History Film / TheRock

** The Joint Chiefs also reference Hummel's Vietnam-era missions into China, a long term UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory about the latter days of that war.

* DeadlyGas: And they have the decency of using [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX_(nerve_agent) one that actually exists.]] However, VX is not glowing green, and it's not a blister agent. It's a nerve agent. So no, you don't die with [[PoisonIsCorrosive your face melting off and your clothes smoking.]] Instead, your nerves stop working, resulting in [[AndIMustScream paralysis.]] The rest is accurate, though.

* BoringButPractical: Since they can't give him a weapon, the SEAL team gives Mason a survival kit loaded with washers, matches and a kerosene bottle. Considering his training, this alone is deadly in his hands, which he demonstrates by using the kerosene and matches to light up an enemy Marine.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: One of Hummel's marines has a topknot haircut, something that would most definitely not be allowed in any military, let alone the U.S. Marine Corps. The men on the island are Marine Force Recon, a Special Forces division, which are given considerably more leeway when it comes to grooming rules, not to mention the marine might have been no longer in active service before the operation, but it still seems unlikely he'd choose it (it's a really ''stupid'' haircut for anyone in the military to wear - it's a great handhold for an opponent in a fight, not to mention painful). Captain Frye also has a non-regulation haircut, sporting a nineties boyband style open curtains fringe, which is hilariously at odds with his psychotic bulging eyes.
** Baxter calls Frye a soldier. The president, in his speech down below, calls Hummel the same thing. Hummel and Frye are marines and no marine would be called a soldier in real life.

* BattleInTheRain: TheHeist where Hummel's marines steal the XV rockets takes place during a rainstorm at night.

** Uttered by, appropriately enough, Creator/SeanConnery after he throws a knife into a marine's throat (who watched the knife flying towards him while screaming).

** The motion sensor one of the marines installs.
** Mason's "special operations gear": kerosene, washers and waterproof matches. The kerosene and matches he uses to set a marine on fire, and the washer is used to break out of an Alcatraz prison cell.

** Hummel telling the children to leave Alcatraz before he takes over. Before that, during the opening credits, we see him put on his dress uniform, which is covered in medals. We then see him walking through a cemetery, and when he passes the honour guard of a fallen marine, he immediately salutes as he walks past. This tells us everything we need to know about him: he's a highly decorated war hero who is utterly loyal to his men and to fallen soldiers.

** Some of the marines, notably Sergeant Crisp express their dismay that they will be forced to kill civilians in order to earn their pay. It ultimately does not dissuade them though from seeing the plan through when the other marines mutiny against Hummel.

* GuileHero: Stanley Goodspeed is terrible at physical confrontations, relying on Mason for most of the bloodshed. But that does not make him a coward or idiot. He defuses the VX rockets, drives through traffic to recapture Mason, and still manages to take out a few of the marines with his ingenuity.
* GunsAkimbo: At least two of the marines during the heist at the beginning of the film are shown wielding a TranquillizerDart gun in each hand.

* HiredGuns: Darrow points out to Hummel that the moment they took hostages that the marines became mercenaries and that mercenaries are supposed to get paid.

-->'''Crisp''': Killing marines is one thing. Is this for real?

* OneDoseFitsAll: In the opening scene, the mercenaries use tranquillizer darts on the marines guarding the chemical weapons depot. All of them fall unconscious practically immediately, despite their different sizes.

* RedemptionRejection: [[spoiler: After Hummel revealed that he's been bluffing the whole time, Hummel offered his subordinates to escape via helicopter, while he himself takes all the blame, therefore the remaining marines would escape prosecution. However, [[TheStarscream Frye and Darrow and the rest of the marines]] sans Baxter are not willing to run off as cowards without accomplishing what they're hired to do and still want to prove to the U.S. Government that they mean business in contrast to Hummel's bluff]].

* SemperFi: Although being the bad guys, the Marines (and a few possible ex-Rangers, and some mercenaries) take out a Navy [=SEAL=] team. The marines had modified their sensor equipment so that the [=SEAL=] team's attempts to disable it instead set it off, and the resulting confrontation (superior numbers in hard cover with an elevated position on one side and a smaller group caught in the open on the other) was so one-sided that Hummel flat-out considers their refusing to surrender an act of suicide.

* SociopathicSoldier: Frye and Darrow. Also one marine laments having to capture Goodspeed alive.

* TooDumbToLive: The marine who gets killed by the VX gas during the depot heist. Note that most of the marines are using hoists on the ceiling to move the rockets or are in pairs, stationed at either end of the rocket to keep it level. Instead, he tries to pick up a rocket by himself and at the middle, causing the rocket to fall out of his hands and jettison its contents all over the floor.

* TranquillizerDart: In the opening scene, the mercenaries use tranq darts on the marines guarding the chemical weapons depot. All of them fall unconscious immediately.

* WarHero: General Francis X Hummel is a high decorated marine officer trying to get justice and recognition for men fall in blacks ops under his command.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: The story starts out like this. On one side we have marines and FBI chemist who try to save the hostages and prevent a terrorist form killing thousands. Opposing them is NobleDemon WellIntentionedExtremist who wants his men to be honored as they deserve and their families supported and tries to avoid casualties as much as possible. [[spoiler:Later turns into TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil situation when Hummel's group gets divided and some of them want to launch the missiles for real, when Hummel was just bluffing.]]

** The battle between the [=SEALs=] and Hummel's forces.

* BoringButPractical: since they can't give him a weapon, the SEAL team gives Mason a survival kit loaded with washers, matches and a kerosene bottle. Considering his training, this alone is deadly in his hands, which he demonstrates by using the kerosene and matches to light up an enemy Marine.

* NonActionGuy: Stanley Goodspeed's forte isn't in gunfights or hand-to-hand combat. Every time he tries it's almost embarrassing.

* PreMortemOneLiner

--> "You must never hesitate."

--> "How'd you like how that shit works?"

'''Goodspeed''': Listen, I think we got started off on the wrong foot. Stan Goodspeed, FBI. Uh--Let's talk music. Do you like the Music/EltonJohn song, "Rocket Man"?\\

'''Goodspeed''': Oh, you--oh, oh. Oh. Well, I only bring it up because, uh, it's you. You're the Rocket Man.\\

-->'''Goodspeed''': [handling VX gas] You know how this shit works?
-->'''Darrow''': [pulls his combat knife] You know how this shit works?
-->'''Goodspeed''': Listen, I think we got started off on the wrong foot. Stan Goodspeed, FBI. Uh--Let's talk music. Do you like the Music/EltonJohn song, "Rocket Man"?
-->'''Darrow''': I don't like soft-ass shit.
-->'''Goodspeed''': Oh, you--oh, oh. Oh. Well, I only bring it up because, uh, it's you. You're the Rocket Man.
-->[Goodspeed fires a rocket at him]
-->'''Goodspeed''': [calling after him] [[BondOneLiner How do ya like how THAT shit works?]]

** The president, in his speech down below, calls Hummel a soldier. Hummel is a marine and no marine would be called a soldier in real life.

* GreyandGrayMorality: Hummel vs the US Government has shades of this, while General Hummel is a terrorist threatening the lives of thousands, he's ultimately a WellIntentionedExtremist and a NobleDemon [[AFatherToHisMen fighting for the lives of the men he lost,]] [[spoiler:and was ultimately bluffing about launching the missiles and had no intention of killing innocent people.]] Meanwhile the government, while well intentioned enough, never even considers Hummel's proposition and was willing to risk the lives of thousands in the process.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Frye and Darrow.

* GoodAllAlong: Played With. [[spoiler:While Hummel uses extremist methods to get revenge for all the lives that were lost under his command, he was never going to launch the rockets and kill innocent people. Sadly, his men don't think the same and attempt to kill him.]]

* RealAwardFictionalCharacter: In the opening scene, Gen. Hummell leaves his Medal of Honor at his wife's gravesite. In case you didn't caught it, his service record is read later on and it's said that he's a recipient of that, plus four Purple Hearts and two Silver Stars.

** The movie actually spends a considerable amount of its running time with intellectual and talky scenes that factor heavily into the plot as it does on flashy action scenes, with all three of it's leads being well-respected and intelligent men of action.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Before taking the tourists and tour guide hostage, Hummel asks a group of elementary students to inform their class to evacuate Alcatraz. [[spoiler: This was also seen when a rocket meant for San Francisco was destroyed mid-way without hitting its target through it’s unclear if he had a [[HeelFaceTurn change of heart]], considering children would’ve been among the killed]].

-->'''Mason''': I could, you know. Besides your safety's on.

** When Hummel formally gets his right-hand men acquainted with each other, we learn Major Baxter has served with Hummel the longest, since the Vietnam War; Sergeant Crisp served with Hummel in Desert Storm; and Frye and Darrow had never been with Hummel before. [[spoiler:Frye and Darrow have no loyalty whatsoever to Hummel, and are the first to mutiny against him; Crisp, who had served with Hummel in only one major operation, hesitates before siding with Frye and Darrow; and finally Major Baxter, who is old friends with Hummel, pretends to turn on him at first but then shoots Crisp dead before he himself is killed, proving his UndyingLoyalty to Hummel]].

** When Hummel formally gets his right-hand men acquainted with each other, we learn Major Baxter has served with Hummel the longest; Sergeant Crisp served with Hummel in Desert Storm; and Frye and Darrow had never been with Hummel before. [[spoiler:Frye and Darrow have no loyalty whatsoever to Hummel, and are the first to mutiny against him; Crisp, who had served with Hummel in only one major operation, hesitates before siding with Frye and Darrow; and finally Major Baxter, who is old friends with Hummel, pretends to turn on him at first but then shoots Crisp dead before he himself is killed, proving his UndyingLoyalty to Hummel]].