Retro Film Review: The Rock (1996)

Retro Film Review: The Rock (1996) | Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

The author of this review used to be involved with Internet and online communication long time before majority of people in his country grasped the concept. Because of that I subconsciously believed that Internet users represented some of kind of intellectual aristocracy - people better informed, better educated and presumably with better tastes than unwashed masses. This illusion was shattered in 1996 when I saw the results of Internet Movie Database Top 100 Best Movies of All Times polls. Michael Bay's The Rock was among Top 10 and that was moment when I realised that Internet became the reflection of society in general.

Plot begins with U.S. Marine Brigadier General Francis Xavier Briggs (played by Ed Harris), highly decorated Vietnam War hero and veteran of endless clandestine operations, being angry for dozens of his fallen subordinates not receiving proper credit for sacrificing their lives in battles that officially didn't take place. In order to make his point to US government he gathers the team of elite Marines and steals projectiles containing deadly VX gas. Next stage of his plan takes place at Alcatraz, where he takes few dozen tourists as hostages and points the projectiles towards San Francisco, demanding that dead soldiers' families receive 100 million US$ of compensation. Government responds by sending elite Navy SEALS team, aided by FBI chemical warfare expert Stanley Godspeed (played by Nicolas Cage). In order to penetrate Alcatraz they need another expert and he comes in the form of James Mason (played by Sean Connery), British spy imprisoned without trial for more than 30 years for stealing top American secrets. Mason spent time on Alcatraz and was the only one to successfully escape the infamous Rock, only to be re-arrested on the mainland. His knowledge about secret tunnels and passages on Alcatraz is crucial for the success of the mission, but Mason is, for obvious reasons, reluctant to co-operate with US government.

The Rock is dedicated to the memory of Don Simpson, Hollywood mega-producer who passed away during the production of the film. This death represented quite a shock for his partner Jerry Bruckheimmer, and The Rock contains plenty of plot elements that could have been used in dozens of films instead of one - Alcatraz, J. Edgar Hoover, Kennedy assassination, Roswell mystery, Mandela, Vietnam, Led Zeppelin concert, ethical dilemmas of young Catholic women, grunge movement, Irish Troubles, war in Bosnia etc. To connect all those dots in a standard Die Hard action plot was the task obviously above the abilities of three-man screenwriting team (aided by Quentin Tarantino in dialogue department, if rumours are true). Of course, to expect something resembling coherent plot and credible characterisation in Bruckheimmer-Bay films is an exercise in futility. Ironically, the only character who is not cliched is most problematic element of the plot - chief villain in the form of US Marine General. Since Bruckheimmer and Bay have fetishist view of US military, this character who embodies all the virtues of American soldier is actually not villain at all; his cause is just, only the methods are questionable and whenever someone loses life because of his actions he regrets it. Ed Harris plays this character very well, but this performance only creates too much sympathy and audience doesn't know who to cheer for, especially since the nominal Good Guys are actually caricatures - faceless cliched bureaucrats, either terminally ruthless or terminally stupid. Film makers were probably aware of this problem so they tried to solve it by introducing last minute's change of heart, which was just one of the nails in the coffin of this film's credibility.

Of course, plot and characters were the last things on Michael Bay's mind. For him The Rock was nothing more than excellent excuse to employ Bruckheimmer formula and bombard the audience's senses with sounds and images of great spectacle and little connection with common sense. Actually, viewers, in order to have some fun with this film, must employ even less brain than they usually do while watching Hollywood's summer popcorn films. The author of this review wasn't that cautious and one of the first scenes killed any chance for him to suspend his disbelief - sight of VX agent melting man's skin was spectacular but it also brought memories of a heavily- researched high school paper about poison gases and the fact that nerve agents in real life kill people in more prosaic fashion. After that I couldn't stop being bugged about stuff like Alcatraz apparently being built above still-operating underground amusement park or atropine shot to the heart being the only way to protect oneself from VX.

However, The Rock, despite being one of the more overrated films of 1990s, is not complete waste of time. The casting is good, and there is one thing that probably kept this film afloat - idea of an aged James Bond, living in some kind of parallel universe where suave super-agent instead of rescuing world spent thirty years behind bars, becoming embittered and cynical reflection of his former self. Connery was very good in this role, and his presence is the reason why The Rock doesn't suck as bad as it could have.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on January 20th 2003)