OLD WAR MOVIES

OLD WAR MOVIES

OLD WAR MOVIES

...The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power and the growth of corporate propaganda against democracy.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Robinson Crusoe / MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III

 


File:RobinsonCrusoe1954.jpg

 

On 30 September 1659, the aristocratic British Robinson Crusoe's ship sinks and he miraculously survives on a deserted island somewhere in South America. He retrieves a dog, Rex, and cat, Sam, from the shipwreck together with some supplies, weapons, clothes and tools and builds a shelter. He soon learns how to survive by cooking, farming, harvesting the crops. Then the loneliness begins to haunt him, especially after the loss of Rex. When he sees a group of cannibals in the island, tension and fear become part of his life. Later he saves the life of a savage that was going to be eaten by the cannibals; he names him Friday and they become friends. When Robinson Crusoe sees Caucasians on the island, he finds that Captain Oberzo was the victim of a mutiny and he helps him to retrieve his ship. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

 

File:The Rock (movie).jpg

 

 

The Rock is a 1996 action film that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island and in the San Francisco Bay area. It was directed by Michael Bay, director of Bad Boys, and stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers of Top Gun and Crimson Tide, and released through Hollywood Pictures. The film is dedicated to Simpson,[2] who died five months before its release. This was the first film on which Cage and Bruckheimer worked together.

A group of rogue Force Recon Marines led by disenchanted Brigadier General Francis X Hummel (Harris) seize a stockpile of deadly VX gas–armed rockets from a heavily guarded military bunker, reluctantly leaving one of their men to die in the process. The next day, Hummel and his men seize control of Alcatraz Island during a guided tour and take 81 tourists hostage in the prison cells. Hummel then threatens the Pentagon with launching the stolen rockets against the population of San Francisco unless the government pays ransom and reparations to the families of Recon Marines who died on illegal, clandestine missions under his command and whose deaths were not honored. The Pentagon and FBI develop a plan to retake the island with a Navy SEAL Team, enlisting chemical weapons specialist Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage), who initially thinks he's consulting the team, but soon learns he's being recruited due to his specialisation in chemical warfare.

Recognizing that any surface approach will be seen by Hummel's men, FBI Director Womack (John Spencer) is forced to turn to Federal prisoner John Mason (Connery), a former MI6 Agent and SAS Captain whom Womack has illegally detained for decades and the only inmate of Alcatraz to ever successfully escape through Alcatraz's uncharted tunnels. Mason, while in custody under the supervison of Special Agent Ernest Paxton (William Forsythe) manages to escape to see his estranged daughter (Claire Forlani). Goodspeed arrives and feigns to Mason's daughter that he is aiding the FBI, convincing Mason to cooperate to develop a plan for infiltration. Womack soon recognizes that the team would only succeed with Mason on the mission as well.

The team infiltrates Alcatraz, through the underground tunnels with Mason's guidance. They are ambushed by Hummel's marines in a shower room, killing all the SEALs and leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Paxton plans to abort the mission, but Womack, who is aware of Mason's MI6 and SAS background, agrees to let them continue saying that Mason and Goodspeed are their last hope. Mason attempts to leave the prison, but Goodspeed manages to convince him to help him defuse the rockets. Using Mason's knowledge of the prison, they quietly eliminate several small teams of marines and disable 12 of the 15 rockets, until Hummel threatens over the loudspeaker to execute a hostage if the remaining "Navy SEALs" do not surrender and return the guidance chips from the rockets. Only Mason surrenders to Hummel, trying to buy Goodspeed some time. Though Goodspeed manages to disable another rocket, the Marines capture him shortly thereafter. With the incursion team lost, the military readies a backup plan: an air strike by F/A-18's with Thermite plasma, that will neutralize the poison gas but kill everyone on the island including the hostages.

As Mason uses his unique experience to escape from their cells, he reveals why he was held there for so many years — for stealing a microfilm of the United States' most closely guarded secrets, including the Roswell UFO incident and the John F. Kennedy assassination. While they search for the final two rockets, Hummel fires one of them but changes the coordinates at the last second causing the rocket to crash land harmlessly out to sea. Facing Captains Frye and Darrow's (Gregory Sporleder & Tony Todd) frustration, Hummel explains that their bluff failed and that he refuses to harm innocent civilians. He orders them to exit Alcatraz with a few hostages and the remaining VX rockets to cover their retreat, while he'll stay, personally assuming blame. Realizing that they will not be paid, Frye and Darrow, along with Sergeant Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine) go rogue and gun down Hummel and his second-in-command Major Tom Baxter (David Morse), proceeding with the plan to fire on San Francisco. With his last breath, Hummel tells Goodspeed the location of the last rocket. As the jets approach, Darrow is killed when Goodspeed fires the last disarmed rocket into him. Goodspeed takes a loose gas pearl from the warhead, but is then attacked by Frye who begins to strangle Goodspeed to death. Using the VX to defend himself, Goodspeed shoves the gas pearl into Frye's mouth, exposing both of them to the gas. Goodspeed injects himself in the heart with atropine as Frye dies from the VX gas. Goodspeed then lights green flares to signal that the threat is over, but only after one of the pilots fires, sending Goodspeed's body flying into the sea. The early detonation hits the back of the island and harms no-one else.

Mason reappears to pull the unconscious Goodspeed to shore. When he recovers, Goodspeed suggests that Mason escape before the FBI arrive, as Womack tore up his pardon from prison; Goodspeed will tell Womack that Mason was "vaporized". Mason thanks Goodspeed, and gives him a note that holds the location of where he had stashed the microfilm. The film ends with Goodspeed and his pregnant bride Carla (Vanessa Marcil) in Fort Walton, Kansas, recovering the microfilm with a half century of state secrets, including who actually killed John F. Kennedy.

[edit] Cast







 

Mission: Impossible III


Theatrical release poster

Directed by
J. J. Abrams

Produced by
Tom Cruise
Paula Wagner

Written by
Alex Kurtzman
Roberto Orci
J. J. Abrams

Starring
Tom Cruise
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Ving Rhames
Billy Crudup
Michelle Monaghan
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Keri Russell
Maggie Q
Laurence Fishburne

Music by
Michael Giacchino
Main Theme:
Lalo Schifrin

Cinematography
Dan Mindel

Editing by
Maryann Brandon
Mary Jo Markey

Studio
Cruise/Wagner
Bad Robot Productions
MI 3 Film

Distributed by
Paramount Pictures

Release date(s)
May 5, 2006 (2006-05-05) (US)

Running time
125 minutes

Country
United States

Language
English

Budget
$150 million[1]

Box office
$397,850,012 (worldwide)

Mission: Impossible III (also known as M:I-3) is a 2006 action film directed by J. J. Abrams, his first film as a director, starring Tom Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt of the IMF, who also served as a producer. It was first released on April 26, 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival, and widely released in the United States on May 5, 2006. The film was a box office success, and it received mostly positive critical reviews Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired as a team leader at the IMF and instead taken to training new recruits while settling down with his fiancée Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse at a local hospital who is unaware of Ethan's past. At a party, Ethan is approached by his fellow IMF agent John Musgrave (Billy Crudup), who secretly relays a mission to him: to rescue one of Ethan's protégés, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), who was captured while on a mission to investigate the infamous black market dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Musgrave has already prepared a team for Ethan, consisting of Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Zhen Lei (Maggie Q), and his old partner Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), ready to meet him in Berlin, Germany.

The IMF team raids the warehouse where Lindsey is kept, release her and collect two computer laptops during their escape. As they flee on a helicopter, Lindsey warns them of a micro-explosive implanted in her head, and before Ethan can use a defibrillator to disable the device, it goes off, killing Lindsey. Ethan and Musgrave are reprimanded by IMF director Theodore Brassel (Laurence Fishburne) for the loss of an agent, and the poor condition of the stolen laptops. Ethan learns that Lindsey had mailed him a postcard before her capture. Showing it to Luther in private, they discover a magnetic microdot under the stamp, which Luther takes to his contacts to decode.

IMF technician Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) is able to recover enough from the damaged laptops to find that Davian is going to Vatican City to receive a mysterious object called the "Rabbit's Foot". Ethan plans the mission to capture Davian and the device without seeking Brassel's or Musgrave's approval. Before leaving, he expresses his love to Julia, and they have an impromptu marriage at the hospital's chapel. At Vatican City, the team successfully infiltrates the secured facility, and Ethan disguises himself as Davian after his capture. The team uses an explosive-rigged car to cover their escape and make Davian's bodyguards believe he is dead.

On the flight back to the United States, Davian wakes up and refuses to divulge what the Rabbit's Foot is, instead threatening to kill everyone Ethan holds dear; Ethan threatens to drop Davian out of the plane if he does not cooperate. After landing, the team travels with a convoy escorting Davian across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. En route, Luther receives the decoded message from the microdot, a video of Lindsey to Ethan warning him that Davian has received calls from Director Brassel's office and believes him to be a mole. The escort is suddenly attacked by a heavily armed drone, and in the chaos, Davian is freed. Ethan suddenly worries for Julia's safety and races to the hospital, arriving too late to find she has been taken by one of Davian's agents. As Davian calls Ethan, giving him only 48 hours to recover the Rabbit's Foot for Julia's life, Ethan is captured by IMF for his rogue actions.

Ethan is secured to a gurney and interrogated about his unauthorized mission. Musgrave takes part, but allows Ethan to lip-read further instructions to travel to Shanghai, China where the Rabbit's Foot is located, and provides him with the means to escape IMF. Ethan makes his way to the instructed location, finding his team waiting for him, and they plan a raid of the building where the Rabbit's Foot is secured. Through a desperate car chase, Ethan is able to contact Davian just under the deadline that they have the Rabbit's Foot. Ethan goes to deliver the Rabbit's Foot alone, and is knocked unconscious by Davian's men, who implant a micro-explosive device in his head. Ethan recovers to find Davian gloating over him while holding Julia at gunpoint. Despite Ethan asserting that the device is the real Rabbit's Foot, Davian kills Julia and then leaves the devastated Ethan behind.

Minutes later, Musgrave arrives, and explains to Ethan this was all a setup, revealing that Julia was Davian's incompetent translator (Bahar Soomekh) in a mask — the execution having been faked to confirm that Ethan was telling the truth — and Julia is nearby, alive. Musgrave reveals himself as the mole, arranging for Davian to acquire the Rabbit's Foot to sell to terrorist groups, after which IMF would have reasonable cause to launch a preemptive strike, making Musgrave a hero and Davien richer. Ethan escapes and steals Musgrave's phone, using it to contact Benji to track down a number Musgrave recently called, the likely location where Julia is being kept. Inside, Ethan finds Davian and his men waiting, and is able to kill them all, including Davian by throwing him in front of a oncoming truck, but not before they trigger the micro-explosive. Freeing Julia, he instructs her to electrocute him, killing him shortly but deactivating the explosive, from which she can revive him, as well as to protect herself with a gun. Julia follows Ethan's instructions, and while he recovers, is forced to shoot and kill Musgrave when he arrives. Julia successfully gives CPR to Ethan, reviving him, and they leave together as he explains his true IMF career to her.

Back home, Brassel congratulates Ethan, and suggests that there is another mission that Ethan has been requested for, but Ethan insists on going on his honeymoon with Julia and is unsure if he will return to the IMF. Brassel promises that he'll tell Ethan what the Rabbit's Foot is if Ethan will promise to return. Ethan smiles and walks off with Julia.

Cast

[edit] Production





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