The Rock The Rewatchables
The Rock poster
The Rock

Picking Nits

Balcony rope; underground mine carts; Jade's easily found address; Carla in the situation room; Connery's driving; hostages' bathroom breaks; green egg fight; atropine refusal; unpaid ransom; unguarded prisoner; rope throws

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:33Read transcript
  • Picked early: would the rope break or rip off Connery's arm pulling the 180-pound John Spencer, and how does a 20-foot rope come from a shower curtain; nitpicking a Bay movie is like criticizing a child's drawing.
  • Moved up from Picking Nits: why is there a Disneyland world of mine carts, burners and storage under a prison on an island, and was it filmed separately; an attempt to research it is mentioned.
  • Flagged as a nit: characters supposedly wiped from the record, yet Cage's friend finds Jade Angelou and her address in 30 seconds, though the scene establishes trust.
  • Carla is questioned as a character: she is told the underwater strategy in the situation room with top officials; the part feels shoehorned, possibly from notes to include Vanessa Mercell and Claire Forlani so it was not all dudes.
  • Connery has not driven for 35 years yet zooms a Hummer around San Francisco and knows the streets.
  • Did the hostages ever eat or go to the bathroom over about three days? Die Hard accounts for it; this film does not address it.
  • Recapped nits: the Secret Service at the balcony haircut, the working boilers (which even Bay admitted was ridiculous), and Connery remembering the basement 30-plus years later.
  • There is no reason for Cage to take the green egg into a fight in his chest pocket; he lands on it and it stays intact, and shoving it in a mouth should fail, though it is still enjoyed.
  • Major nit: Cage's resistance to atropine; its listed side effects (light sensitivity, blurred vision, dry mouth, constipation and more) are mild compared with VX gas, so taking five shots would make sense.
  • The government should just pay the $83 million, roughly what Barry Bond signed for in 1996, rather than put San Francisco at risk.
  • Leaving the one man who can stop the mission alone in a cell, unguarded despite 30 men and stray Marines around Alcatraz, is illogical.
  • Connery would miss some of his rope-and-hook throws to pull the doors; he would win an Olympic event for it.