Time: 129 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Violence and offensive language
Cast:
Sean Connery as Captain John Patrick Mason
Nicolas Cage as Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
Ed Harris as General Francis X. Hummel
Michael Biehn as Commander Anderson
William Forsythe as Ernest Paxton
Director: Michael Bay

The Rock is one of Michael Bay’s earlier movies, and considering how much of his filmography is divisive, this is one of his more generally liked movies, and it is for good reason.

The script is quite solid, the movie is very fun and over the top silly, and entertaining as such. It is paced well, the moments of high stakes are felt, and the humour is actually generally funny.

The movie has a great cast. Sean Connery is great in one of his later action roles, he really gets to chew the scenery here. Nicolas Cage is also really good and enjoyable to watch in one of his earliest action roles. Cage and Connery particularly have very good chemistry, and they bounce off each other well. Ed Harris makes for a great villain. As an antagonist with understandable motives, Harris plays him perfectly and delivers an intense, conflicted and well rounded performance. The rest of the cast including Michael Biehn, David Morse and Tony Todd are solid too.

Michael Bay directs this well in his second directorial effort following the first Bad Boys, and is a notable step up. The action is very entertaining, tense and shot very well, and was very energetic throughout. Hans Zimmer’s score is also fittingly bombastic, especially during the action.

The Rock is a really entertaining action movie, well directed and with really good performances from Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, and Ed Harris. One of Michael Bay’s best.