ROCK OF AGES - Review
ROCK OF AGES - Review
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| Rock of Ages |
Rock of Ages is a fun, entertaining film, yet it fails to
live up to its Broadway billing as a real hit.
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| Julianne Hough |
The beautiful Julianne Hough stars in her third musical film
in as just as many years. This time she plays Sherrie Christian, who travels
from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a famous singer.
Meanwhile Diego Boneta plays Drew a Bartender who is busy preparing for another
night of work at "The Bourbon Room," a popular nightclub on the
Sunset Strip. As Sherrie approaches The Bourbon, her suitcase, containing her
favorite records, is stolen. Seeing the incident, Drew tries to catch the
robber, but fails. He comforts Sherrie and, upon learning of her situation, he
gets her a job at the Bourbon Room as a waitress.
Julianne and Diego are the least known members of this all
star cast, and yet there storyline and script is the weakest of the bunch. So
it's quite unfair to blame their lackluster performance on there acting
ability, even a pair of well versed actors would have a problem of bringing
some life to these hollow characters, who surprisingly are the leads in this
film. The film is however based on the Musical, but this just goes to show that
what works on Broadway doesn’t always work in a film.
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| Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx |
Catherine Zeta Jones plays Patricia Whitmore the antagonist
of the film. She has a personal secret
that fuels her vendetta to get the Bourbon Room shut down for good. Catherine
is certainly quite entertaining in this role, as she proves that villainy is a
good look for her.
Tom Cruise plays Stacee Jaxx the lead singer of a rock group
called Arsenal! Tom without a doubt is probably the sole reason that makes this
film worthwhile. His performance in this film is the sole reason for you to go
watch the film. Tom finally puts his crazy demeanor in good use as Stacee Jaxx,
playing this widely odd, crazy-eyed, alcoholic, freakishly erotic, seductive,
mentally disturbed rock star.
Tom is absolutely mesmerizing in the role, and yet it's a
wonder how he wasn't given more screen time.
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| Malin Ackerman |
The two have great chemistry
and yet their story arc wasn't capitalized upon. Instead they dumb down
romance, taking Ackerman from strong woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind,
to another of Jaxx groupies that just falls all over him.
The film suffers from having an extremely large cast, as
well as an unapologetic poorly conceived story. The characters are thinly drawn
out, and are basically in the film, to try and get into scenarios where they
can sing a rock song, whether its appropriate or not for their current
situation.
With Musical films the songs are supposed to move narrative,
instead most of the songs in Rock of Ages are simply there because they cool
rock songs. It just slows the film down, forcing you to watch a poorly
choreographed dance scene with even worse lip-syncing for the most part.
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| Catherine Zeta Jones |
Needless to say the film would be far better with less
songs, less characters and having the film more focused on Tom Cruise and Malin
Ackerman’s relationship.
Keeping the story focused on The Bourbon Room, instead
of pretending the film is really about a silly love story between a rock star
turned boy band, and a girl with a dream turned stripper.
This just goes to show that maybe what works on a Musical on
Broadway, doesn't always work in film. The film is far from perfect, but at
certain times is entertaining and with a lot of great songs, you will find
yourself singing along.
Is it worth a trip to the cinema? Well Tom Cruise's
performance most certainly is. and it will certainly get you schooled on some great rock songs, that this film actually does justice to!
Very enjoyable, entertaining but far from perfect!
Very enjoyable, entertaining but far from perfect!
Our Rating
5/10
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