Review of The Rock (1996) by Johnathon W — 19 Jul 2015

Entertaining action film, that while has aged a bit, remains one of the best of the '90s. The cast is top notch & represents one of the cooler trends in Hollywood in casting acclaimed actors in action roles.

Connery is superb as John Mason, essentially playing an aged James Bond with more than a few tricks up his sleeve. He is matched well with Nicolas Cage, he uses his quirks to great effect as bomb-expert Stanley Goodspeed while Ed Harris is a formidable villain as Gen.

Hummel, who he plays with such conviction you almost side with him. Behind the camera, Michael Bay gives his best directorial effort to date, with some top notch action sequences (the car chase is a superb piece of mayhem) while actually giving his actors space to breathe & even keeping the offensive humor to a minimum (something he sadly didn't continue).

Unfortunately, you do see signs of Bay's future sins, as the plot-holes are more apparent on repeat viewings & the film goes a bit long at over two hours. Nevertheless, a fun film from beginning to end & makes one wish Bay would re-watch this to remind himself you to make a fun action flick.