The Rock (1996) ft. Jesse Sertle

Dana and Tom with 5x Club Member, Jesse Sertle (Fellow group member of CineMadison) discuss The Rock (1996) for its 30th anniversary: directed by Michael Bay, written by David Weisberg, Douglas S. Cook, and Mark Rosner, cinematography by John Schwartzman, editing by Richard Francis-Bruce, music by Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer, starring Sean Connery, Ed Harris, and Nicolas Cage.

Plot Summary: In The Rock, a rogue U.S. general (Ed Harris) seizes Alcatraz Island and threatens San Francisco with stolen chemical weapons, forcing an unlikely duo—a bookish FBI chemist (Nicolas Cage) and a vanished‑from‑the‑grid ex‑spy (Sean Connery) —into the island’s fog‑shrouded fortress. As they infiltrate the abandoned prison’s tunnels and rusted battlements, the mission becomes a tense clash of wills and philosophies, where loyalty, guilt, and the weight of past secrets press in as heavily as the Pacific mist. The Rock turns into a high‑stakes pressure cooker, inviting you into a world where every corridor hums with danger and every choice feels like it could tip the balance.

Guest:

Jesse Sertle (5x Club Member)

• Fellow group member of CineMadison
• Previously on Rounders (1998), Easy Rider (1969), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), Star Wars (1977)
• @jsertle on IG

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction, Cast, and Background for The Rock

03:00 Welcome Back, Jesse Sertle

06:04 Tom's Difficulty with Michael Bay

08:55 Relationship(s) with The Rock

14:07 Michael Bay

19:28 Nicolas Cage

23:24 Sean Connery

25:23 How to Enjoy Any Michael Bay Movie

26:25 Plot Summary for The Rock

27:23 What is The Rock About?

28:41 Did You Know?

32:39 First Break

33:22 What's Happening with Jesse Sertle?

34:03 Best Performance(s)

39:51 Best Scene(s)

47:22 Second Break

48:14 Best/Funniest Lines

51:24 The Stanley Rubric - Legacy

57:09 The Stanley Rubric - Impact/Significance

01:01:45 The Stanley Rubric - Novelty

01:05:02 The Stanley Rubric - Classicness

01:11:53 The Stanley Rubric - Rewatchability

01:16:10 The Stanley Rubric - Audience Score and Final Total

01:17:49 Remaining Questions for The Rock

01:20:19 Thank You to Jesse and Remaining Thoughts

01:23:33 Credits

You can also find this episode in full video on YouTube.

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For more on the episode, go to: https://www.ronnyduncanstudios.com/post/the-rock-1996-ft-jesse-sertle

For the entire rankings list so far, go to: https://www.ronnyduncanstudios.com/post/greatest-movie-of-all-time-list

Keywords:

The Rock, Michael Bay, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, 90s action movies, film critique, behind the scenes, movie analysis, film analysis, movie review, 90s cinema, rewatchability, film legacy

Ronny Duncan Studios