Can you explain why The Rock (film) is so beloved?

The Rock for me is all about the quote-off between Mason and Hummel. Connery, in his baddest ass role he has ever done (I just watched his Bond movies and I stand by that) quotes Oscar Wilde in a Michael Bay movie! They talk like cultured gentlemen, and Mason gets Hummel to lose his cool with an Oscar Wilde quote in an effing Michael Bay movie. I love that scene so much. And the "I've got green smoke, I've got green smoke!" line gives me goose bumps every time. The Rock is one of those movies I can watch over and over again, and not be bored by a single minute.

The Rock is awesome because Sean Connery.

And saying that Die Hard is stupid won't win you points anywhere, least of all the internet...

@cuuniyevo: Put the bunny back in the box.

I have actually never seen it and don't know much about it.

As a 31 year old dude, The Rock came out at the right time in my age for it to be entertaining. I am sure there are people older or younger than me for which that's not true. I mean, I don't have great love for most action films after -99. There are some decent ones, but action films started losing something around The Matrix. My guess is they started to become introspective and needed to have underdog heroes.

@machofantastico: Die Hard is a really smart piece of filmmaking. There's lots of interesting, expressionistic camera movement, and an elegance to its design and execution. Plus, it kind of invented the whole "one man alone in a building/train/boat/etcagainst a group of baddies" genre, for better or worse. Also, before it, action heroes were generally invincible supermen like Arnie, or Sly. John McClane was an everyman, with a failed marriage, who spends much of the film with bloody feet, on the run. I'd highly recommend John Mctiernan's audio commentary if you want to really understand why it's such a fantastic movie!

I love The Rock, but there's much less artistry to its construction than Die Hard. Its pleasures really rest in the OTT performances, in the pairing of Connery and Cage.

The Rock, Con Air, and Bad Boys seem to be the Bay movies people enjoy the most, probably due to the fact that there's much less use of CGI, and an almost comic-book approach to characterisation that is quite appealing. Plus, it marks that brief-ish period when talented actors decided to start making action movies, probably due to the joy of playing such silly characters. You can tell everyone is having fun, and that rubs off on the audience. Just the right level of self-awareness.

I find there's much less joy and sheer glee in modern action movies. The baddies in Die Hard were initially going to be the terrorists they pretended to be, but Mctiernan felt this wasn't much fun, so turned it into a good old heist movie. They even whistle "ode to joy" regularly, and it is weaved into the soundtrack! Nowadays it's all constant drums and terror and VERY SERIOUS PEOPLE BEING VERY SERIOUS. Batman, Superman, Bond, they all now exist in the "Bourne/Heat" world. All very earnest.

It's the only movie I've watched 6 times in one day. It's brilliant in its simplicity, has a cast of very memorable characters (including the ones that get very little screen time), and has some lines that just stick with you effortlessly. These are all signs of a good movie and I'm sorry that you weren't capable of finding any enjoyment in it.

As stated above, Sean Connery.

I don't know man, it's been with me since I was a kid and I can't quit it now. It was one of the R rated movies that I was allowed to see when I was really young along with Air Force One and Ghost in the Darkness that I hold very dearly. With that said...It's a god damn masterpiece.

It's really fun but it might be one of those movies you non ironically loved when it came out and now watch with a wink and a nod.

Face/Off's better.

After reading this thread I decided to watch The Rock last night after only seeing it once many years ago. Its okay, as a slightly corny 90's action movie. I don't see what's so amazing about it, although I get the feeling this movie is one of those beloved by GB things that's 80% genuine and 20% ironic.

Definitely.

Stanley Goodspeed: I'll do my best.

John Mason: Your "best"! Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.

I'm only borrowing your Humvee...

All I care about is: are you happy with your haircut?

It's a fun movie for the most part. If you don't like it you probably don't like fun (joking).

All kidding aside I enjoy the film. It's not actually a "good" movie, but it's a fun movie.

The scene with Michael Biehn's character in the shower room trading words with Ed Harris' character is legitimately a fantastic scene, though. It's probably the only scene where two great actors get to show off their acting talent in the film.

I was going to embed it but I see somebody already did =)

I'll add to the sentiment Die Hard isn't stupid, The Rock is stupider but it's a fun kind of stupid. It doesn't do anything new, it isn't all that challenging or unique but it's not insulting, it's well passed and has some tense moments.

A good action movie... Okay some of the dialogue was eyerolling but it could be laughed at.

Most of the action movies brought up in this thread blend together to me so I'm not sure how people can be so divided on some of them being good and others being crap. It seems like you either enjoy these types of action movies and so pretty much any of them can be a good time or you don't.

Michael Bay is one of the best action movie popcorn directors around, and so when he isn't adapting something that already has a pre-existing fanbase, people usually end up actually enjoying his stuff. Stuff like the Rock and Bad Boys both have real big fan bases.

Face off, Bad boys and Die hard are good movies sure but there only one The Rock and thats The Rock. If you put those movies in the same pot you are already lost. If you cant tell the difference between those movies then you should take Jeffs advice and reconsider wtf are you doing with your life?

Oh, it's a joke post! I get it now! Wow, you really had me there, guy! Nice work. I'm going to tell my friends about your brilliant prank. Good show, lad, good show.

I've only seen the last 10-20 minutes of The Rock, so I don't think my opinion of it will mean much, but I didn't think it was all that great from what I saw. It seemed fine, and I could probably see myself enjoying it if I ever sat down to watch it, but I don't think it'll ever surpass Die Hard when it comes to being my favorite action movie.

The Rock has a few good scenes. I like the car chase and the shower scene alot, but the rest of the move is too plodding, the characters are all played without any nuance (apart from maybe Ed Harris) and the plot does nothing for me.

Even the comparisons to other good action movies annoy me. I'd say it isn't even as good as second string action moves like Last Boy Scout and Con Air. It can't even touch Die Hard.

I've seen the rock somewhere between 3 and 5 times and I can remember NOTHING of it. I remember Connery was in it, and that's about it.

I just found out that it's in the Criterion collection, that's pretty cool.

I wouldn't say that. Bay may have style, but his substance is entirely lacking. Armageddon is the epitome of the big, dumb action movie and I found it as terrible as any of his Transformers movies. And Pearl Harbor is one of the worst movies I have ever seen from just about every standpoint save production value.

Substance is often related to script. He takes what could be god awful scripts and makes them entertaining to watch with skillful directing and bombastic action. He also gets unfairly hated on no matter what. So many big movies from other directors were such garbage, and yet they ended up getting praised, such as Pacific Rim and Avatar. If Bay had his name attached to either of those, they would instantly been shat on.

It's not a good movie, it's just stupid and ridiculous which is why people love it. The same goes for Commando, it's dumb, but a shitload of fun.

He also takes godawful scripts and makes them utterly painful to watch. Pearl Harbor is a terrible script made almost painful to watch, to say nothing of the Transformers series (a series which, as producer, he has more creative control over than just as director). I haven't seen Avatar, but I have seen Pacific Rim, and though I have issues with that movie, I did not find its visual bombast the only likeable thing about it.

You know, I saw it on it's theatrical release, and I thought it was bad. Then I went to school and everyone was going "IT'S AWESOME!" I felt like the world was insane. Now almost 20 years later, I can admit it's got style you can tell the parts where Tarantino came in to script doctor a bit here and there, especially the record collection bits, Sean Connery and nick cage do deliver some awesome lines. At this point the Rock feels humble compared to Bay's recent films.

I still feel the chase scene down San Francisco is a bit much, the shakey camera, the yelling, the obnoxiousness, I always felt since I saw it in theaters "that's too much I want out." and it's the scene that Bay is most proud of "can you believe they wanted to cut this out."

Someone compared to Bay with Russ Meyer, I think that's fucking bullshit, especially since Bay felt the Island is his biggest failure because it lost money. So to him money is more important. Russ even as ridiculous he's obsessed with Boobies, he still layers on the morality THICK like Mayonnaise. His characters have Soap Opera arch that do work, and the way he frames shots when they aren't just obvious the man knows composition and his editing is just nuts. No wonder why Roger Ebert was so devoted to Russ Meyer, bay's women are too flat chested for me..... uh, I mean poorly written?

Trying to explain why The Rock is good is like trying to explain why ice cream is good. It just feels good...

But I will give it a try with this: Sean Connery is in it, and he kicks asses...

I didn't enjoy the movie either, but I think I went into it with the wrong mindset. I had no prior knowledge of the movie when I saw it and the beginning made me think it was a serious movie (I was younger and possibly not sober, so bear with me on that point. It's been awhile since I've seen the movie) and once all of the action started happening, it went waaaaaaaaaaaay into the other direction and that was kinda jarring for me. Maybe I'll give it another chance one of these days.

I was always partial to the losers always whine about their best scene, and when Cage shoots his airbag with his gun.