The Rock is a 1996 action film directed by Michael Bay and starring Nicolas Cage as Stanley Goodspeed, an FBI chemical weapons specialist who is brought into a hostage situation involving a crew of former US Marines, led by a rogue US Marine general (Ed Harris), who have taken over the former prison on Alcatraz Island and are threatening the city of San Francisco with a launch of missiles filled with deadly VX poison gas. Goodspeed finds himself going along on the mission to retake the prison with a team of US Navy SEALS and John Mason (Sean Connery), a former SAS operative who has been imprisoned illegally for the past three decades, and the only man to have escaped the prison alive and could use his knowledge to infiltrate "The Rock".

Handguns

Beretta 92FS

The Marines following General Hummel all carry Beretta 92FS (military designation, M9) pistols as their sidearms. Berettas with early model Surefire 333R tactical flashlight are also the standard sidearm for all the Navy SEALs in the film. Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) also uses a Beretta 92FS as his sidearm when infiltrating Alcatraz with Mason and the SEALs. Shortly after the ambush, Goodspeed points his at John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery), who swipes it out of his hand, but later gives it back to Goodspeed to defend himself with, and he uses it notably in the underground tunnels to kill one Marine with little hesitation, as Mason notes. Capt. Frye (Gregory Sporleder) later is seen firing a Beretta in a confrontation.

Beretta 92FS Inox

Major Baxter (David Morse) carries a Beretta 92FS Inox as his sidearm. He draws it on Hummel during the standoff with Capt. Darrow and the other Marines. The pistol also appears to be pulled by Sgt. Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine) during the initial takeover of "The Rock".

Beretta 92FS Inox 9mm

Sgt. Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine) pulls his Beretta Inox on some guards when they first take over "The Rock".

Note how the slide is longer than the Centurion Inox used by Goodspeed.

Beretta 92FS Centurion Inox

When FBI transport Mason to the hotel, Goodspeed is given a Beretta 92FS Centurion Inox by another FBI agent after he arrives in San Francisco and tells Womack (John Spencer) that he forgot his FBI-issue sidearm. Strangely, all of the other FBI agents in the movie also seem to be carrying 92 Centurions with Inox finishes, even though this pistol has never been issued to the FBI in real life (at the time the movie was made, the FBI would have been using SIG-Sauer and Smith & Wesson pistols).

Beretta 92FS Centurion Inox - 9mm

Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) pulls the 92FS Centurion Inox on Mason when Director Womack is thrown off the building, held only by a rope.

Goodspeed chases after Mason armed with the Centurion.

Beretta 92SB

Captain Darrow (Tony Todd) is seen using an older Beretta 92SB (which has a rounded trigger guard, rather than squared, like on the 92FS/M9) with wood grips during the scene in which Hummel and his men use a hostage to draw Goodspeed and Mason out of hiding.

Beretta 92SB 9mm

Larry Henderson is threatened with the 92SB held by Captain Darrow (Tony Todd).

Captain Darrow (Tony Todd) holds his 92SB at Larry Henderson's head. You can see it has wooden grips but also a rounded trigger guard, unlike the 92FS/M9. Note that Tony Todd's hand makes the full size Beretta look like a compact!

Note the lack of double stack bulges and 5" slide, indicating it is a 4506.

Note .45 caliber muzzle diameter.

Colt Government Model MK IV Series 80 Stainless

The main villain of the film, General Frank Hummel (Ed Harris) carries a stainless Colt MK IV Series 80 stainless as his sidearm of choice throughout the film. It is seen being pulled out by Hummel, who then shoots Sergeant Crisp during the confrontation. On this occasion, you can see written on the right side "Colt Government Model". This particular and rare version of MK IV has advanced vertical grooves from the beginning of the slide.

Colt Government Model Stainless - .45 ACP.

General Frank X. Hummel (Ed Harris) holds his Colt MK IV during a confrontation with Mason.

"Now you're being given your last chance by a man with a gun, put the phone down!"Hummel aims his Colt MK IV at Maj. Baxter when he refuses to stop his call.

Hummel draws another MK IV from his back, aware his men would betray him and likely disarm him.

Hummel holds his MK IV to Sgt. Crisp. Note that his finger is completely off the pistol's trigger, as the pistol is pointed directly at the throat. Capt. Frye's Beretta seen on the right.

Closeup on the muzzle of the MK IV. Note how the threading that allows the blank plug to be screwed in is visible.

Non-Gun 1911 with silver finish.

The pistol is fired at Crisp. For the safety of the actors, the gun seen here is clearly a harmless flashpaper gun as the slide doesn't cycle. The pistol also is seen being aimed slightly to the right of the squib as well.

Submachine Guns

MAC-10

What appears to be Hummel in Vietnam armed with a MAC-10. In reality, the MAC-10 was only available during the latter stages of the war, but this image is actually from one of Ed Harris' earlier film roles, the Charles Bronson action film Borderline composited into a different background.

Heckler & Koch MP5A3/A5

(In an interesting note, the SEALs use Chalker Slings for their weapons, designed by Denny Chalker, plank-holder in SEAL Team SIX. Chalker also appears in the film as one of the SEALs (Boyer). Another of his teammates, Harry Humphries, is the Navy Admiral who asks to bring in the SEAL leader after the initial ransom call)

A SEAL loads up his MP5 near Goodspeed. Note the trigger group (circled in red) has 4 positions, which makes the gun an MP5A5 - the A5 referring to a combination of collapsible stock and 4-position lower receiver).

Heckler & Koch HK94 (converted to resemble the MP5)

What appear to be Heckler & Koch MP5's used by the SEALs in the film in reality are customized 16" barrel civilian semi-auto Heckler & Koch HK94s with the barrels chopped down and converted to full auto. These lack barrel lugs and paddle magazine releases, as well as no push pin lower receiver and a right handed only selector switch with the old 0-1-2 switch. John Patrick Mason (Sean Connery) uses the during a firefight he and Stanley Goodspeed (Nicolas Cage) have with one of the Marines in the morgue.

M16A2

A Marine cycles a round into his M16A2. Note the bullet deflector and rounded forward assist.

M16A1 (w/ M16A2 handguards)

Many of the Marines under General Hummel's (Ed Harris) command are armed with M16A1 assault rifles fitted with M16A2 handguards. They are easily noticed as A1 models by the lack of a brass deflector and elevation-adjustable rear sight, older forward assists, and fully-automatic firing modes. Most of them have tactical flashlights installed on the barrels.

M16A1 with A2 style handguards - 5.56x45mm

Major Baxter (David Morse), standing next to Hummel, aims his M16A1 at the Navy SEALS.

Sgt. Crisp (Bokeem Woodbine) armed with an M16A1. Don't be fooled by the handguards into thinking that this is an M16A2; note the lack of a brass deflector, lack of an A2-style rear sight, and the older style forward assist.

(Fake) Colt XM177

Colt XM177 Commando look-a-like rifles seen being used by many of the Marines. Mason and Goodspeed take two for themselves later in the film. The XM177s in the film all have 10" barrels and bulky older-style flash suppressors, but also have various receiver styles. Some have A1 receivers, others have A2 receivers, and others have the forward assist and brass deflector but not the A2-style rear sight. What this means is that none of them are factory XM177 variants. Like most of the "XM177s" seen in Hollywood, the upper receivers of the guns in this movie are most likely taken from civilian AR-15 carbine variants that have had their barrels chopped and fake XM177-style flash hiders welded on. The lower receivers (all of which seem to lack "fencing" of more modern M16 variants) may either be from genuine XM177s, or they may again be civilian AR15 Sporter-1 lowers converted to auto. Yet another example of movie "Franken-guns" built from the parts of many weapons.

A notable goof is that the receivers of the guns held by individual characters change throughout the film. For instance, the XM177 handed to Goodspeed by Mason clearly has an A2 receiver when he first gets it, but later, it has an A1 receiver. Captain Frye's (Gregory Sporleder's) XM177 also undergoes various receiver changes - in the shower room scene, it has an A2-style receiver, while in later scenes it has a forward assist and brass deflector but no A2-style rear sight, and still later it has just the forward assist (A1-style receiver).

Colt XM177E1 with 10" barrel - 5.56mm

Commercial CAR-15 semiautomatic rifle - 5.56mm. This is strictly a semiautomatic civilian copy of the XM177 style of rifles. The flash hider is a smaller diameter copy of the XM177 and has no sound suppression qualities and is permanently welded onto the barrel to make it legal length for over the counter gun store sales.

Fake Colt XM177 - 5.56mm

When going over Hummel's military file, he is seen armed with a Colt XM177 in Vietnam. The image is actually a photomontage of a real military field photo where two SEALs are photographed during a training exercise in 1995.

A Marine aims his Colt XM177 at Goodspeed. The large muzzle brake is pretty obvious in this shot.

Mason gives Goodspeed the Colt XM177 after killing the Marine aiming it at him. This rifle has an M16A2-style upper receiver, though the lower receiver lacks the fencing on the magazine release, and may have been taken from a civilian AR15 variant. Strangely, the forward assist button is also M16A1-style.

Goodspeed's Colt XM177 switches to an A1-style upper receiver in this scene.

Mason prepares to fire the Colt XM177.

Mason firing the Colt XM177.

Cpt. Frye returns fire on Mason. Note that the receiver of his gun has an A1-style rear sight, but it does have the brass deflector. The lower is also missing the fencing near the magazine release, so this again might be a civilian AR15 lower or a very early GAU-5/A lower.

Cpt. Frye fires his Colt XM177 at Goodspeed, which now lacks a shell deflector.

Shotguns

Mossberg 590 Combat Shotgun

Hummel's men uses a Mossberg 590 to fire a zip line during the opening assault on the Marine base.

Mossberg 590 12 Gauge

One of Hummel's men firing a zip line from a Mossberg. It's not clear what good the scope will do, as he's clearly having to aim much higher than his target to get the heavy grappling line where he wants it.

Sgt. Crisp with a CAR-15 Colt Commando fitted with a CM203 flare launcher.

Sgt. Crisp fires an M16A1 fitted with a CM203 at the Navy SEALs.

A Marine fires his M16A1 fitted with a CM203 at the SEALs.

Darrow drops his rifle, which switches from the M16 (SP1) fitted with an M203 launcher to a CAR-15, which is fitted with a CM203.

M203 Grenade Launcher

While CM203 flare launchers dominate the film, Cpt. Darrow's rifle is fitted with a real M203 grenade launcher, likely because he is a main character. Throughout the film, the rifle this launcher is fitted to changes from a slab-side M16 (SP1), to an M16A1, and at one point, even a Colt CAR-15 Commando, although it is fitted with a CM203 launcher instead.

M16 (SP1) with M203 grenade launcher - 5.56mm/40mm

M16A1 fitted with M203 grenade launcher - 5.56mm/40mm

Cpt. Darrow aims his M16 (SP1) fitted with a M203 at the Navy SEALs.

Darrow with an M16 (SP1) fitted with an M203 grenade launcher in the lighthouse.

RM Equipment M203PI

During the opening assault on the Marine base, one of Hummel's men disables a Marine in the guard tower with a beanbag round fired from an early model standalone RM Equipment M203PI grenade launcher.

RM Equipment M203PI with standalone "Universal" stock in pistol configuration - 40x46mm. This is the current production model.

Schematic of the early model of the standalone version of the M203PI which differs from current production models by having a sliding stock and ventilated sighting rib, and lacking a MIL-STD-1913 rail.

A renegade Marine fires the standalone M203PI to knock out a Marine guard. Visible in this shot is the ventilated sighting rip which identifies this as an early model standalone M203PI.

DefTech Launcher

What appears to be a DefTech 37mm launcher is used by Private McCoy (Steve Harris) in the shower room, firing shotgun like rounds at the SEALs. They could also be Hornet's nest rounds, which is a grenade round with 8 .22 long rifle bullets inside.

Grenades

M26 Hand Grenade

Cpt. Frye (Gregory Sporleder) can be seen with two M26 hand grenades which he throws at Mason (Sean Connery) in an attempt to kill him. Frye is seen flipping the spoons off the grenades and heard counting to three before tossing them (done to shorten the detonation time), yet it still takes an inordinate amount of time before the grenades explode. Mason jumps into a bathtub to avoid the blasts.

M26 HE fragmentation hand grenade

Frye pops off the primer handles of his M26 grenades. Frye is heard counting to three before tossing his grenades (supposedly to shorten the detonation time), yet it still takes several seconds before the grenades go off.

M18 Smoke Grenade

After collapsing with his feet riddled with bullets, Pvt. Gamble (Greg Collins) tries to pull the pin on an M18 Smoke Grenade to throw at Mason as a last ditch effort to kill him before Mason shoots out an air vent above him which crushes his head. In reality, a smoke grenade doesn't pose a threat for obvious reasons, though it could've brought unwanted attention.

M18 smoke grenade.

"I got a little somethin' for ya..." Pvt. Gamble tries to pull the pin on an M18 smoke grenade before being killed by Mason.

Heavy Weapons

General Dynamics M197 Vulcan

The three-barreled General Dynamics M197 Vulcan is seen chin-mounted on the AH-1 Cobras that escort the SEAL team to Alcatraz. This weapon is a mockup, as the Cobras used in the film were civilian-owned and likely the same choppers used in the films Courage Under Fire and The Siege.

M61 Vulcan

The M61 Vulcan appears in the film as the secondary armament of the F/A-18 Hornets used for the bombing run on Alcatraz. This plane has the markings of the US Air Force, but in reality, Hornets are only in use in the US military by the Navy and Marine Corps.

M61 Vulcan - 20mm

The mockup of the F/A-18 Hornet, preparing to launch for the bombing run. This plane has the markings of the US Air Force, but Hornets are in real life only in use in the US military by the Navy and Marine Corps. This exact mockup (with the same erroneous markings) was later used in reshoots for the film Independence Day.

The "Marine That Dies" (Ingo Neuhaus) also uses a pair of Palmer Cap-Chur Short Range Projectors.

A side on view of one of the tranquilizer pistols.

"The Protector"

When Goodspeed is messing around in his office, he shoots a flip down target with a suction dart spring gun labeled "The Protector". It appears to be based off a Mossberg 500 "Cruiser" with barrel ribbing.

A different model of "The Protector" used in The Rock.

Goodspeed with "The Protector. (Is this the most pointless entry ever posted on the site? Perhaps.)