Director: Adam Shankman
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Rating: A
If you dislike musicals, cheesy romances, or 80s metal pop then Rock of Ages is not your cup of
tea. With that warning out, I have to
say that Rock of Ages was absolutely
awesome. From the moment that Hough and
a bus full of extras began singing “Sister Christian” I was hooked. The music in this film is awesome – albeit a
bit too dependent on “Don’t Stop Believing” for the post-Glee era – and will get you tapping your feet, nodding your head,
and maybe even sing along as the film progresses. The acting is also amazing, from the big
names who are known for their acting to those who really aren’t – I suspect
this is the only time I’ll ever be saying that a Russell Brand movie was epic
and awesome.
Rock of Ages is a
multidimensional movie; it presents itself first as being about a girl from
Oklahoma, Sherrie Christian (Hough), trying to make it big and find love in Los
Angeles. On her first day in the city
she meets barback and fellow singer Drew Boley (Boneta) and lands a job working
with him at The Bourbon Room – a nightclub on the Sunset Strip known for being
where some amazing albums were recorded.
There’s more to the film than just that though; Bourbon Room owner
Dennis Dupree (Baldwin) owes taxes and is being threatened with the closure of
his club, with a protest against it and the Strip in general being helmed by a
group of religious, conservative mothers lead by Patricia Whitmore
(Zeta-Jones), wife of Mayor Mike Whitman (Cranston).
Wrapping it all up is Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), rock legend and lead singer
of the band Arsenal. At the start of the
film Arsenal is about to play their last gig ever, as Stacee is about to embark
on a solo act – as encouraged by his manager Paul Gill (Giamatti) and
questioned by Rolling Stones reporter Constance Sack (Åkerman).
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: the music in Rock of Ages is awesome. For the most part the cast are all good
singers, or at least had parts that related well to their vocal ranges. When it comes to the songs of Bon Jovi, Def
Leppard, and Whitesnake Tom Cruise really can sing. Alec Baldwin can’t, and neither can Paul
Giamatti, but their singing parts were considerably less than the other members
of the cast, and as already mentioned what they had to sing really did fit
their voices and roles. My one problem
with the music overall was the fact that I felt that the songs didn’t go on
long enough. A lot of them were felt
like very, very shortened versions of the songs that we know and love, which
was a bit of a disappointment. To really
make up for this a few of the songs are also done as medleys, which I think
really worked. These songs complement
each other, and by doing them as medleys the film is able to interconnect and
juxtapose the different plots. You also
have to say something about the way the music is done in general. I made a comment in my review for High School Musical 2 about how they’re
singing and dancing about how singing and dancing is lame. In Rock
of Ages they sing rock songs to protest against rock music – while doing
choreography that involves pelvic thrusts and gyrating hips, in a church. While it's rather lame in High School Musical 2 it's awesome in Rock of Ages.
The story is awesome as well; a lot of it is pretty tried and tested,
from the young lovers, to the old, down-on-his-luck club owner, to the
religious fanatic with a past. If you
can’t identify at least five other movies that tell the basically the same
stories that Rock of Ages has you’re
not really trying. The way that the film
puts these stories together, however, is fun and in parts original and a bit
shocking. This movie is also funny, with
my favourite character being Stacee Jaxx’s alcohol serving, violence prone baboon,
Hey Man. That’s right, there’s an alcohol
serving, violence prone baboon. What
more can you ask for in a movie?
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