, but it is not easy. The Major is becoming suspicious of Sacha, and in the meantime the obvious relationship between Vassili and Tania is causing jealousy in Danilov. What happens next ?