Film Review: Rock of Ages

Cinema: Rock of Ages   6/10

Director: Adam Shankman

Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand

Plot: starry-eyed youngsters, Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and Drew (Diego Boneta), meet to fulfil their Hollywood dreams of working up from the bottom to the top.

After the unexpected box office smash that was Hairspray back in 2007, it was only a matter of time before director Adam Shankman, returned behind the camera for another sequin-filled, high-haired music spectacular. After helming numerous television shows and the abysmal ‘Bedtime Stories’, Rock of Ages finally came along to please the fans of musicals. Whilst there were high expectations to meet; it fulfils some perfectly whilst others, poorly.

To begin with, the musical numbers in the film are spectacular. The opening song ‘Paradise City’ performed by Tom Cruise sends you into the rock of the 80s before you meet a single character. You cannot resist smiling when characters burst into song like some infectious disease. Throughout the film, the musical numbers (a phenomenal twenty of them) keep the audience interested as well as a number of great performances in the film; Tom Cruise ( Staccee Jaxx) plays the typical rock star to perfection and, honestly, Cruise can sing! His voice throughout is one of the strongest and rockiest of the bunch and his live performances are staged to perfection. Catherine Zeta Jones also sings and dances well the number, ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’, leaving the question as to why Jones didn’t receive more musical numbers as she really rocked the screen during her scenes. Mary J Blige also has a beautiful, arena-filling voice and has a touching performance with Julianne Hough. In addition to this, it’s difficult not to enjoy your famous stars openly embarrassing themselves; and Russel Brand and Alec Baldwin stick out as the main fools!  The comical duo do stand-out and do much to improve the film and coming from someone who has found Brand to generally not do so well in films; his role here was surprisingly funny, clever and witty, whilst not being totally perfect as his accent (Northern, perhaps) is very distracting.

However, it’s not all good as the plot is quite dull and has a number of pointless characters and side plots; which leaves the film going nowhere. It’s difficult to know whether we should be focusing on; the relationship between the two leads, Staccee Jaxx’s (Cruise) career, the bringing down of the rock club or the burlesque club!

In Conclusion: the musical numbers are executed in tip-top fashion, the hair wacky, the costumes swift and the 80s clubs spectacular. However, sadly, the plot and dull characters (excluding Cruise’s performance as Staccee Jaxx) leaves the two-hour film; one long music video and nowhere near as relatable as Hairspray. However it is one hell of a fun experience; just avoid taking it too seriously!