The_Rock_(film_1996)

The Rock is commonly regarded as one of the best action movies of the 90’s. Teaming up some of the genre’s biggest names, including Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, and Sean Connery, the film has a large and dedicated fan base behind it.

Having not seen it until very recently, I know very little about The Rock surprisingly! People often use the film as an example to prove Nicolas Cage’s acting abilities are not always laughable. It is also perhaps one of the reasons why people still have some faith in director Michael Bay, despite his Transformers franchise being repetitive and confusing, and Pain & Gain being simply painful!

It is a great action film; a decent and understandable plot, good performances, and is well put together. Several rogue US servicemen take tourists as hostages on Alcatraz. They threaten to use an extremely deadly chemical weapon on San Francisco if the US Government fails to honour their friends – who died in secret military missions – by providing their families with compensation. The plot is easy to follow and provides an interesting dilemma for the antagonists. This is a lot better than my assumption before watching The Rock; I assumed it would be a simple ‘good guys vs. bad guys’ scenario, this plot is slightly more complex.

Although the film is somewhat violent, there is a strange wacky undertone to it. The chemical weapons are bright green balls which melt faces off if they burst! They just scream ‘evil bad guy weapon!’ There are also a few crucial cheesy moments, but the film is very enjoyable for people who love action movies. It was good to see a film where the majority of the cast worked well together. There were no let downs here, Nicolas Cage’s performance was restrained and still entertaining. He and Sean Connery worked very well together. There were fleeting performances from stars such as Michael Biehn and David Morse, and nowhere near enough screen time for Ed Harris.

Overall, The Rock is a very entertaining action film. In a genre that has been getting worse in the last decade, many will remember this as one of the best of the 90’s. Unfortunately, modern action is something which takes itself far too seriously, it is very rare now to get an action film as enjoyable as The Rock.

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