Intense action movie!

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2004)

With this movie Michael Bay has proved to us that he can be a good action director. His first project Bad Boys was junk, but it led to the making of this movie and this is one AWESOME MOVIE! Great action scenes include and awesome car chase with a Hummer and Ferrari, explosive shootouts, and a very good musical score.
The music really carries this movie and is woven expertly into the on-screen action. That alone is a noteworthy achievement. The performances are also surprisingly good for a movie of this type. Ed Harris gives a very good performance as the rogue marine general and that really puts this movie above the action film crowd. Most films in this genre tend to quickly introduce a bunch of cardboard cut-out characters and then turn to ridiculous action and violence. Action-wise this film is pretty ridiculous (come on, it's a Hollywood movie), but the characters and music and general good production help give it the sense most other films of this type lack. Also Sean Connery never fails to impress with his wit, which almost echoes James Bond. 8/10
Rated R: strong violence, and profanity