All over the place!

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2018)

THE ROCK is one of the classic action movies of the 1990s and also one of the cheesiest. I mean, I watched and enjoyed it and everything, but seriously, this film's cheese level is through the roof. Not that you'd expect anything different with Michael Bay behind the camera. The film is set on Alcatraz, where the unlikely term of a nerdy Nicolas Cage and a typically hard-ass Sean Connery are sent in to take down Ed Harris' crazed soldier bad guy and his army of mercenaries. Generally this is a mildly awkward film, tonally off and all over the place at times. Some of the acting is quite horrid - Cage doesn't come across very well, his girlfriend even worse - but Connery is warm and likeable and Harris has surprising gravitas. Tony Todd has a great minor role almost more evil than his CANDYMAN. Despite the lengthy running time there's plenty out of action here, the highlight of which is the incredibly cheesy and destructive car chase through San Francisco. Some of the jokes work well too, but this film hasn't aged too well and is really only for the action fans among us.