Individual Entry

(*) The Rock ****

USA: Michael Bay, 1996

Despite being directed by the man who inflicted upon us Pearl Harbor and Armageddon, The Rock is a good solid action movie and one that benefits from excellent central performances by Sean Connery (having fun as a geriatric Bond of sorts) and Ed Harris as the antagonist. It helps that Harris' character is a multi-dimensional individual, and (a rarity in this sort of movie) one whose motives actually make sense. It's so unusual to see a villain that you can actually sympathize with in a Hollywood blockbuster that I actually found myself almost wanting the guy to win. Direction-wise, many of the characteristics that would later come to make Bay's films so detestable (shaky-vision, quick cutting, constantly moving camera, etc.) are present here, albeit in a more restrained form. For once, he actually slows things down for the character-driven moments, and as a result the fast-paced action scenes actually come as a treat rather than a constant pain in the neck. Okay, so the Ferrari chase through San Francisco is stupid, but it's brilliantly executed and very funny in places ("Hey, man, you just fucked up your Ferrari" - "It's not mine"). Highly entertaining fun, a good example of what a Hollywood popcorn blockbuster done right can be capable of.

IMDB reference