Often considered one of the best action movies of all time, The Rock was something I watched way too much as a kid, be it at home with my brother or at a friend’s sleepover. But unlike other great Nicholas Cage films, I haven’t revisited this 1996 blockbuster in years (I think the last time I watched it was on the way home from my honeymoon). Well, that changed recently, and I honestly forgot that Cage’s Stanely Goodspeed was an absolute madman.
No, not “let’s switch faces and get all crazy” Nic Cage from Face/Off the following year, but close. The FBI chemical weapons specialist has the same chaotic energy as Castor Troy, he’s just on the good side of the coin. But I digress… I was blown away by Cage’s wide-eyed, fast-talking, Beatles-obsessed hero, and this performance is just something I HAVE to talk about.
First Off, I Honestly Forgot How Much I Love The Rock
Though I will always have a soft spot for the first two Bad Boys movies, it’s safe to say that The Rock is Michael Bay’s best movie. Between his first stint in South Florida hanging out with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s Miami detectives and his time sending a group of oil-drillers into space to save the world, Bay perfected his craft with this star-studded, and action-packed cinematic spectacle. I don’t like using the term “masterpiece” all that often, but there’s a case to be made here.
The story, the setting, the characters, the lethal VX gas that’s pretty much “one of those things we wish we could disinvent,” all of it works together to create this intense, exciting, and iconic tour de force. Chases, explosions, the signature shots – all of Bay’s hallmarks – are either created or perfected here.
Stanley Goodspeed Is Quite Possibly One Of Nicolas Cage's Wildest Characters
Nicolas Cage won an Oscar for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas and immediately followed it with The Rock. I point this out because Cage, a bonafide star at this point in his career, went to great lengths to make Stanley Goodspeed not only a character that doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of great supporting characters played by Ed Harris, Sean Connery, and Michael Biehn but also one that has since become one of his most memorable and beloved. I don’t know if he felt like he had something to prove, or just wanted to have fun, but Cage goes all out here and looks to be having the time of his life.
Goodspeed may not be the craziest Nic Cage character, a distinction reserved for Castor Troy or maybe Peter Loew in Vampire’s Kiss, but he’s certainly one of the wildest to date. And that’s saying something. I mean, in the stretch of a few minutes, we see him going on about a rare Beatles record to preventing a mass-casualty event to playing guitar in his boxers to being tasked with saving San Francisco from a rogue Brigadier General and his team of pissed-off Marines. I honestly think he has every right to be a nut for much of the movie.
Cage's Line Delivery And Chemistry With Sean Connery Is Off The Charts
One thing I loved most about revisiting The Rock was the fact that it was an action movie way funnier than I remembered. Sure, some serious stuff goes down before everything is said and done, but Nicolas Cage’s line delivery and humor really help the movie stand out after all these years. The way Stanley Goodspeed says things like, “But what I'm dealing with here is one of the most deadly substances the earth has ever known, so what say you cut me some FRIGGIN' SLACK?” is just amazing.
And then there’s Cage’s chemistry with the late Sean Connery. I don’t think Michael Bay or producer Jerry Bruckheimer could have found a better person to pair with the legendary James Bond actor. From the contentious early stages of their relationship to finally trusting one another, these two unlikely scene partners knocked it out of the park and made The Rock at least 29% better.
It Is Not Lost On Me That Cage Followed This Up With Con Air, Making This A Killer One-Two Punch
I recently went back and rewatched Con Air, and I couldn’t get over the fact that Nicolas Cage made two of the biggest ‘90s action movies back-to-back (and I guess back-to-back-to-back if Face/Off is your thing, which is crazy to think about. I mean, two of my favorite R-rated movies of my childhood came out in subsequent years and both featured Nic Cage in leading roles.
While Stanley Goodspeed is far more energized than Cameron Poe on his quest to get home and meet his daughter after a multi-year prison sentence, these two both have great lines, kick a whole lot of ass, and save the day in the end. And you know how Cage was in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse? Well, I’d love to have a movie where his various characters – Goodspeed and Poe included – have to team up. You could call it Bunnies & Beatles or something like that.
I'm Not Going To Lie, I Miss '90s Action Movies With Unconventional Leading Men
While the ‘80s gave us massive, muscle-bound big-screen heroes played by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Dolph Lundgren, Hollywood took a different approach in the ‘90s. Sure, Arnie and Sly were still cranking out hits in the early part of the decade, but we also got unconventional heroes like Nic Cage’s Stanley Goodspeed and Jeff Goldblum’s David Levinson in Independence Day.
In the summer of 1996, it felt like the nerds had finally gotten revenge on the world and become the biggest heroes of the silver screen. And while the portrayal of heroes has become more varied and nuanced in the nearly 30 years since both movies came out, I do miss those simpler and oftentimes funnier times when we didn’t have so many self-serious good guys.
All of this is to say that Nicolas Cage’s Stanley Goodspeed in The Rock is one of the wildest and most enjoyable performances in the actor’s prolific career, and one I’m glad I got to revisit.
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