Sean Conney and Nicolas Cage deliver the goods!

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2005)

The Rock is the first of Nicolas Cage's action "trilogy" and it is by far the best. Not only is it one of the best films with Nicolas Cage I have seen but it is also Michael Bays best film, no contest. The style and goal of the film are clear from the beginning. The style is adrenalized and the goal is entertainment pure and simple and it delivers in the best possible way. People who say that this film is a mindless action film need to wake up and take a closer look because the film may be an action film but it is an action film about its characters.
The main character is Nicolas Cage as an FBI science rat and he is actually as believable if even more so as a dorky kind of character than a fully blown action hero as in the other films of the "trilogy" (the other films are of course Con Air and Face/Off). He seems twitchy and nervous and he does a good job of it (he uses this nervous energy in one of his best performances in Matchstick Men). Ed Harris does a good job as always and brings his usual energy to the character who seems to genuinely believe in his cause. The rest of the cast is good as well. Michael Biehn is almost criminally underused but the best performance in the film is of course Sean Connery's. He brings his undefinable something to his character who becomes almost instantly likable. He has the Bond wit combined with an older man's wisdom. However, the character is more complex than that but telling about it could be considered as spoiling the film which I have no intention of doing. Suffice to say Sean Connery is brilliant.
The action and effects of the movie are top notch even now almost 10 years later. Everything is of course overblown but somehow it still manages to stay within the confines of semi-believable unlike Face/Off, which is also a good film but just too far out. Connery seems believable even in his old age as an action symbol perhaps much more than any other actor could have been except perhaps Harrison Ford who until recently was also a fairly believable action star. Cage is also pretty good as is the rest of the supporting cast in the action scenes.
Aside from a few preachy moments the film is pure entertainment which can be watched again and again simply because of the high quality of everything in the film.
8/10