Movie Review: The Rock (1996)

The Rock (1996) - USA - Action - Rated R

Directed by Michael Bay

Starring Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, John Spencer, David Morse, William Forsythe, Michael Biehn, Vanessa Marcil, John C. McGinley, Tony Todd

An adrenaline pumped adventure flick fueled with one-liners and over-the-top action is a lot of fun even if it was directed by the forgettable Michael Bay.

A group of renegade soldiers and mercenaries steal a deadly VX toxin with a mass delivery system then take over Alcatraz Island and hold the tourists hostage. The leader of this group is a marine general who has become disillusioned with the government's failure to pay benefits to families of soldiers killed in covert ops and he is threatening to launch warheads filled with the toxin against San Francisco unless the governement meets his demands.

The government contacts a biochemist with the FBI who would be able to disable the warheads, but they need somebody who knows Alcatraz well enough to get inside. As it turns out, a man did escape from Alacatraz and has been kept in a different maximum security prison since. They need him to break back into Alcatraz, even if what they offer for exchange is a lie.

The Rock, despite being over 2 hours long, does not take a moment to slow down from beginning to end. Of course there are personal moments in the film to build character development, but the movie still speeds along like a freight train out of control and does it well without derailing. It keeps tension going by having conflicts within each group, the good guys and the bad guys, with sometimes no easy way to determine exactly who is who as our protagonists have to deal with an underhanded governement agent and the antagonists have a redeemable mission, though soiled by their unforgivable terrorist plot which causes conflict among their own.

Michael Bay directs this, and despite his movies being like video games that are easily forgettable 5 minutes after they are done, The Rock does deliver and is a fun ride, even if it is forgettable about 15 minutes after it is seen. Seriously, the only thing that sticks with me about this movie is the line "Welcome to the Rock."

My Rating: 3 Fingers, which for a Michael Bay film is high for me.

Get The Rock on DVD, Blu-ray or Instant Video

Movie Review: The Devil's Rejects (2005)

The Devil's Rejects (2005) - USA - Rated R

Directed by Rob Zombie

Stars Sid Haig, William Forsythe, Leslie Easterbrook, Ken Foree, Bill Moseley, Michael Berryman

Competently directed Rob Zombie 'sympathy for killers' movie filled with slumming actors fails to connect on any level.

The Firefly family is on the run and on a killing spree after a vengeful sheriff puts the kabosh on their usual family activities. After having their home invaded, one of their own killed and the mother arrested, remaining members of the family hit the road to escape the police but can't help keeping up their murderous habits as they take people at a motel hostage and torture and eventually kill them. Meanwhile Sheriff Rydell has plans to destroy the family that killed his brother and won't give up.

Lacking in the style of Zombie's ealier House of a 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects at the least delivers a better story with excellent performances by Forsythe and Easterbrook, but where it fails is in Zombie turning this into a 'sympathy for killers' story where we are suppose to connect with the family of murderers who apparently are the true champions of the story. The concept of celebrating society's human shit is nauseating.

My Rating: 2 Fingers. I feel that the production, directing and acting are 3 fingers or even a notch above that, but I cannot give any more than 2 fingers to a movie that sympathizes with lowlifes as those represented in this movie and vilifies the police trying to stop them.