movie review rock

The Rock (1996)

• User Reviews
• The movie couldn't seem to decide whether it was a gritty war drama (lots of scowling, shooting, and F-bombs), or a slightly tongue-in-cheek action movie (comic relief characters, trying-to-be-witty dialogue). Heck, it even seemed like Nicolas Cage couldn't decide either, because he bounced back and forth between the two.
• Similarly, a fair amount of carnage during the shooting scenes, but Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery dove, walked, or swam away from everything, no matter how many people were shooting, or how big the explosive device, or how far their bodies were thrown.
• The characters were wooden and stereotypical. A flamboyant gay hair stylist? Some "Sir, yes sir!" Marines, the wronged ex-con, the never-been-in-the-field agent, the trolley driver, ...
• The plot was predictable and cliché
• The drawn out shoot-em-up, crash-em-up sequences. I haven't seen so many cars trashed in a chase scene since the Blues Brothers. And geez, that Humvee didn't even get a broken headlight.

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews
• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed

Every Single Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Movie Ranked

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Now updated with Jumanji: The Next Level !

Over the last 20+ years, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has become one of the most recognizable names, faces, and physiques in the world. The rare individual to make the jump from pro wrestler to top-tier Hollywood talent, Johnson has been building his filmography for both television and the big screen since the late 1990s. As an actor, he now tallies 100 credits; he's padding that list of credits out with and endless stream of new ideas as a producer, further shaping his brand and delivering original ideas tailored to what Johnson himself and his legions of fans want to see. All that being said, his career in Hollywood is just getting started and we expect many more decades ahead for The Rock both in front of the camera and behind it. With that in mind, we wanted to get caught up on all of Johnson's major movies so far in order to take a look at his progress as an actor along the way, discover some hidden gems, and recommend some performances you may have missed.

It's not all going to be pretty, of course. There were a lot of rough patches along the way that Johnson had to weather well before the success of things like  The Fast and the Furious franchise and the formation of his own banner, Seven Bucks Productions . But in each of these performances you can see the innate talent possessed by Johnson and how each role shaped and molded what his persona would become in the years that followed. We wanted to revisit where Johnson has been in order to get a better handle on just where his career is going.

Now, you can skip on down to the rankings if you'd like, but to find out why this list is more than just a Buzzfeed style list, I'd like to tell you a little story: Johnson is a sort of hometown hero of mine. Granted, he only lived in the Lehigh Valley for a brief period of time (and he totally went to the wrong school; Go Rovers!), but his insane success left a strong impression on the community, helped by the fact that he would occasionally return home to attend a Freedom football game early in his career. (Johnson probably doesn't remember the time spent there so fondly if his  Ballers character Spencer Strasmore is any indication .) Oddly enough, our families even crossed paths; my dad was a power-lifter at the time, Johnson's dad is the storied pro wrestler Rocky Johnson, and somehow the two of them came to occupy the same circle for a brief while. (I've still got an autographed picture from the elder Johnson that reads "To David, Best in Sports" for what it's worth.)

A few years later, my brother--a Freedom alumnus--and I marveled at the growing fandom for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson after some hard luck in college football and some hard-fought years in the squared circle of professional wrestling. Here was a guy who, for his time, lived in our neck of the woods, only to escape and claw his way to the top, first as the People's Champion, and eventually as Forbes' top-grossing Hollywood actor. There's something inspirational in that, whoever you are, but for those of us who have some infinitesimally small claim to fame from having been within The Rock's vicinity, his success story really hits home. So it's with that backstory in mind that I visited--and in most cases revisited--all of The Rock's major movies, including some minor parts along the way.

Here's a look at The Rock's movies, ranked worst to first:

Longshot (2001)

Hey, we all have to start somewhere. After all of that glowing praise I shared above, it's tough to take The Rock down a peg or two, but this movie deserves to be wiped off the face of the Earth. The production company tried to do so, it seems, and Johnson probably wishes they succeeded, but "Because Internet" we have his first legit big-screen role.  Spoiler alert:  It's a very bad thing.

Longshot is a real enigma of a movie--How did this get made? How did they land all those musically talented cameos?--until you realize that it was slapped together as a promotional piece displaying the acting abilities of boyband members and others signed to the late  Lou Pearlman 's Trans Continental Records. (It did earn a release in Germany, however, due to the musicians' popularity there.) That explains a lot, but the fact that Pearlman later plead guilty to a host of charges tied to accusations of running a massive Ponzi scheme explains even more. The  Making of  Longshot , however? That's a movie I'd like to see.

In the meantime, you too can enjoy this brief appearance by The Rock as a very handsome mugger who inconceivably gets beaten up by a guy half his size:

Southland Tales (2006)

I honestly had to wrestle with whether to give the bottom spot to The Rock's 30-second performance as "Mugger" or his time spent as a very confused man/men in a very confusing movie.  Southland Tales almost nabbed the dubious distinction of being The Rock's worst movie, but it managed to take the next best spot by virtue of the fact that  Longshot is barely a movie at all and this follow-up from  Richard Kelly of  Donnie Darko fame is slightly more so.

Kelly's  Donnie Darko is a well-deserved cult classic;  Southland Tales is what happens when a studio doesn't understand a previous film's appeal and opts to give the filmmaker carte blanche in a misguided attempt to tap into their artistic genius. The problem here is that no one, presumably, ever told Kelly that this rambling, two-and-a-half hour mess of a plot was both incomprehensible and nonsensical in its pretentiousness. It's basically a movie version of a Philosophy 101 class, a sci-fi Wikipedia entry, and a post-9/11 paranoia/conspiracy theory all mashed together. So while it was a joy to see Johnson and  Seann William Scott  appear in the same film again--see  The Rundown later on in this list--the casting was way, way off for this movie. And that's just the least of it.

Johnson's character is the amnesia-stricken and improbably named Boxer Santeros, an action-movie star with a movie screenplay that prophesies the End of the World. Oh and he crosses paths with psychic porn star Krysta Now ( Sarah Michelle Gellar ) and, yeah, that's about all you need to know. Avoid this mess at all costs.

The Mummy Returns (2001)

After 5 years as a pro wrestler, taking on such names as Flex Kavana, Rocky Maivia, and eventually The Rock, Johnson got his first big-screen break in The Mummy Returns . Sure, Johnson had already landed bit parts in TV series like Star Trek: Voyager , That ‘70s Show , and The Net , but the flashback role of the Scorpion King led to a fully fledged Mummy prequel in its own right, with The Rock getting the title role. Johnson had to suffer some literal slings and arrows in his big-screen debut, however. His performance as Mathayus attempting to survive a desert trek in the opening scene was serviceable:

But it’s the morphing of The Rock into a computer-generated scorpion monstrosity that still gives us nightmares. This infamous scene sums up just about everything wrong with this picture:

Tooth Fairy (2010)

Hoo boy, where to start with this one. In case you've never heard the ill-advised plot synopsis for  Tooth Fairy , it centers on Johnson's Derek Thompson, a minor league hockey player whose rough personality and jerkish behavior lands him in trouble with the very real tooth fairies, who sentence him to become a tooth fairy himself and learn the error of his ways. What?

Yeah, I would love to know what went into Johnson & Co.'s decision to accept the offer to play this part. Unlike  The Game Plan , Johnson's character is cartoonishly villainous from the outset: He tells a young fan to aim low so that he's not disappointed when his dreams don't come true, then he steals a dollar from his girlfriend's six-year-old daughter for a poker bet and, when he's caught, tells her that the tooth fairy isn't real. So while Derek might deserve his fate as a Tooth Fairy-in-Training, Johnson (and viewers) deserve better than this silly, overly saccharine story. Luckily, Johnson's movie career takes a turn for the better after this movie and into the 2010s.

Empire State (2013)

2013 was a pretty good year for The Rock, but this straight-to-DVD movie was not a big part of it. Look, we get it, it's tough for any heist movie to stand up to the likes of  Heat and  Ocean's Eleven , but  Empire State is just an across-the-board failure.  Liam Hemsworth and  Michael Angarano simply don't have the charisma or the care to elevate  Adam Mazer 's dull and slow-paced script about two best friends who rob $11 million from an armored car company.

This "Based on a True Story" movie inspired a lot of interest at the time, but the adaptation just kept sliding further and further down the quality ladder during its entire production process. Johnson adds some excitement as the opposing force in NYPD Detective James Ransone, but his screen time is too little to lift the overall movie. Maybe if Mazer and director  Dito Montiel had focused the story on his character instead, then Empire State would have had a theatrical release at the very least.

Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

While this is a nice meet-cute for Johnson and future  San Andreas co-star  Carla Gugino , there's not much else going for this movie. It's fine for a "Disney TV movie in the afternoon" kind of feature and, being the third time Disney adapted  Alexander Key 's novel, "Escape from Witch Mountain," it had a decent performance at the box office. As for Johnson though, this movie is another example of how even The Rock isn't a perfect match for every conceivable movie role out there.

Race to Witch Mountain sees Johnson as Jack Bruno, down-on-his-luck former mob getaway driver turned Las Vegas cabbie, as you do. His fortunes change when a pair of teenagers appear in the back of his cab with a boatload of money and a vague destination in mind. But the kids aren't who they seem and Jack soon finds himself caught between the mob (and the money he owes them), the federal government, and an alien hitman. It's got elements of  E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ,  Close Encounters of the Third Kind , and similar kid-centric alien movies out there, but it never feels quite as big as those classic productions.  Race to Witch Mountain also puts Johnson in the back seat of the plot, even when he's in the literal driver's seat throughout the film, and resigns him to "babysitter who occasionally gets to punch stuff." That's fine since this tale is about the journey of Sara ( AnnaSophia Robb ) and Seth ( Alexander Ludwig ), but as far as The Rock Movies go, it's not one of his best.

Doom (2005)

Even The Rock couldn't salvage this much maligned, and rightfully so, attempt at a video game adaptation. Though Johnson leads a team of space marines as Gunnery Sergeant Asher "Sarge" Mahonin, and though he gets a rare chance to go all-out villainous, this tale relegates him to support status behind the core emotional leads of  Karl Urban and  Rosamund Pike , who play the Grimm siblings. With the exception of a pretty cool scene in which Urban's Grimm goes on a first-person perspective, God-mode rampage to take out the remaining mutated members of the Martian facility--including Sarge--this one's better off left alone.

Planet 51 (2009)

Johnson has exactly two animated features under his belt:  Planet 51  and  Moana . One of these highlights the actor's signature strengths, surprising talents, and his ancestral background, while the other is a somewhat forgettable space comedy. On the plus side, Johnson gets to play pretty much the only human character in the entirety of this movie, even if he doesn't get to arrive in earnest until about 20 minutes through the picture. That's because this "alien invasion" movie from Ilion Animation Studios and HandMade Films, through Sony's domestic distribution, actually flips the script and makes the green-skinned aliens and their planet the home base. It's a clever change reminiscent of the 1961 episode of  The Twiight Zone "The Invaders", but that twist is really the only thing going for this otherwise bland movie.

Johnson's NASA astronaut Chuck Baker should be a fish out of water in this movie, but the fact that the alien town of Glipforg rather resembles 1950s America and that Chuck is quite self-confident flip that as well. Chuck ends up befriending a local alien kid and they manage to teach each other a few things about their surprisingly vast shared universe along the way, at least until the usual miscommunications between civilizations arise. Unfortunately,  Planet 51 is too busy referencing 1950s Americana and parroting familiar storylines to do anything more interesting with the idea, and any nuances of Johnson's performance are lost within it.

Be Cool (2005)

While the cast assembled for  F. Gary Gray 's ensemble flick is pretty insane, it's hard to call this one a Rock movie. It takes 10 minutes for Johnson to show up at all, and when he does, it's as a gay bodyguard whose only "thing" is to raise a single eyebrow. The fact that he works for  Vince Vaughn 's awful character and gets taken down early on by  John Travolta 's over-the-top protagonist is almost too much to bear if you're a fan of Johnson.

Gray's Hollywood Wiseguys flick is intentionally self-referential, but it comes across as a bit mean-spirited when comparing The Rock's character to a wannabe actor who has the looks but lacks the talent. I will say that he makes the most out of his small part though and really seems to be enjoying himself starting halfway through the film, which is more than I can say for myself. If this was a ranking of The Rock's performances, it would rank higher, but this movie is a real drag.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

Despite being one of the best parts of  G.I. Joe: Retaliation , Johnson's arrival as Roadblock could not quite ignite Hasbro/Paramount Pictures/MGM's  G.I. Joe feature franchise in this soft reboot. And it wasn't for lack of trying. The film cost around $130 to 155 million, but the follow-up to  G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra managed to bring in over $375 million worldwide, which would be enough of a success for most film franchises to soldier on. Unfortunately, Hasbro opted to shelve any more movies until a new deal was in place that gave them more creative control; we'll see how that reboot pans out in 2020.

As for  G.I. Joe: Retaliation , it's almost as if Johnson was born to be a Joe. As Roadblock, one of the surviving members of the title team after Cobra's surprisingly successful efforts, he leads the others in a counter-terrorist effort to expose Cobra's treachery and to restore their own honor. The problem is that there are too many Joes in the barracks here and far too many sub-plots and characters to keep track of; additionally, the plot is so cluttered with action beats that there's no room for any of it to breathe and so little thought put into those moments that almost none of it makes much sense. It's a popcorn fest for sure and Johnson gets the literal last shot of the film, but we've seen that he can do much better, even in franchise fare.

The Scorpion King (2002)

More John Milius ’ Conan the Barbarian than a Stephen Sommers story, The Scorpion King was Johnson’s first true test as a leading man in an action picture. While the film itself suffered from the usual genre-movie problems, it found moderate success at the box office thanks to Johnson’s charisma and increasingly recognizable face and physique. It didn’t hurt that the supporting cast included the drop-dead gorgeous Kelly Hu ; an over-sized opponent with a big heart as played by the late, great Michael Clarke Duncan ; the wise Bernard Hill , who played this part between captaining the Titanic and leading the charge as Theoden in The Lord of the Rings ; and veteran Roger Rees alongside relative newcomers like Peter Facinelli . It suffices to say that Johnson had a pretty solid team of players built up around him, but he nevertheless went above and beyond to deliver a fun first outing as a budding action movie star.

The Game Plan (2007)

Unlike  Tooth Fairy ,  The  Game Plan at least tries to keep the story grounded in real-world problems and solutions. This schmaltzy tale centers on Johnson's football hero Joe Kingman. He's an all-star on the field and the life of the party off of it, but when the friends and freeloaders are gone, Joe's left all alone with his pooch pal in a big, fancy apartment. That all changes when 8-year-old Peyton Kelly arrives on his doorstop with a note from her mom--Kingman's ex-wife--claiming to be her daughter.

Things play out as you might expect in this sporty version of Big Daddy , with the exception of Kingman's ex-wife keeping Peyton a secret from him in order not to distract him from his career, which isn't exactly a family-friendly decision.  The Game Plan  gave The Rock a chance to put on his best Elvis impersonation, but more importantly it let him show a softer side as a parent-in-training opposite Madison Pettis . It's not a great film, but it is an easy watch and did quite well at the box office despite critical panning.

This is also the last film in which Johnson uses his billing as "The Rock", though it would still be a few years before he figured out exactly what sorts of movies roles best fit his brand and his talent. Family-friendly pictures work best for him when there's an action slant to them, and he thrives in over-the-top, all-out-action flicks whether they're original creations or franchise installments.  The Game Plan  wasn't exactly a winner, but it was a step in the right direction towards shaping The Rock's post-wrestling career.

Hercules (2014)

Johnson once again channeled his inner mythological barbarian for this attempt at rekindling interest in the story of  Hercules . The guy certainly has the physique for it, but his preparation came at a pretty insane cost: First, there was the six-month training session in isolation , accompanied by an insane diet plan . Then, there was the two-month shooting schedule, complicated by an injury sustained during a WrestleMania appearance  in 2013. Johnson opted not to go under the knife to correct this at the time, but he did have to undergo a related triple-hernia repair just a couple of weeks before shooting started. Yikes. Hear from The Rock himself about this drama:

Though Johnson's intense preparation to play the legendary character and his "method" performance--including blacking out multiple times while trying to break free from real steel chains--did result in a decent box office performance, it wasn't quite strong enough to start a franchise for the mythological demigod. Perhaps it was just that audiences weren't looking for a gritty take on the Hercules mythology at the time, especially since they had two to choose from in 2014 alone. Either way,  Hercules  remains one of Johnson's most physical efforts in a movie to date, all for a role that few--if any--mere mortals could successfully pull off.

Get Smart (2008)

Even when Johnson is clearly relegated to a supporting role in a film, he makes the most of it. It helps when he gets to play a nearly superheroic character in Agent 23--though the movie quickly brings him back down to Earth with an awkward attempt to flirt during his introduction. In an unusual move for a romantic/workplace rival, Agent 23 even has a good rapport with Carrel's Maxwell Smart. What's spot-on about Johnson being cast in this role is that his charisma and athletic ability make the impressive exploits of Agent 23 believable. And he's such a charmer that it makes sense for him to be on good terms with both the techie side of the spy agency and even his former girlfriend, Agent 99.

Unfortunately, you can also see the heel turn coming from about a mile away despite the film's best efforts to mask it. Maybe it's a factor of hindsight after the last decade of Johnson's action-packed films that make it difficult to overlook his performances in earlier films, but you don't cast The Rock just to leave him in the background. There's always a bigger part to play and Johnson manages to find something interesting in every role he gets, no matter if it's a lead or part of an ensemble.  Get Smart is just one example.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

In 2008, a modern reboot, which no one really seemed to ask for, of  Journey to the Center of the Earth arrived with  Brendan Fraser leading his nephew, played by  Josh Hutcherson , into adventure. Then a few years later, Johnson came aboard as Hutcherson's step-father in a follow-up adventure that managed to make even more money at the box office. This is about the time that Johnson's ability to lead a family-friendly action-adventure became very apparent since he's able to handle the workload of the role's physical demands with the comedic timing and emotional beats of a father figure. It also helps that his Pec Pops of Love made for a perfect bit of movie marketing.

Rather than just take another trip through Jules Verne 's "Mysterious Island" book, the sequel mashes up  Robert Louis Stevenson 's "Treasure Island" and Jonathan Swift 's "Gulliver's Travels" right along with it. There's plenty of adventure and comedy to be had in equal measure since the bizarre island's twisted reality presents the explorers with all kinds of challenges, some which can be overcome with brawn and others with brains. It's a good thing Johnson's capable of both because he pretty much carries the film. A third  Journey film was set up at the end of the film, but it remains to be seen if it'll get off the ground or if Johnson & Co. will return.

Faster (2010)

Now don't get this movie confused with the  Fast and the Furious franchise that Johnson would famously join a year after this film's release. No,  Faster is part of the weird stretch of time where Johnson took on some brutal roles as a vengeful killer bent on righting perceived wrongs, no matter the cost. While  Bruce Willis made a killing with these kinds of roles, Johnson only tried a couple of them on for size before finding more success in ensemble pieces, PG-13 action films, and family-friendly flicks.

Faster is none of these. The R-rated crime drama follows Johnson's "Driver", an ex-con released from prison who goes on a vengeful spree in order to get justice for his murdered half-brother. It's got all the action you'd expect: high-speed car chases, brutal gun fights, and noir-y twists and turns. Unfortunately, it also goes overboard with the bleak-for-bleakness-sake stye of drama, folding in snuff films, abortion, and murder plots by parents just to drive the point home. It's not Johnson's preferred speed, but he still manages to deliver as an unstoppable force driven by a powerful thirst for vengeance.

Snitch (2013)

Snitch and  Faster are cut from the same cloth--and feature damn near the same poster. In this film, however, Johnson's character is less of a man driven by vengeance and more of a father out for justice; the difference is exemplified in  Faster 's R rating and  Snitch 's PG-13 tag. That's not to say  Snitch is exactly family-friendly or a crowd-pleaser for the kiddos, but somewhat older audiences looking for a different sort of Johnson flick could do worse than this one.

Johnson once again plays an estranged father, by the name of John, who's drawn back into family drama. His son gets set up in a drug deal gone wrong and ends up imprisoned, causing John to agree to become an informant in order to get his son out of jail and get their family to witness protection. Complicating things are the ever-deepening schemes and subterfuge John gets himself into, along with the arrival of a deadly cartel leader. It's not a feel-good film at all, but  Snitch  attempts to fold in some social commentary alongside the action.

Baywatch (2017)

I 100% expected this movie to be a wall-to-wall joke fest full of self-referential humor, homophobic remarks, and gross-out gags. To be fair, all of those absolutely exist throughout the movie, but I was surprised to find a fun, action-packed story at the heart of it, wrapped in a collection of very beautiful people running very slowly.  Baywatch makes the most out of the surprising decision to adapt the popular 80s/90s TV series into a feature film while keeping the spirit of said TV show ... with a little bit of  Baywatch Nights ,  David Hasselhoff and  Pamela Anderson thrown in for good measure, for better or worse.

Honestly, would you rather have anyone else responsible for keeping you and your family safe at the beach than The Rock? Okay, maybe  Zac Efron or  Alexandra Daddario .  Baywatch allows for a wide range of tropey personalities spread among its attractive cast, but it's Johnson's Mitch Buchannon who anchors the lot of them. It's a coarse character in a coarser film, but if you're in the mood for an R-rated comedy,  Baywatch delivers just that.

The Rundown (2003)

Here's where The Rock started to separate himself from the wrestling ring and show that he had some range as an actor. To be quite clear, he was still honing his acting chops at this point, but pairing him with up-and-coming director  Peter Berg (just before  Friday Night Lights ) and setting him opposite the red-hot-at-the-time comedic actor  Seann William Scott  and the always enjoyable  Rosario Dawson were decisions that formed a core creative group that gelled well enough together on screen. Throw a little eccentric  Christopher Walken in the mix , and you've got a movie that's a bit more memorable than it had any right to be.

Make no mistake though, the premise of this thing was kind of bonkers from the get-go and only gets weirder as time goes on. Johnson plays Beck, a retrieval expert / bounty hunter / debt collector who wants to earn enough from this life-threatening job in order to retire and open a restaurant. (Sure!) That "one last job" is to retrieve his boss' son from a Brazilian mining town. (Okay!) Turns out that the son (William Scott) has been using the mining operation as cover to obtain cultural artifact and sell it, a goal that clashes with the local resistance groups opposing the miners' destructive presence.  The Rundown is a mishmash of a bunch of different ideas, but the buddy action/comedy was more than fun enough to at least be considered for a sequel, at least. Unfortunately, a losing effort at the box office likely put the coffin nail in the would-be  The Rundown  franchise.

Walking Tall (2004)

Here's one of my all-time favorites from Johnson, but one of the films on this list that's unfairly overlooked. First of all, it's a remake of another cult classic classic favorite of mine,  Phil Karlson 's 1973 picture by the same name. That film adapted the life story of small-town Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser ( Joe Don Baker ) who cleaned up crime and corruption in his hometown with the help of a crude club and a no-nonsense attitude.

Kevin Bray 's take on the tale keeps the spirit of Buford alive, but swaps Don Baker's White, pro wrester-turned-sheriff for Johnson's minority U.S. Army Special Forces veteran-turned-sheriff (because the pro wrestling angle would have been too on the nose). You'd think that, with Johnson's physical size and presence, the small town hoods would be no problem, but he plays the character of Chris Vaughn with relative vulnerability and brings him down to a very human level. In fact, Vaughn is horrifically tortured and scarred by the crooks, adding insult to injury. It makes Vaughn's eventual election to a law enforcement position, takedown of the town's drug cartel, and ability to rise above race-baiting (though not above beating  Neal McDonough with an uprooted tree) a frustratingly hopeful viewing experience.

The decision to pair Johnson with professional goofball  Johnny Knoxville is a misstep, but, in addition to the icy-eyed McDonough,  Kevin Durand and  Michael Bowen are solid additions to the supporting cast. Johnson shoulders the material well and there are hints that a part of him even inhabits the character of Chris Vaughn, allowing him to elevate some of the sillier shoot-'em-up elements of  Walking Tall to a place that makes its story still relevant today. Seek it out if you haven't.

• Dwayne Johnson

• Tickets & Showtimes
• Trending on RT

(Photo by Universal/courtesy Everett Collection. Thumbnail image: Sony Pictures, Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection.)

All Dwayne Johnson Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

If we had known that The Rock was indeed cooking a biggest-star-in-the-world movie career, we would’ve stuck our noses up in there a lot sooner. Yes, we would have sniffed up those early stinkers Doom and Be Cool , because at least nestled somewhere in there was The Rundown , which featured peak Seann William Scott and a cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger passing the action torch to this upstart, the man who would be Dwayne Johnson. And indeed Johnson was the action man of the mid-aughts, tacking on the likes of Walking Tall to his brawny resume. And like his action forebears, he made a curve into family comedy, releasing The Game Plan , The Tooth Fairy , and Race to Witch Mountain to the delight, we assume, of some people. On a scale between Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot to Kindergarten Cop , we rate Johnson’s comedy career detour Top Dog .

But things turned around in 2010. That’s the year he jumped face first off a building into the pavement. And thus was born a new action/comedy classic: The Other Guys . Meanwhile, ’70s-style throwback Faster showed a leaner, meaner Johnson back in a hard-hitting groove. He was invited into the Fast & Furious family, helping turn Fast Five into the franchise’s first Certified Fresh entry and a global phenomenon. San Andreas , Rampage , and Skyscraper turned him into the master of disaster, while Moana and Fighting With My Family , which he also produced, are among his highest-rated movies.

Central Intelligence was the first collaboration Johnson had with Kevin Hart, which was merely the opening for the main course: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle , the unlikely reboot-sequel that connected with audiences and critics worldwide. He, Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan all came back for  Jumanji: The Next Level . And since then, he’s been in league with DC ( Black Adam , League of Super-Pets ), Disney ( Jungle Cruise ), and Netflix ( Red Notice ). — Alex Vo

Moana (2016) 95%

Fighting With My Family (2019) 93%

Furious 7 (2015) 81%

The Other Guys (2010) 79%

Fast Five (2011) 78%

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) 76%

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) 72%

Fast & Furious 6 (2013) 71%

Central Intelligence (2016) 71%

The Rundown (2003) 70%

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) 67%

The Fate of the Furious (2017) 67%

Jungle Cruise (2021) 62%

Hercules (2014) 58%

Snitch (2013) 58%

Rampage (2018) 51%

Get Smart (2008) 51%

Pain & Gain (2013) 50%

Skyscraper (2018) 48%

San Andreas (2015) 49%

The Mummy Returns (2001) 46%

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) 45%

Race to Witch Mountain (2009) 42%

Faster (2010) 41%

Gridiron Gang (2006) 43%

The Scorpion King (2002) 41%

Southland Tales (2006) 41%

Red Notice (2021) 37%

Be Cool (2005) 30%

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) 29%

The Game Plan (2007) 30%

Walking Tall (2004) 26%

Planet 51 (2009) 23%

Doom (2005) 18%

Baywatch (2017) 17%

Tooth Fairy (2010) 17%

Related news.

All 55 Billion-Dollar Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

All Charlize Theron Movies Ranked

50 Disaster Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

More Countdown

The Crow Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

The Crow Movies In Order

100 Best Anime Movies of All Time

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

Poll: Vote for Your Most Anticipated TV or Streaming Show of September

August 23, 2024

Poll: Vote for Your Most Anticipated Movie of September

8 Must-Watch Films at the Venice International Film Festival

Top Headlines

• The Crow Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer –
• The Crow Movies In Order –
• 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time –
• All Quentin Tarantino Movies Ranked –
• Andrew Garfield Movies and Series Ranked by Tomatometer –
• 30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming –

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

How to Help Kids Build Character Strengths with Quality Media

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Multicultural Books

YouTube Channels with Diverse Representations

Podcasts with Diverse Characters and Stories

School of rock.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 35 Reviews
• Kids Say 144 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Nell Minow , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Strong communication, teamwork in funny, charming comedy.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that School of Rock is as much a vehicle for Jack Black to make rock 'n' roll faces while playing guitar as it is hilarious fun for musicians and music fans. This comedy is an enjoyable way for kids to learn about music, get to know some classic rock music, and experience what it takes to…

Why Age 10+?

Occasional profanity includes "ass," "pissed," "hell," "slut," "damn," "crap," "

Characters hold beers and cigarettes during rock concerts. Adults have beers at

A character tries to stage dive but no one catches him, so he lands on his face.

Many rock 'n' roll bands are referenced and mentioned, like Led Zeppelin, Blondi

One girl in class complains that she doesn't want to be a "groupie" because when

Any Positive Content?

Strong positive messages of doing what you love, communication, and teamwork. Ha

Dewey starts out as a slacker and misleads others for his own gain. He's selfish

Dewey and other adult characters are White. The kids in his class include Black

Occasional profanity includes "ass," "pissed," "hell," "slut," "damn," "crap," "sucks," "butt," "sissy," and "God!" as an exclamation. One character mouths silently the word "bitch."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters hold beers and cigarettes during rock concerts. Adults have beers at a bar—one of them, who's the principal of a school, starts to act a little drunk. A grown-up tells kids that he's hung over—another mentions "getting wasted." Adults share a story of another woman getting drunk and singing wildly.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

A character tries to stage dive but no one catches him, so he lands on his face. A man tells parents that he "touched kids" and they "touched him," but he doesn't mean it in the way the parents take it—the scene is played for humor. An overbearing parent yells at their child.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Many rock 'n' roll bands are referenced and mentioned, like Led Zeppelin, Blondie, AC/DC, The Doors, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Yes, Rush, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac. A few references to MTV.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One girl in class complains that she doesn't want to be a "groupie" because when she looked it up, the internet said they are "sluts." When a teacher asks kids what rock 'n' roll is for, one kid responds that it's for "scoring chicks." A man tells a woman that she's "hot."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Strong positive messages of doing what you love, communication, and teamwork. Hard work, practice, and dedication are important aspects of committing to a passion. Let kids follow their dreams. Find your passion and give it your all. Good communication and teamwork are necessary for a band to be happy and successful.

Positive Role Models

Dewey starts out as a slacker and misleads others for his own gain. He's selfish and wants to be in a successful band. But he soon finds real joy teaching kids music. He's supportive and inspiring, funny, creative, and charismatic. Characters learn and demonstrate good communication, teamwork, and perseverance as they work toward a common goal.

Diverse Representations

Dewey and other adult characters are White. The kids in his class include Black and Asian students and are gender balanced. One child is implied to be queer (he becomes the band's "stylist" and has strong opinions on the band members' costumes, for example). He isn't made fun of for who he is, but he is one-dimensional and generally only says one-liners. One girl is worried about her weight, but Dewey explains to her that it's what's on the inside that counts and points to Aretha Franklin as an example.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that School of Rock is as much a vehicle for Jack Black to make rock 'n' roll faces while playing guitar as it is hilarious fun for musicians and music fans. This comedy is an enjoyable way for kids to learn about music, get to know some classic rock music, and experience what it takes to form a band. The film has strong messages of communication, teamwork, and perseverance and culminates in a great performance that the kids have been working toward. There's occasional profanity ("ass," "hell," "damn," "sucks"), some of it spoken by 10-year-olds, and Black's character Dewey sometimes mentions his hangovers to the kids he's teaching. Dewey also angers parents when he tells them that he "touched" their kids—he doesn't mean it inappropriately, but that's the way they take it. A kid complains that she doesn't want to be a "groupie" for the band because the term also means "slut." There are brief shots of adults drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (35)
• Kids say (144)

Based on 35 parent reviews

Not what it is chalked up to be

Contains sexist and sexually explicit content, what's the story.

In SCHOOL OF ROCK, Jack Black plays Dewey Finn, a musician who loves rock music and wishes to be in a successful band. Like the music he loves, Dewey is loud, self-absorbed, and messy, but he's also passionate and funny. When his best friend Ned (screenwriter Mike White ) says he will have to move out if he doesn't start paying rent, Dewey impersonates Ned and takes a substitute teacher job for a fifth-grade class at a posh prep school. Soon, Dewey starts teaching the class rock music and how to be a rock band.

Is It Any Good?

In a perfect role for Black, this music comedy allows him to be ridiculous, charming, and hilarious. Pair Black with a bunch of adorable fifth graders, throw in some choice rock tunes, and together, School of Rock quickly becomes a comedy classic. Penned by White ( The Good Girl , The White Lotus ), this heartfelt comedy also has some strong lessons to teach beyond how the power of music can move people. Some of these lessons admonish overbearing parents, show image-conscious kids what's really important, and encourage children to lean into what they're really passionate about. Leading up to a fantastic final performance, this film shows kids how fun and rewarding music can be.

This is by far one of the most accessible and conventional films from director Richard Linklater ( Waking Life , Dazed and Confused ). Black is enormously entertaining, and the kids are terrific. The cast is wonderful, and Joan Cusack shines as the buttoned-up principal struggling to keep her wits around angry parents. The film also avoids potentially tricky areas a story about rock 'n' roll music might involve, like drugs and sexual content. The brief scene about "groupies" might still offend some parents, but Black's character handles his explanation to the kids well enough. Dewey generally becomes a strong and positive role model for the kids, especially shown when he protects one kid from a bunch of older musicians smoking cigarettes around him in a van.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how much Dewey loves rock music in School of Rock . Why is music so important to him? What does music allow him to express?

How do characters show strong communication and teamwork while learning how to be a band? When faced with adversity, how do characters show perseverance ?

What's the most important thing Dewey learns from the kids? What is the most important thing the kids learn from him?

What is your favorite song featured in the film?

What do you think rock 'n' roll is all about after watching this film?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 3, 2003
• On DVD or streaming : March 2, 2004
• Cast : Jack Black , Joan Cusack , Mike White
• Director : Richard Linklater
• Inclusion Information : Bisexual actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Arts and Dance , Music and Sing-Along
• Character Strengths : Perseverance , Self-control , Teamwork
• Run time : 108 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some rude humor and drug references
• Last updated : August 9, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Mr. Holland's Opus

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Movies about musicians, best music apps and games for kids, related topics.

• Perseverance
• Self-control
• Arts and Dance
• Music and Sing-Along

Want suggestions based on your streaming services? Get personalized recommendations

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Things you buy through our links may earn  Vox Media  a commission.

Disney’s Jungle Cruise Is Murder

“The jungle,” Werner Herzog used to say, “is murder.” Although Disney’s Jungle Cruise is ostensibly based on the popular theme-park ride, one could say that it has taken Herzog’s immortal maxim as a kind of surface inspiration. “Know this about the jungle,” Dwayne Johnson’s riverboat captain Frank says early in the film, “everything you see wants to kill you — and can.” There are other Herzog callbacks in the film: The villains include the Spanish conquistador Lope de Aguirre (the subject of one of Herzog’s best-known films, Aguirre, the Wrath of God ) as well as an obsessive German aristocrat named Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons), who seems to sport Herzog’s accent ; there’s even an extended gag at one point about the Herzogian way Joachim pronounces “jungle”: “chonk-leh.” Whatever. I chuckled. Sue me.

Herzog is an odd reference point, surely, but that’s also in keeping with the central tension in Jungle Cruise , between the darker, more intense and exciting movie it clearly wants to be and the mealymouthed CGI panderfest that it is. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra — a filmmaker previously known for gonzo thrillers like Orphan and The Shallows and some of the more compelling entries in the Liam Neeson dadsploitation subgenre — the picture might have amounted to something had it been able to deliver on the one essential element any kind of adventure (even one made primarily for kids) needs: a real sense of danger.

It didn’t need to be this way, surely. The opening scenes show some promise. We first meet the spirited Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) as she sneaks around in the back rooms of the Royal Geographic Society, looking for an ancient arrowhead that holds the key to finding a magic, all-healing Amazonian blossom called the Tears of the Moon. But it’s 1916, two years into the Great War, and there’s a sinister German aristocrat — the aforementioned Joachim, who may or may not be Kaiser Wilhelm’s son — also after this artefact.

In his previous works, Collet-Serra proved quite adept playing with screen geography, and he brings charm and energy to these early scenes of Lily maneuvering around this place while Joachim pursues her, each of them using the various objects around them. Similarly, when we meet Frank “Skipper” Wolff (Johnson), the captain of a decaying, rickety Amazon riverboat, we see him conning tourists into seeing fake sights such as a phony giant hippo, a rickety waterfall, and a group of supposedly savage natives whom he’s secretly paid off to scare the foreigners.

There’s a Rube Goldbergian verve to these early sequences, and by the time Lily and her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) have employed Frank to take them into the heart of the Amazon, you might be fooled into thinking that Jungle Cruise is poised to recapture the swashbuckling magic of classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark , The Mask of Zorro , the 1999 iteration of The Mummy , or the original Pirates of the Caribbean , with a little African Queen thrown in. It certainly liberally borrows from just about all of them.

But such films were also not afraid to scare us, to make us care about their characters by putting them in real danger. And here, Jungle Cruise sadly falls back on its corporate theme-park origins. It’s a safety-first kind of movie, seemingly too afraid to ever make us fear for our heroes. A jaguar that attacks early on quickly turns out to be Frank’s pet, Proxima (another aide in his many scams). It would probably constitute a spoiler to give more details about other elements that are initially presented as sources of fear but turn out ultimately to be harmless. (Even the supposedly psychopathic Prince Joachim comes off as weirdly cuddly at times, with Plemons playing him as a subdued bore. Why exactly is this movie set during WWI anyway? Were they afraid to make Joachim a Nazi?) It feels at times like the filmmakers are reluctant to suggest that the Amazon might actually be a dangerous place. Maybe that sort of thing makes for admirable messaging (does it?), but it certainly doesn’t quicken the pulse.

The exception to all this winds up proving the rule: When the aforementioned Lope de Aguirre (Edgar Ramirez) and his men, who all supposedly vanished upriver in the 16th century, come back as a ragtag supernatural phantom army to fight our heroes, they’re clearly meant to provide the menace that the film has been so lacking. And to be fair, a flashback to how they got their curse is one of the film’s highlights; if nothing else, it gives Collet-Serra an opportunity to briefly show off his horror chops. But once these villains enter the story, their presence, even in its finer details and twists, so recalls the far-superior Pirates of the Caribbean that we might wonder if we’re just watching something created on the same software as that earlier picture, only with a different set of features selected from the drop-down menus.

Even so, derivativeness and predictability aren’t always fatal flaws. Jungle Cruise could have been saved had it at least provided some decent comedy and romance. On the latter front, Johnson and Blunt don’t have much chemistry. The film has a good idea in positioning them as opposing temperaments — the more bickering, the more chance of a spark, cinematically speaking — but even that winds up being half-baked. In the end, they don’t argue all that much.

Over and over, we can see the far superior movie Jungle Cruise wants to be: a freewheeling, romantic, swashbuckling epic about a couple of beautiful, brave souls who bicker their way into each other’s hearts, all the while facing off against the many dangers of the jungle and a variety of villains both human and supernatural. But it is so not that movie. And the clarity of its aspirations just makes the film’s downfall that much more pathetic, like a baseball player pointing to the home run he’s about to hit and then completely whiffing and landing on his ass.

Meanwhile, Whitehall is given the thankless task of portraying what is supposedly Disney’s most “out” gay character yet. The film still plays it kind of coy: Talking to Frank one night about how he couldn’t get married, MacGregor says that he “had to tell the lady in question that I couldn’t accept the offer — or indeed any offer, given that my interests happily lay elsewhere.” He then adds, “Uncle threatened to disinherit me. Friends and family turned their backs, all because of who I love.” Maybe this could have been a touching character note, but it doesn’t actually do much to develop MacGregor; his confession seems to exist primarily to show what a decent guy Frank is in accepting him. MacGregor, meanwhile, remains the butt of many of the movie’s (mostly unfunny) jokes — a hopelessly vain dandy who pees himself at the first sign of danger. I’m not sure any of this is progress. The jungle might not kill you, but Jungle Cruise could kill your soul.

More Movie Reviews

• John Woo’s The Killer (2024) Is No John Woo’s The Killer (1989)
• They Finally Made The Crow for Goth Incompetents
• The Mesmerizing Close Your Eyes Asks What Really Makes a Life
• vulture homepage lede
• movie review
• jungle cruise
• jaume collet-serra
• dwayne johnson
• emily blunt
• jesse plemons
• werner herzog

Most Viewed Stories

• The 15 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend
• Cinematrix No. 151: August 24, 2024
• Megalopolis Is a Work of Absolute Madness
• Osgood Perkins Unpacks All the Hidden Demon Appearances in Longlegs
• A Baby Bieber Has Been Born
• Evil Series-Finale Recap: Last Rites

Editor’s Picks

Most Popular

What is your email.

This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us.

Sign In To Continue Reading

Create your free account.

Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:

• Lower case letters (a-z)
• Upper case letters (A-Z)
• Numbers (0-9)
• Special Characters (!@#$%^&*)

As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York , which you can opt out of anytime.

15 Great Movies Centred Around Rock Concerts

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

There's no doubt 2023 has been a great year for rock music. Bands like The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Metallica, and U2 all released new music, giving hardcore headbangers plenty to cheer about. It's been a good year for music movies as well, with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour absolutely killing it in theaters and raking in more than $128 million during its opening weekend . That's on top of record-breaking concert ticket sales in sold-out stadiums around the world.

But even Swifties need something a little heavier once in a while, and that's where great movies about rock concerts come in. Over the years, there have been more movies about rock concerts released than any one person could realistically watch. Like Taylor, more and more artists - both real and fictional - are starting to realize how important film can be in progressing their careers. From comedies to dramas to even documentaries, here are some of the great movies out there about rock concerts.

15 Shine A Light (2008)

Shine a Light

Martin Scorsese's 2008 film Shine A Ligh t isn't just a rock documentary, it's a great music moment frozen in time. Unlike his other films, Scorsese doesn't inject his style much into their fabulous movie about The Rolling Stones. Instead, he lets the Stones do the talking, playing, strutting, and singing and does his best to capture the essence of the band's stripped-down but - as the title suggests - luminous show.

Why It's So Great

Shine A Light is mostly a rock concert on film, shot at the sold-out Beacon Theater in New York City. It's a great movie because it shows audiences exactly why the Stones are one of the greatest bands of all time. Mick Jagger's swagger is infectious. Keith Richards' guitar playing is top-notch, even though he was well into his 60s at the time. The set list is tight and well-planned. There are a few surprise guests including Jack White, Buddy Guy, and Christina Aguilera to keep things interesting.

Rent it on Apple TV

14 Rock Star (2001)

2001's Rock Star is a fictional (but not totally untrue) portrayal of what life is like in a rock band. When super fan Chris "Izzy" Cole (Mark Wahlberg) scores the opportunity of a lifetime singing for his favorite band Steel Dragon, he quickly realizes that being a rock star isn't all that it's cracked up to be. He finds himself partying too much, losing touch with his girlfriend, and being shut out of music-writing sessions.

Rock Star is great because of its commitment to the bit. The rock concert scenes are larger-than-life, incorporating massive sound and pyrotechnics. It's also a very funny movie, with some of the best scenes including real-life rock stars from bands like Third Eye Blind, The Verve Pipe, Dokken, Black Label Society, Alter Bridge, and more.

13 Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Bohemian Rhapsody

Rami Malek stars as the late Freddie Mercury in 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody . The film follows Mercury's career as a young British man born Farrokh Bulsara to become the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in the world, Queen. Mercury had a unique voice and his mark on rock music is still felt today. Malek nailed the role and won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2019.

Until recently, Bohemian Rhapsody was the highest-grossing biopic of all time. It's a great movie about a rock concert because it focuses on a high point in Queen's career: their performance at the Live Aid concert of 1985. The movie highlights the power of the band's live show and casts Mercury as the brave and powerful lead singer that he was. Malek's acting pushes the film across the finish line and proves he's capable of starring in a lead role.

Stream it on Disney+

Best Movies & TV Series About Real-Life Rock Stars, Ranked

Portraying a rock star on screen is no easy feat for an actor. Let’s look at the best movies and series about our favorite rock stars, ranked.

12 Nirvana: Live at the Paramount (2011)

To say that Nirvana revolutionized rock music in the 1990s would be a massive understatement. The band's influence in music history has been well-documented, and in 2011, one of their seminal performances was finally released on CD and Blu-ray. Nirvana: Live at the Paramount is a rock concert movie that captures Nirvana at its finest: fiery, angry, tired, upset, bored, and ready to set the world on fire.

Live at the Paramount is a great concert film because it catches the trio just before mainstream success took over them. The movie was shot in Seattle in 1991, just weeks after their landmark album Nevermind was released. The cinematography is slick yet raw, the sound editing is crisp yet noisy, and the band's performance is electrifying yet hauntingly beautiful.

11 Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (2021)

On the surface, Woodstock '99 looked like it was a blast. There were great performances from Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, and more. It was also complete chaos by the end, with fans inciting a riot, tearing down pieces of the stage, and lighting things on fire by the end of the weekend. All of this is documented in the fantastic documentary Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage .

It's a great movie because it shines a light on some of the other things that happened at the festival, things that were not shown on the live broadcast. There were reports of terrible acts going on in the mosh pit, and the movie doesn't shy away from some of the negative aspects of the festival. It's simply one of the best chaos documentaries around.

10 School of Rock (2003)

School of Rock

For something more wholesome, check out School of Rock , starring the great Jack Black. Black stars as a music teacher who struggles to find a way to connect with his students. He realizes the kids need more rock 'n roll in their lives, and encourages them to express themselves through musical instruments and singing.

By the end of the film, you'll be bouncing your head up and down at the kids' finale concert. Black teaches them all the classic rock tunes, from AC/DC to Pink Floyd. He's a funny and relatable actor and the comedy in the film is simple to understand without too much overthinking. School of Rock is a great movie because it's funny, inspirational, and easy to watch.

Stream it on Paramount+

Best Coming-of-Age Movies of the 2000s

Coming-of-age movies explore the nature of change and growing up. Here are some of the genre's best films of the 2000s.

9 Rattle and Hum (1988)

Rattle and Hum is a concert film about U2 directed by Phil Joanou and released in 1988. At the time, the band consisting of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. was at the peak of its initial success. Having just released the enormously popular The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum sees U2 performing their hits with passion, pride, and fierce emotion.

Joanu shot the film in black-and-white, which gives it a raw aesthetic. The footage is from U2's performances over two nights in Denver, a city known for its raucous crowds and rock enthusiasts. Rattle and Hum contain some powerful moments, like when Bono condemns a bombing that happened in Northern Ireland just hours before the film was taped. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" followed, and the song has never felt so meaningful and relevant since that moment.

8 This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

This Is Spinal Tap is a fictional documentary that follows a made-up glam metal band called Spinal Tap. The movie is directed by Rob Reiner and stars Christopher Guest, Michael MacKean, and Harry Shearer as the main members of the band. Reiner appears in the movie as a filmmaker making a documentary about the band. He follows them around on tour and promotional gigs for their new album.

Spinal Tap embraces silliness. It's smartly written, but it's also not afraid to go for low-brow humor to get laughs. For example, Guest comments that his amp "goes to 11" and that he's writing a beautiful power ballad called "Lick My Love Pump". The audience can't help but cheer for Spinal Tap despite their dopey mannerisms. For these reasons, This Is Spinal Tap is considered one of the best mockumentaries of all time .

Rent it on Prime Video

7 Detroit Rock City (1999)

Adam Rifkin directed 1999's teen stoner comedy Detroit Rock City. The movie follows four friends in a KISS tribute band who travel to Detroit to see their heroes live in concert. The group is led by Hawk (Edward Furlong), who's forced to come up with ways to get into the show for free. Chaos and hilarity ensue with the boys going to more and more extreme ways to try to get tickets.

Detroit Rock City is a fun road trip comedy that features an epic KISS concert at the end. It doubles as a coming-of-age movie that many teenagers can relatotoo. The movie wasn't particularly well-received but with a soundtrack that includes bands like Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen, it's hard not to bang your head to Detroit Rock City.

These Are the Best Natasha Lyonne Performances

The fascinating career of Natasha Lyonne is filled with comedic moments paired with both heartbreaking and heartfelt roles alike, and here's her best.

6 The Last Waltz (1978)

The Last Waltz is another music movie directed by Martin Scorsese. It chronicles The Band's final show ever, filmed in 1976 in San Francisco. Almost two decades after becoming the backing band for country star Ronnie Hawkins, The Band decided to call it quits. As a group that started out backing up Bob Dylan as well, The Band eventually found their way with hits like "The Weight".

As one of Scorsese's best documentaries, The Last Waltz tugs at the viewer's heartstrings by mixing concert footage with band interviews. The guest list in the show is also amazing, with artists like Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, and more joining The Band onstage for one last hurrah.

Stream it on Prime Video

5 Stop Making Sense (1984)

In 2023, Talking Heads reunited to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their seminal music film Stop Making Sense . As one of the premier new wave bands of the 1980s, the English group decided to make a concert film about their rise to fame. The movie was made over four nights at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, and it features the band performing many of their hits, including "Burning Down the House" and "Psycho Killer".

Director Jonathan Demme took the unique route of focusing on the band, not the audience, for the film. Since showing audience reactions would have required more lighting, Demme instead shows Talking Heads at the peak of their career. Singer David Byrne is especially boisterous and entertaining to watch. A24 recently bought the distribution rights to the newly restored 4K film, so the band's performances look even bigger and better than when the movie was released in 1984.

4 Almost Famous (2000)

Almost Famous

Cameron Crowe directed 2000's Almost Famous , a comedy/drama movie about a young journalist named William (Patrick Fugit) who is hired by Rolling Stone to follow the fictional band Stillwater on tour. Aided by the band's roadie Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), William is quickly consumed in a world of partying, excess, and rock 'n' roll.

Almost Famous is a semi-autobiographical account of Crowe's experience as a music journalist. The movie features great performances from Fugit, Hudson, Frances McDormand, and Jason Lee, among others. The concert scenes are very well done and make the viewer wish that Stillwater was a real band. Almost Famous contains an original story that's entertaining to watch, and it won Crowe the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his efforts.

Best Cameron Crowe Movies, Ranked

Cameron Crowe boasts a successful career as a film director and screenwriter. Here are his best movies, ranked.

3 The Song Remains the Same (1976)

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is notorious for wanting to make the band sound great, so The Song Remains the Same is top-notch from a technical viewpoint. The camera angles put the audience right in the middle of the show, with fiery pyrotechnics exploding and huge sounds crashing all around them. Drummer John Bonham passed away just four years after the film was released, so it also pays a tribute to his massive impact and talent.

2 Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)

In 1983's Eddie and the Cruisers, Ellen Barkin plays a TV reporter tasked with reporting on the life of rock star Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare). Eddie's journey is told through flashbacks, documenting his band's rise from a small-town New Jersey club act to mainstream success after their first album became a hit. Before the band can make a second album, Eddie disappears and his bandmates assume he's dead.

The surprise twist at the end is that Eddie is not actually dead, but living a quiet life away from the spotlight. Roger Ebert called the cast of the film "terrific". The music in the film is also strong and is reminiscent of popular artists of the era, such as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel. Eddie and the Cruisers wasn't a big hit in theatres, but it did gain some cult traction by being re-released by HBO.

Stream it on Apple TV

1 Festival Express (2003)

Festival Express is a documentary film about the tour Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, and more did way back in 1970. The unique part of the experience was the bands traveled by train across Canada, visiting Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary along the way. The long miles on the train tracks meant that all of the band frequently jammed together, creating a unique and fun film for viewers to enjoy

The drunken jam sessions are a blast to watch, as are the spontaneous stops along the way. One such stop is in Ontario when the entourage took a break to grab more alcohol. The concerts themselves looked like a riot to attend, with the Calgary show drawing thousands of people, and up to 1,000 sneaking in without paying for a ticket. Festival Express brings viewers back to a time when concerts were all about peace, love, and music, rather than corporate greed or expensive ticket prices.

• Movie Lists

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

'Brighton Rock': A Gangster Epic, Then And Now

Bob Mondello

The Two Pinkies: Whether played by Richard Attenborough (left) in 1947 or Sam Riley (right) in 2011, the tough-talking psychopath rests at the depraved moral center of Brighton Rock . He's obsessed with Catholicism — not for heaven, but for hell. Warner Home Video/IFC Films hide caption

The Two Pinkies: Whether played by Richard Attenborough (left) in 1947 or Sam Riley (right) in 2011, the tough-talking psychopath rests at the depraved moral center of Brighton Rock . He's obsessed with Catholicism — not for heaven, but for hell.

Brighton Rock

• Director: Rowan Joffe
• Genre: Drama
• Running Time: 111 minutes

This film has not been rated by the MPAA

With: Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, John Hurt, Andy Serkis

Watch Clips

'Under The Bridge'

Credit: IFC Films

'Keep Your Mouth Shut'

'Fred Hale'

We've been through a summer of movie sequels; now comes a fall of movie remakes. With Conan the Barbarian already open, there'll soon be fresh versions of Straw Dogs , The Three Musketeers and even television's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . This week's remake — of a British gangster film called Brighton Rock — is sufficiently reworked that it's worth looking at the old and the new, side by side.

The 1947 Brighton Rock was black and white, based on a novel by Graham Greene about characters named Pinkie Brown and Rose. Plenty colorful, in other words — fitting for a story set in a British resort town just before World War II.

Playing Pinkie, a violent 17-year-old gangster, was a baby-faced Richard Attenborough, the same guy who would later direct such emotionally resonant films as Gandhi and Cry Freedom , but who here was playing an out-and-out psychopath, chatting with his gangster buddies as he absent-mindedly yanked out a doll's hair, strand by strand.

Early on, Pinkie kills someone and spends the remainder of the film trying to cover his tracks. When he learns a pretty waitress named Rose (Carol Marsh) could incriminate him, he sweet-talks her. "I like a girl who's friendly," he tells her. "You're sensitive, like me."

So she can't be forced to testify against him, Pinkie will marry Rose, though sex repulses him — as does she, really. But with a woman's options being limited in the years before the war, audiences at the time knew she'd go along. Scripted by Greene, working in tandem with playwright Terence Rattigan, the story turns darker and gets all tied up with sin and redemption as it progresses, with both Pinkie and Rose obsessed with Catholicism, though they come at it a little differently: She prefers to think of heaven, while he puts his stake in hell.

At 92 minutes, the first Brighton Rock , directed by the Boulting brothers (identical twins John and Roy who went on to make satirical comedies in the 1950s and '60s), is snappy, well-acted and unnerving, pretty much a model gangster flick. So even all these years later, a director needs a reason to remake it. Director Rowan Joffe's found several. He shot in color instead of black and white, updated the story a few decades to the swinging '60s, and got Helen Mirren and John Hurt to take supporting roles.

Brighton Pier doesn't look all that different (though it's actually Eastbourne Pier this time) but the people sure do. The whole town is overrun by rioting teenage mods and rockers — reflecting actual events of the early '60s that caused nearly as much consternation as the recent youth rioting in London. It's an era of social and sexual upheaval, providing new reasons for Pinkie (Sam Riley) to feel insecure and giving Rose (Andrea Riseborough) more options. She could learn a trade and make her own way in the world instead of relying on Pinkie, which makes her going along with him more problematic, an issue the film tries to solve by giving Rose more determination, more spunk. At one point, Pinkie drags her furiously to the edge of a cliff, trying to frighten her. But she holds his gaze, and melts him with her trust.

The 2011 remake packs serious star power with John Hurt (as Phil Corkery) and Helen Mirren (as Ida, who seeks to bring Pinkie to justice). Alex Bailey/IFC Films hide caption

There's a lot of fancy filmmaking this time around, substituting for fancy writing the last time. Where the first film had a lawyer spouting Shakespeare, this one mostly has visual panache — crosses and crucifixes rather than dialogue about religion. You can't accuse the new Brighton Rock of being untrue to the book — it actually reinstates the novel's climax, placing violent events back atop a cliff as Greene had originally, rather than on the Brighton Pier, as he had in his screenplay.

But what audiences will remember from both pictures isn't the violence of its climax, but the gentler scene that follows — an ending that Greene invented for the first movie to end it on an eerie note. It wouldn't be fair to reveal it, but if you're new to the story or have only read the novel, it'll likely strike you — as it struck audiences then — as cruel and kind all at once: A persuasive illustration of what a character in the novel calls "the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God."

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

• About Rotten Tomatoes®
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Prime Video
• Most Popular Streaming Movies
• Certified Fresh Movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• 78% Blink Twice Link to Blink Twice
• 96% Strange Darling Link to Strange Darling
• 86% Between the Temples Link to Between the Temples

New TV Tonight

• 93% Chimp Crazy: Season 1
• 100% Pachinko: Season 2
• -- That '90s Show: Season 3
• -- OceanXplorers: Season 1
• -- Classified: Season 1
• -- Reasonable Doubt: Season 2
• -- The Anonymous: Season 1
• -- Face to Face With Scott Peterson: Season 1
• -- Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• 92% Bad Monkey: Season 1
• 100% Dark Winds: Season 2
• 78% Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• 96% Industry: Season 3
• 55% The Umbrella Academy: Season 4
• 86% Average Joe: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• 100% Pachinko: Season 2 Link to Pachinko: Season 2
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

The Crow Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

The Crow Movies In Order

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

Poll: Vote for Your Most Anticipated TV or Streaming Show of September

Poll: Vote for Your Most Anticipated Movie of September

• Trending on RT
• Verified Hot Movies
• Renewed and Cancelled TV
• Emmy Nominees
• Popular Movies

Rock of Ages

Where to watch.

Rent Rock of Ages on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Its exuberant silliness is almost enough to make up for its utter inconsequentiality, but Rock of Ages is ultimately too bland and overlong to justify its trip to the big screen.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Adam Shankman

Julianne Hough

Sherrie Christian

Diego Boneta

Russell Brand

Paul Giamatti

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Patricia Whitmore

More Like This

Related movie news.

• Become a Critical Movie Critic
• Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: Black Rock (2012)

• Amy Bigmore
• Movie Reviews
• 2 responses
• --> June 25, 2013

Bruised but alive.

Katie Aselton dreamt up the premise, directs and stars in the new film Black Rock which chronicles a weekend in which three estranged life-long friends reunite for a camping trip on their old childhood haunt Black Rock Island. But what is supposed to be an escape to rebuild bridges between friends — Lou (Lake Bell) is feuding with Abby (Katie Aselton) over a sexual indiscretion and Sarah (Kate Bosworth) is stuck playing mediator — turns into a fight for survival.

Unfortunately, before the girls can get full on into a “Goonies” style treasure hunt to find an old time capsule supposedly buried on the isle (one of several activities planned by Sarah), the trio run into Henry (Will Bouvier), Derek (Jay Paulson), and Alex (Anslem Richardson); three ex-military men who are on the island for a hunting trip. Despite being married, Abby shows interest in Henry and they end up in a make-out session in the woods that Henry takes too far. Soon after Abby fights off her would-be suitor, the girls find themselves the new hunting targets of the well-armed men with a whole lot of PTSD anger to go with their bullets.

With Black Rock , real life partners Aselton and Mark Duplass have collaborated well as a writing team to develop a deep and convincing history between the three female protagonists. Their personalities are well developed and the dialogue shared between them — during both the light-hearted and horrific times — is believable. It’s made all the better as it is combined with actresses who have the chops to drive the narrative — so much so that as an audience member it felt like we’re a part of the proceedings as opposed to watching a performance.

The male cast, however, does not fare nearly so well, in particular Paulson as Derek. His characterization is woefully over-the-top and his boisterous performance is made all the more obvious by the comparatively opposite natural performances of the female cast (and to a lesser extent his male co-stars). He crushes any potential for atmosphere with his rants and is completely unbelievable.

En route to an adventure.

With them the movie does, albeit not as profoundly as I would have liked, touch on the interesting subject of soldiers and their reintegration (or lack thereof) into society. These men are broken goods suffering from PTSD and a healthy dose of anger but it’s never expanded upon enough to help the audience understand them. It’s simply used as a way to explain their actions. (Maybe it can also explain how these guys get schooled by three untrained females too).

As a woman, it was nonetheless refreshing to see the roles reversed. Girls using the stereotypical male aggressor’s tools against him is an empowering feeling. And as the situation gets direr as the movie rolls into its third act, it was also good to see the three very pretty ladies transform into dirtied, calculating survivalists even if the scenarios they found themselves in were increasingly fantastic.

With Black Rock a concerted effort was made to reclaim the horror-thriller from the paranormal throes it’s been stuck in and reground it back to the good old days of movies like “ Deliverance ,” “ Cape Fear ” and “ I Spit on Your Grave .” It is a damn good idea, but in this particular instance, it’s one that falls short of expectations.

Tagged: friends , island , survival , weekend

Yes it is me. Were you expecting someone else?

Movie Review: Revolution: New Art for a New World (2016) Movie Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) Movie Review: San Andreas (2015) Movie Review: Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014) Movie Review: The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013) Movie Review: Run All Night (2015) Movie Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)

'Movie Review: Black Rock (2012)' have 2 comments

June 25, 2013 @ 3:41 pm roadies

Amateur hour trifecta. Bad acting, bad writing, bad direction.

Log in to Reply

June 25, 2013 @ 10:58 pm danetreous

“It’s made all the better as it is combined with actresses who have the chops to drive the narrative”

We’re talking about Katie Aselton, Kate Bosworth and Lake Bell right? These ladies are hardly known for their skills as a thespian.

Privacy Policy | About Us

 |  Log in

Screen Rant

Rock the kasbah.

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Your Rating

Barry Levinson

Reviews (0)

Have You Watched It?

Be the first to leave a community review!

Bruce Willis

Kate hudson, zooey deschanel, bill murray, taylor kinney, danny mcbride, seasons (4).

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2018), season 3 (2022), season 4 (2026), screenrant reviews, rock the kasbah review.

Rock the Kasbah is a lazy comedy and outdated political farce that wastes Bill Murray's comedic talents.

Latest Reviews

Users reviews (125).

We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the review below and remember to keep it respectful.

Your comment has not been saved

Latest Stories

Screen rant's worst movies of 2015, 16 great actors who have never won an oscar, related titles.

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

BABY REINDEER

Advertisement

Supported by

Critic’s pick

‘Between the Temples’ Review: A Widower Walks Into a Bar

And meets his former music teacher, upending his life, in Nathan Silver’s touching comedy, starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane.

• Share full article

By Manohla Dargis

Ben Gottlieb — the touchingly soulful hero of the soulful, delightfully tetchy “Between the Temples” — is a mess. He needs a haircut and a shave; he could do with better-fitting clothes. He’s having problems at work. He also lives in his family’s basement, that much-derided refuge of the eternal man-child and terminal loser. Yet because the filmmaker Nathan Silver has an appreciation for life’s ironies and likes putting a topspin on his comedy, Ben lives with both his mother and stepmother. He lives, in other words, in his mothers’ basement.

Ben — a perfect Jason Schwartzman — is a sad sack, but he’s also just sad and for a very good, excruciating reason, too. His wife died not long ago, leaving him bereft and, increasingly, without an evident sense of self or purpose. He seems to have lost his bearings, but he’s also lost his singing voice, which proves a problem given that he’s the cantor at a local synagogue. He still teaches there, working out of a cramped, shambolic classroom in which he helps boys and girls prepare for their bar and bat mitzvahs, the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies that formally announce the passage from childhood to adulthood.

Set in the present in an upstate New York hamlet, this coming-of-middle-age story follows Ben during an eventful time in his life, which takes a turn after he runs into his former elementary-school music teacher, Carla Kessler O’Connor (Carol Kane, divine). They reconnect in a bar, where she helps the soused, deflated Ben, a kindness that takes an unexpected turn when she shows up at the synagogue. Carla wants to take his class, explaining that she never had a bat mitzvah. Ben is reluctant because, well, she isn’t a child, but after consulting with his boss, Rabbi Bruce (Robert Smigel), Ben relents. A friendship blossoms and perhaps something deeper does, too, and the movie gets its blissfully offbeat groove on.

Silver, who wrote the movie with C. Mason Wells, introduces Ben without preamble, immediately dropping you into a conversation that started before the movie did. Ben and his mothers, Meira and Judith (the nicely synced Caroline Aaron and Dolly de Leon), are in the family’s dining room having an apparently serious heart-to-heart. Judith says they think he “needs to start seeing a doctor,” a suggestion that Ben says he’s open to. As the camera zooms out, Ben keeps talking only to be cut off by the doorbell. The moms jump up, and a pretty female doctor enters and almost immediately begins hitting on Ben, a shift that abruptly gives new meaning to the advice the moms have just voiced.

With the doctor’s entrance, the movie turns straightaway from the plaintive to the humorous. The scene is characteristic of how Silver changes up the tone and mood, creating an unexpected pacing that’s complemented by Sean Price Williams’s agitated cinematography and the jumpy rhythms of John Magary’s editing. The movie is laced with absurd setups, slapstick and some silly props, all of which converge in a scene at a restaurant called the Chained Duck (the name of a satirical French newspaper). There, Ben and Carla have dinner with her belligerent son, Nat (Matthew Shear), a hostility that Silver slyly deflates when the waiter hands everyone menus as large as battleground shields.

The outlandish menus undercut the son’s disproportionate, clenched-jaw anger at Carla without draining the scene of its tense realism or turning the son into the butt of the joke. Silver is a sharp, cleareyed observer of human nature, and while he pokes at his characters, including Ben, it’s more teasing than cruel. If there’s a mean joke in “Between the Temples,” I missed it, which helps explain where Silver is coming from. He and Schwartzman make Ben’s pain palpable without sentimentalizing it; you see the hurt in the sag of Ben’s shoulders and in the melancholy that clouds his eyes. Yet there’s a fundamental resilience to the character who, while he’s sometimes off on his own, is never really alone.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

• Action/Adventure
• Children's/Family
• Documentary/Reality
• Amazon Prime Video

More From Decider

New Shows & Movies To Watch This Weekend: 'Pachinko' on Apple TV+ and...

'Unfinished Beef': Netflix Reveals Hosts For Labor Day Hot Dog Showdown...

Andy Cohen Asks Brandi Glanville To Watch Him And Kate Chastain Have Sex...

Peacock Has Removed Raygun and the Entire Olympics Breaking Competition...

'WWHL': Bowen Yang Says One Terrible 'SNL' Host Once Made "Multiple Cast...

Peacock's Gary Coleman Doc Questions The Late Child Actor's "Suspicious"...

11 Best New Movies on Netflix: August 2024's Freshest Films to Watch

'Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles' Star Josh Flagg Gives Update On His...

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to copy URL

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar’ on HBO Max, a Satisfyingly Loud ‘n’ Heavy Conclusion to a Cult-Favorite Series

Where to stream:.

• Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar
• heavy metal

‘I Wanna Rock: The ‘80s Metal Dream’ Reveals The Human Face Hidden Behind All That Hair Spray

Stream it or skip it: ‘i wanna rock: the ‘80s metal dream’ on paramount+, a docuseries that recalls the heady daze of hair metal’s moment in the sun, ‘guns n’ roses: live o2 arena london’ finds ringers n’ replacements rocking with authority, ‘dio: dreamers never die’ chronicles singer’s epic journey to metal’s throne room.

It ends here: Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar ( now on Max , in addition to VOD services like Amazon Prime Video ) is the final impalement on the altar of hyperbole that is Metalocalypse , the cult-favorite Adult Swim animated show, here back from the dead with a feature-length finale after being mothballed for a decade. Created by Brendan Small (who also composes all the music), the series – a frequently very niche-y parody of heavy metal tropes, following the exploits of the five blockheads comprising the world’s biggest band, Dethklok – launched in 2006 and lasted for four seasons and a 47-minute “death metal rock opera” before the plug got pulled on all the madness. Par for the metal course, Metalocalypse is renowned for its musical-action sequences, soundtracked by deathy-thrashy odes to Satan, volcanoes, coffee, etc., and chock-full of outrageous gore (to match the most disgusting imagery ever spawned by Cannibal Corpse and Slayer and the like). So will this grand-guignol endgame of a movie have us flying the horns and headbanging up a frenzy, or will it leave us limp like a soggy bizkit?

METALOCALYPSE: ARMY OF THE DOOMSTAR : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: THE SUN. I think it’s the Doomstar, but I may not be high enough to know for sure. Anyway, it looms as doomy things tend to loom – in the foreground, forebodingly. Then we cut to the Earth’s surface, where Dethklok has been on an extended hiatus, and the world has suffered for it. I mean, the band is so massively popular, it exerts significant control over world politics and economics. Apparently a new Dethklok album would stimulate Earth out of a financial depression, if its band members don’t succumb to their own significant egos, insecurities and mighty dimwittedness. They live like kings, damn hell ass brainless kings, vaguely aware of what’s happening outside their dragon-shaped fortress-castle. And now here’s singer Nathan Explosion (Small), guitarists Toki Wartooth (Tommy Blacha) and Skwisgaar Skwigelf (Small), bassist William Murderface Murderface Murderface (Blacha) and Pickles the Drummer (Small), finally announcing a new album and tour. And the population doth rejoice.

But. Some shit happened in the “klok opera” – 2013’s Doomstar Requiem – leaving questions unanswered. Maybe you remember them? You should. I mean, Dethklok barely survived that shit. The band’s CFO became a high priest of the Church of the Black Klok, a mysterious cabal of Iluminati-like evildoers hung on to their dream of destroying Dethklok, and Murderface was infected with some horrible virus-thing that makes his arm all gross and veiny. Now, it all comes back to bite them in the ass at the worst time – just as they’re about to gift the planet with more brütal riffs, demonic vox and rampage drums. Human and inhuman and natural and unnatural forces conspire to bring about the “metalocalypse,” which is not good for the planet and its denizens, since it involves drowning everyone in blood and raining metal shards upon them. This is far from ideal.

The only solution to this conundrum? Dethklok must write a “song of salvation” that will ward off the evil forces. Easier said than done, especially since the band’s vaunted return was derailed by Nathan Explosion’s nervous breakdown, rendering him unable to quarterback a band that, without him, is just four inarticulate dipshits peeling off sick licks and rhythms. Compounding the issue, Nathan only sings about death, so salvation is an unfamiliar concept to him. Meanwhile, Murderface’s arm-virus takes over his brain, which wouldn’t be a big deal since he’s just a bass player and you can’t hear the bass anyway, except that the virus is actually Mr. Salacia (Mark Hamill), a demonic creep of ill intent who wants to kill and destroy everything – I think, because a single Coke Zero is not getting me quite high enough to comprehend all this. Maybe I need a second one?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Biggest return of a cult TV series with a movie since Deadwood: The Movie ? Yeah, sure, why not. At least the biggest return of a cult animated TV series with a movie since Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling .

Performance Worth Watching: An inside joke throughout the entire series is the challenge it poses for us to pinpoint our favorite metal luminaries’ guest-voice appearances. Scott Ian, Kirk Hammett and King Diamond turn up in Army of the Doomstar , but will you recognize them when you hear them?  

Memorable Dialogue: My two favorite lines here:

Nathan Explosion: “Hope isn’t a metal concept… people come to me if they want a song about how your guts will be liquified by a weedwacker.” Murderface: “Death – it’s a real get-out-of-jail-free card, isn’t it?”

Sex and Skin: Nathan Explosion’s bare cartoon ass.

Our Take: Life and death, love and hate, good and evil, camaraderie and betrayal – Army of the Doomstar has it all, including graphic cartoon imagery of people being impaled by the Washington Monument when it becomes a missile. But maybe it has too much. I’ve long asserted that Metalocalypse is most potent in espresso-shot-sized doses; for two seasons, the series consisted of 12-minute episodes, but its expansion to 22-minuters for the third threw a wrench in the comic timing. And while it’s a grand idea to expand upon the Metalocalypse world by indulging excursions into higher-concept storytelling – it all but begs to become Iron Maiden and Megadeth album covers brought to life – long-form specials like this and Doomstar Requiem are satisfying, but don’t leave us wanting more (which was part of the charm of the original format).

That’s likely why Army feels like a series of set pieces stitched together. We get a goofy sequence in the Church of the Black Klok where a Xanax-addled Nathan stumbles around, a guest appearance by glam-rock caricature Dr. Rockso (Blacha), a goofy-ass powwow with a songwriting guru, a sequence where Nathan goes on a drug-induced spiritual journey, and a couple of bloodsoaked action excursions soundtracked by songs like (checks notes) “Aortic Desecration” and, um, “Poisoned by Food” maybe? Such moments are, typical for the series, loopy and offbeat, a slave to its own peculiar and endearing comic rhythm, but they don’t always flow smoothly as an 80-odd-minute narrative. 

Despite a few belabored moments and the nagging feeling that the movie could be more succinct and punchy, Army of the Doomstar will inevitably slake the thirst of Dethklok lifers who understand all the subcultural in-jokes, and might just be stoned enough not only to follow the slightly overbaked (sorry) plot convolutions, but also to laugh at some of these amusingly knackered and profane jokes. Visually, it’s a treat, an ambitious and ridiculous expansion of an aesthetic inspired by some of the most hyperbolic music ever written. And that’s Metalocalypse ’s M.O. – it always buried us in hyperbole, like a volcano belching ash, flame and lava, and kept scorching the earth all the way to the end. 

Our Call: Army of the Doomstar doesn’t click on all cylinders like the best Metalocalypse episodes, but it’s nevertheless a worthy conclusion to a beloved cult series. STREAM IT. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

• Metalocalypse
• Stream It Or Skip It

'Inside Out 2' Comes to Digital, But When Will 'Inside Out 2' Be Streaming on Disney+?

Is The First 'Monday Night Football' Game On Tonight? How To Watch NFL Games On Monday Nights This Season

Jenna Bush Hager Pauses 'Today' Broadcast After Finding Out She Wasn't Invited To Hoda Kotb's BBQ: "When Did You Have A Barbecue?"

'The Bachelorette' Season 21, Episode 7 Recap: Who Went Home After Hometown Dates?

What Time Is 'The Bachelorette' On Tonight? How To Watch Season 21, Episode 7 (Hometown Week) Live On ABC And Hulu

Mark Consuelos Recalls Being Served A "Massive" Soft Serve After Being Recognized From 'Riverdale' On 'Live': "I Used To Ask For A Small"

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, the kid with dead eyes.

Now streaming on:

Pinkie Brown is a low-level thug in a second-rate gang in Brighton, the British seaside holiday town known for its pier. He is also a psychopath in over his head. One day, he chats up a waitress named Rose in a tea shop, goes walking on the pier with her, and is snapped by a tourist photographer just when they meet a fellow gang member. Not long after, he batters the man to death beneath the pier, and then sets out to retrieve the damning evidence of the photo. He also must silence Rose, who realizes she met the murder victim whose picture is in the paper.

This sets in motion "Brighton Rock," the second film adaptation of Graham Greene's 1938 novel. Greene's Catholicism plays a central role in the lives of many of his characters, few more than Pinkie and Rose — she because she holds a simple faith, he because he believes in hell and that he is headed there.

This Pinkie ( Sam Riley ) is an evil young man, dead-eyed, fearful, violent. Why does Rose ( Andrea Riseborough ) fall in love with him? And well she does. Instead of killing her to silence her, Pinkie marries Rose. Then she can't be forced to testify against her husband. This is explained to Rose, too late, by Ida ( Helen Mirren ), the steely owner of the tea shop, who figures out the whole story but can't prevent Rose from falling under Pinkie's power.

"Brighton Rock" is a film of ominous gloom. The sea rolls darkly under the pier, the full cries are forlorn, the music is mournful, the colors are muted. It is often overcast, or dusk, or night, and there is little sunshine for those seeking a holiday. It takes place in shabby boarding houses and on chilly cliffs, and when the action moves to the grand hotel where the gangsters meet, some of the characters seem uneasy there.

Andrea Riseborough evokes a hapless Rose. Probably she is a little dim. Pinkie has scarcely even been nice to her, and she knowingly puts her life at risk for him. Ida tries to talk sense to the girl and confides in her old friend Corkery ( John Hurt ). Because the movie doesn't make the Catholicism of Pinkie and Rose as important as Greene does, their motivations sometimes seem merely self-destructive.

"Brighton Rock" was adapted in 1947 by the Boulting brothers, with Richard Attenborough in an early role as the merciless Pinkie (the movie's U.S. title was "Young Scarface.") I haven't seen it. But I know the novel, and as dark as this film is, I believe it hesitates to follow Greene into his dark abyss. It is about helplessness and evil, but isn't merciless enough.

Consider the ending. It involves a recording made by Pinkie. In the novel, after all she's been through, Rose has yet to listen to it, but she will. In the movie, she loses her chance to hear what Pinkie said. It might, after all, have given her some release.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Customs Frontline

Simon abrams.

The Fabulous Four

Hollywoodgate

Brian tallerico.

The Good Half

Clint worthington.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Great Absence

Film credits.

Brighton Rock (2011)

111 minutes

John Hurt as Corkery

Sam Riley as Pinkie

Phil Davis as Spicer

Andy Serkis as Mr. Colleoni

Andrea Riseborough as Rose

Helen Mirren as Ida

Written and directed by

• Rowan Joffe

Based on the novel by

• Graham Greene

Latest blog posts

13 Films Illuminate Locarno Film Festival's Columbia Pictures Retrospective

Apple TV+'s Pachinko Expands Its Narrative Palate For An Emotional Season Two

Tina Mabry and Edward Kelsey Moore on the Joy and Uplift of The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat

The Adams Family Gets Goopy in Hell Hole