| Director | Michael Bay |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, buddy cop film, buddy film, prison film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 127 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $75 million |
| Box office | $335.6 million |
A disillusioned USMC Brigadier General Francis Hummel and his rogue group of Force Recon Marines, including his loyal subordinate Major Tom Baxter, steal 15 rockets filled with lethal VX gas from a U.S. Navy facility. The next day, they seize control of the former prison on Alcatraz Island, taking the tourists and guards hostage. Hummel contacts the FBI and the Pentagon, threatening to launch the rockets at the San Francisco Bay Area in 72 hours deadline unless the government pays him $100 million, which will be donated to the families of the men who died during his command but were never compensated.
The Department of Defense and the FBI plan to retake Alcatraz by infiltrating the old tunnel system beneath the island, with Navy SEALs led by Commander Anderson. They recruit FBI chemical weapons specialist Special Agent Dr. Stanley Goodspeed to join them and disarm the rockets safely. With no knowledge of the island tunnel system, FBI Director Womack reluctantly calls on the aid of the imprisoned John Mason, a former British SAS Captain and MI6-trained operative and the only man to escape Alcatraz after he stole a microfilm created by J. Edgar Hoover containing classified U.S. information. Mason refused to reveal the microfilm's location after being captured, believing he would be killed, and was instead imprisoned without trial. Mason agrees to assist after being presented with a pardon that clears his record, though Womack destroys it shortly thereafter.
Mason escapes and leads the FBI on a car chase, causing a rampage through the city before being caught by Goodspeed when he meets with his estranged daughter, Jade. At the command center, Mason negotiates to join the team heading to Alcatraz. The team infiltrates the prison, but Hummel's men are alerted to their presence and ambush them in the shower room. Hummel tries to convince Anderson to surrender, but the zealous Captains Frye and Darrow deliberately cause a shootout that kills Anderson and his team. Mason and Goodspeed manage to evade them. Believing the mission to be a failure, Mason prepares to leave until Goodspeed reveals the truth about the VX, putting Mason's daughter and his pregnant fiancée, Carla (who came to San Francisco despite Goodspeed telling her to stay home), in danger.
Mason works together with Goodspeed to disable twelve rockets and kill several Marines. After Hummel threatens to execute a hostage, Mason surrenders to stall him while Goodspeed disables another rocket before also being captured. They escape from their cells, but Mason, having assessed Hummel as a man of honor who has no intention of killing innocents, leaves, with Goodspeed continuing on his own. Goodspeed is caught and held at gunpoint, but Mason saves him, convinced that Goodspeed's unborn child needs its father.
As the deadline passes, Frye and Darrow pressure Hummel into firing a rocket, but he redirects it to detonate in the sea. Hummel explains the rockets were a bluff and that he never intended to kill anyone. Realizing they will not be paid, Frye and Darrow convince the remaining Marines to mutiny against Hummel and Baxter. Baxter is killed, and Hummel is mortally wounded, but he tells Goodspeed the location of the last rocket.
With the team assumed dead, the government initiates a backup launch measure: an airstrike aimed at destroying Alcatraz with experimental thermite plasma bombs, which will neutralize the gas but kill everyone on the island. Goodspeed and Mason kill the remaining Marines before Goodspeed launches green flares, a signal for the attack to be aborted; one of the bombs is already dropped at the back of the island, and the blast throws Goodspeed into the bay, but Mason saves him.
Goodspeed confirms the mission's success to Womack but claims Mason was killed in the explosion before telling Mason that Womack shredded his pardon. The pair part ways amicably, with Goodspeed telling Mason where clothes and money are at the hotel. Mason suggests that Goodspeed visit a church in Kansas where he kept the microfilm. Sometime later, Goodspeed and his newly wedded wife, Carla, recover the microfilm from the church.