Everything wrong with Hollywood.

Rating: 1/10 (5 June 2005)

I've often heard things about Michael Bay, about how terrible his movies are, and how he couldn't direct himself out of a paper bag, and so on. Now, I was content to not confirm this theory, since I haven't heard a good thing about most of his movies, and cheap over-produced action movies are not generally my cup of tea. But, then the opportunity to watch The Rock presented itself, and I figured I might as well see if Mr. Bay was as bad as some people said.
Oh, yes, he most certainly is.
See, The Rock is the explosion filled wet-dream of an ADD addled teenager. Chases are often inexplicably overdone, with the characters aiming FOR people and objects, with enough cuts to make the whole thing an incomprehensible mess. Character development is forced, and crammed between the obligatory action sequences so haphazardly one wonders if any thought at all was put into it. Many shots don't make sense in context and look developed for the film trailer, and there are often massive errors in scripting - though many are late in the film and I don't want to spoil anything. Often the film also goes for cheap, emotional moments which simply don't work, especially since the characters are never presented as remotely likable and relatable - in spite of the haphazard "development".
This film has a rating of 7.0 here, yet I found it almost completely unwatchable. Not only is it bad at being an action movie, it also happens to be overly full of itself. I'll even go so far as to say the more recent Catwoman was better, at least it knew it was crap.