The Rock

The Rock was one of the first films I remember going and seeing with friends when I was in high school and of course as a high school male I absolutely loved it. More importantly I got a free VHS copy a few years later and probably watched it at least once a year through college (I had a lot of free time and no cable). To be fair this was well before Michael Bay had become as annoying as he is now and I was at the age where the film's blend of machismo, slow-motion, and Nic Cage was right in my wheelhouse (of course as you well know Nic Cage is always in my strike zone). Anyway its been probably a decade since I last saw it and when it turned up for free ONDEMAND I couldn't resist seeing if it still held up.

Now let it be said that this is not what would be conventionally called a 'great' film, but I'll be damned if it still isn't entertaining in its own way. Believe me, it still has enough Bay-isms and plot-holes to potentially kill it (constant edits, military action being shot as lovingly as a porn film, and all non-military black people talking with 'sass') but he was still early enough in his career where at least his more annoying tendencies were somewhat in check. More importantly the cast is just solid and they carry the film through its more ludicrous moments (which is appropriately most of it). I'm not just talking about the three leads (Nic Cage, Ed Harris, and Sean Connery) who go a long way to making you care, but the supporting cast is loaded with 'those guys' (John Spencer, John Morris, Michael Bien, John C McGinley, Vanessa Marcil, Claire Folriani, and the black guy from the Practice) that I couldn't help but smile.

Look the film is overwrought, illogical, and doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, I admit all that. But it still remains one of the three Michael Bay films I can actually tolerate (the others being Armageddon and Bad Boys), and the only one that I can say I enjoy even a bit un-ironically. Whether this has to do with the fact that I have such a history with the film, or an unnatural obsession with over-the-top Nic Cage (who am I kidding that's entirely natural) is tough to say, but I can't deny that almost fifteen years after its release its still reasonably entertaining.

'We got Green Smoke'