Michael Bay It has been one of the biggest names in Hollywood action cinema for the past few years. He made his debut with the esteemed ‘Two rebel policemen’, but it was with ‘La Roca’, his second feature film, when he made it clear that he was called to make a mark in the history of cinema. Some will say that for the better, others that for the worse, but unnoticed of course it has not happened.
It was on August 8, 1996 when ‘La Roca’ hit Spanish cinemas. two months after its release in North American theaters. There it had swept, adding a total income of 134 million dollars, while in Spain it amassed 9.5 million euros. A great success that made it one of the most popular titles of that summer.
What’s so special
At that time, the figure of the great Hollywood action hero was going through a stage of change. It is true that actors like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger They were still big stars, but their popularity was no longer the same as before and the public was increasingly interested in other profiles.
One of the interpreters who best took advantage of this situation was Nicolas Cage, a name on the rise that shortly before the premiere of the film in question took home a well-deserved Oscar for best actor for his work in ‘Leaving Las Vegas’. ‘The Rock’ was his presentation as an action hero, but, to be fair, here at most he shares that position with a Sean Connery who seems to be giving life to a kind of alternative version of James Bond – there is even an elaborate theory about it.
In fact, one of the most striking aspects of ‘The Rock’ is that Cage’s Stanley Goodspeed can sneak in perfectly like a normal guy with a strong sense of justice. In its own way is moral compass of a story in which all the main characters are corrupted to a greater or lesser extent, thus achieving a greater sense of closeness with the viewer – it is even successful with the progressive incorporation of foul language into their vocabulary – but without ever gloating.
In addition, Bay manages to lay those foundations, making his style very clear from that initial assault to take over the VX gas for the attempted attack suffered by the laboratory in which the protagonist already works. Constant plane changes to warn of tension, but without ever losing a clear narrative so that the viewer really knows what is happening, an aspect that some of his later works, already with full freedom to do and undo at will, neglected to some extent.
Everything fits
Here it is true that there is some situation in which he seems to be close to losing control – that attempted escape through the streets of San Francisco of the character played by Connery – but I have always believed that ‘The Rock’ has the fair spot of Michael Bay to fully squeeze what he proposes but without his style taking over everything and, so to speak, corrupting it.
That also extends to other aspects such as humor, where Bay often pulls the thick line, but here is a nice extension of camaraderie that arises between the two protagonists and it helps to clarify the evolution of the relationship between the two and that of Cage’s character, the one who changes the most in the role by far.
Beyond that, ‘La Roca’ also features the enough sense of humor both to seek to lighten in certain sections and to reinforce the fact of being a proposal oriented to the adult public. Worth for example the brief talk about the queen of the dance between the two protagonists. Yes, it is a very masculine film, but, generally speaking, the testosterone overdose is very well channeled towards the spectacle rather than towards jokes that could squeak to whoever saw it today for the first time.
Obviously, in that aspect it was also the script signed by David Weisberg, Douglas Cook and Mark Rosner, but in which they also put their hand Jonathan Hensleigh -‘Crystal Jungle: Revenge’-, Aaron Sorkin or Quentin Tarantino. At the time there was a lot of trouble with the writers union about who deserved to be credited and who did not, but the important thing is that the end result is most convincing. Yes, you can get all the little snags you want, and even mount videos of doubtful grace, but there is no serious sin that takes you out of history.
From there, Bay orchestrates a show in which there is room for some of his great obsessions, but ‘La Roca’ also has some somewhat more solemn notes, often underlined by the excellent music of Hans Zimmer and Nick Glennie-Smith, vital for the threat posed Ed harris and your men convey a greater sense of danger. And how contagious it is when it gets vibrant, I don’t remember any other soundtrack – well, at least several of its songs – that has invited me so much to freak out when listening to it in isolation.
Adrenaline with meaning
This is something that also carries over into the way of executing specific scenes such as the shooting in the prison showers, achieving an unusual intensity in what could have been limited to the execution of multitudes of soldiers. It is not the only sequence that goes along that line, but it is the one that makes it clearer that ‘The Rock’ also knows how to worry about Give the viewer more than just a top-notch hobby.
In addition, Bay also demonstrates here a great handling to trigger adrenaline, be it in the specific action scenes that to a certain extent fulfill more of a function to fill footage – case of the run over chase through the streets of San Francisco – or those moments in which that there is more at stake –that exciting final stretch When the alliance between the marines is blown up.
As I pointed out before, here we see a Bay much more restrained than in his later works, but this is really what ‘The Rock’ and the action cinema of the time needed. It may be that the change that it initiated to a certain point was not finally for the better – from then on, the impact itself began to be given more importance than what the action implied – but it is a film that works. both as a hinge within his career and in the genre itself.
Hinge
And it is that a priori ‘The Rock’ could be seen as a kind of ‘Crystal Jungle’ on Alcatraz, a path that could perfectly have been enhanced. After all, ‘Die Hard: Revenge’ had been one of the highest-grossing films of 1995 – although right there the most destructive part was the least interesting of the show, noting that this was not something very typical of John McTiernan-, same year in the Bay he begins to present his credentials with ‘Two rebel policemen’.
The result is an intermediate point between the last blows of action cinema that came from the 80s and what would come after. In my case I see it as the best of two worlds, the movie that showed that the change was necessary and could work wonderfully applied in its right measure. The problem is that it ended up leading to a festival of excesses in which either an overdose of destruction or the illusion of a show was opted for instead of actually working it out through choreography and staging.
A new hero
‘The rock’ was also a fundamental film in Cage’s career, who presented his credentials as an action hero here, confirming them the following year with the great ‘Con Air (Convicts in the air)’ and ‘Face to face’. Mind you, the real leader here is a charismatic Connery giving the witness both symbolically and directly to Cage.
I also do not forget the evolution of the character of Cage, who little by little goes from being almost a comic relief, a kind of evolution of Bond girl without any sexual factor, to a convincing hero without betraying his ideals -or the particular interpretive method of the protagonist of ‘Mandy’- in no time. And it is also clear to me that ‘La Roca’ is Connery’s last great movie, something that reinforces that idea of transition from the old to the new hero.
In addition, both are very well accompanied by a cast full of familiar faces, some perhaps not so much when the film was released, something that in turn speaks very well of the casting work. Among them stands out an intense Harris who gives that human touch to the villains of the role, essential in this case. I’m not going to say that he gets us to side with him, but I do understand that at all times we understand that there is more than a mere contrast between good and bad here.
A jewel to return to a thousand times
The last detail that I want to highlight about ‘La Roca’ is how well it can withstand the wear factor. It is by far the film that I have seen the most times, becoming an obsession during my adolescence. And currently it has surprised me that I saw it again a few months ago during the pandemic and now I had planned to refresh certain scenes to prepare this text and I have ended up seeing it in its entirety again. It does not matter how many parts I know by heart, I still enjoy them almost as much as when I loved her madly the first time.