Takes the fun out of movie watching

Rating: 1/10 (8 January 2007)

"The Rock" suffers most from bad writing. The script is just bad. It relies on special effects, action, and emotions from characters who the writers feel are superior to the viewer. They take all the fun out of movie viewing. The movie takes all the stock elements of routine movie making and keep the very worst ones. Whatever makes a movie less appealing, they do. The movie is meant for people already coupled, probably making it a woman's movie. Instead of boy meets girl, it copies the formula of 99% of other movies in which boy already owns girl. Its a movie designed to delight only the rich, wealthy viewer with a family. The two lead characters are impossible to like. They have superiority complexes that would even make Sly and Arnie look meek. This might pass if the movie was made as a comic farce, but it isn't. Half of the movie's dialog consists of the lines in which Connery claims "winners", which the movie has no subtle pretense to mean "men who can do the job, perform, survive, understand, etc", can only be men who were early childhood successes, early developers who were part of early established marriages, who were successes in high school, who had sex with the "prom queen". Yes, it is nonsense. Its also the most Republican propaganda ever in a movie. The viewer doesn't care if any of these characters get killed. Even if you live in the target city, you probably won't care. The plot is over the top, which is okay if the people are interesting. These aren't.