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Rock of Ages (2012)
Warner Home Video
Blu-ray Disc Released: 10/9/2012
All Ratings out of
Movie:
1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 10/4/2012
I've never been a fan of musicals for two reasons -- A) I typically don't like the kind of music featured in musicals and B) Although I know that it's fiction, I still have trouble with the idea of a group of strangers suddenly coming together and singing and dancing to a song. Sure, there are a few musicals that I like -- Grease is a touchstone for my generation and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney animated movies. And yet, I've never felt that there was a musical aimed at me...until now. As a huge fan of rock from the 80s, Rock of Ages seemed to be tailor-made for someone like me. Even if I didn't like the story, I already knew the songs, so it was a win-win. Right?
Taken place in 1987, Rock of Ages is set in the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles. Sherrie (Julianne Hough) has just arrived in town from Oklahoma, determined to make it as a singer. She meets Drew (Diego Boneta), an aspiring musician who works at The Bourbon Room, a club on the strip which is famous for launching the careers of many rockers. Drew convinces club owner Dennis (Alec Baldwin) to give Sherrie a job as a waitress. In addition, romance blooms between Drew and Sherrie. The Bourbon Room is soon abuzz as Arsenal, a very popular band, is coming to the show to play its final gig. Lead singer Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) arrives and creates quite a stir. Drew sees Sherrie leaving Stacee's dressing room and assumes that something is going on between them. This doesn't stop Drew's band from opening for Arsenal and catching the eye of promoter Paul Gill (Paul Giamatti). This causes Drew and Sherrie to go their separate ways. Will these two young lovers ever make it?
All of this sounds like a pretty straight-forward story, right. Well, it is, even when one throws in the subplot concerning the mayor's wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her determination to see The Bourbon Room closed. The thing which makes Rock of Ages unique is its use of famous rock songs from the 80s to help tell its story. Using songs by Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, Poison, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Whitesnake, and, of course, Def Leppard, the show becomes what is known as a "jukebox musical". The incorporation of these familiar songs helps to give an immediate connection to the audience and allows the story to build around these numbers.
Rock of Ages is based on a musical which debuted in Los Angeles in 2006 and made its way to Broadway in 2009, where it was nominated for five Tony Awards. I have not seen the stage production (although I would like to), but I did read a thorough synopsis of it and was shocked to see how much was changed when taking the movie to the screen. As we've discussed before, plays and movies are very different mediums, as they have major differences in how things are show, the acting styles, etc. For example, the stage production has a narrator and there is interaction with the audience. That wouldn't work that well in a movie. (Also in the play, Sherrie is from Kansas, not Oklahoma. Why change that?) But, that doesn't explain why major changes were made to the story, some of which really hurt the movie. In the play, Stacee Jaxx is the villain of the piece, as he has and causes several problems. In the movie, Jaxx is simply a misunderstood bad boy who just needs the love of the right woman to straighten out his life. Why this change? It was all Tom Cruise's idea. Therefore, it can easily be assumed that Cruise lobbied for this role, but only if the character could be changed. There were also whole subplots and characters lost in the transition.
However, these changes don't account for why Rock of Ages is such a dull movie. It shouldn't be, as it contains some great songs, which bring us to our first point. The movie takes these famous songs, these rock anthems, and pushes them through a Hollywood musical filter, leaving us with polished, even poppy songs which have no rough edges. In short, they've taken the rock out of Rock of Ages. The songs, some of which are ballads, suddenly become more concerned with showing emotion instead of actually being emotional. There's also an issue with song timing and placement. Some of the songs simply start with no warning, which feels very artificial. ("We need a song here...go!) And the movie is sometimes pushing its luck with trying to make a certain song fit the theme of the scene. Also, some songs which were in the play didn't make it to the movie. Was this a rights issue? "The Final Countdown" was in the play, but not the film? Someone should be saying, "I've made a huge mistake."
The movie also suffers from the fact that the story may be too small for a feature film. While there are a number of characters, the main plot focuses on Drew and Sherrie whose tale doesn't amount to much more than a cliched "boy meets girl, boy loses girl". Therefore, it shouldn't take over two hours to tell this story. These issues extend to the casting. I guess it's good that Tom Cruise takes on different roles, but he seems to enjoy taking roles he has no business taking. It's had to buy him as Jaxx, as apparently "aloof" is all that he can muster. Diego Boneta is a pretty good singer, but he doesn't bring enough emotion to the role. Julianne Hough is attractive, but she is not a good singer, as her voice is too high-pitched for this kind of music. Alec Baldwin is good, as he appears to be having a good time. Surprisingly, Russell Brand, who plays Dennis' right-hand-man, gives a great performance here and I bet that hair and makeup loved him, as I would bet that he came to the set ready to go.
So, clearly a lot of factors went into making Rock of Ages a dud. Director Adam Shankman did a great job with Hairspray, but he misses the mark here. Is it because he's not a hard rock kind of guy. Something like this should have more edge, but everything here feels very neat and crisp, especially the sanitized ending. Again, I was very excited about this movie, as I relish the idea of a rock musical with songs that I already know. In the end, I didn't sing along to the dummied-down songs and I didn't care about the characters. I just wanted to see if I could spot Sebastian Bach's cameo and move on.
Rock of Ages doesn't really rock on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 24 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing no apparent grain and no defects from the source materials. The colors look good and there are some appropriately bright 80s clothes here, although the movie has a decidedly dark look. The level of detail is good, as we can see textures on objects. The depth is good, but not as good as I've seen on other Blu-ray Discs. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. While the songs are disappointing, they do sound great here. The music is rich and detailed with strong bass. We can make out individual instruments and the vocals are clean. We get excellent surround sound effects from the crowd noise and some good stereo effects when things are happening off-screen.
The Rock of Ages Blu-ray Disc contains an assortment of extra features. "Rock of Ages: Legends of the Sunset Strip" (30 minutes) is a documentary of sorts which explores the rock music of the 80s, especially the hard rock which ruled the Sunset Strip. Hosted by Bret Michaels, the piece contains comments from members of Skid Row, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and REO Speedwagon, amongst others, who talk about the music, the lifestyles (including the decadence), and the legacy of the music. (This is like a mish-mash Behind the Music episodes.) Again hosted by Bret Michaels (who keeps inviting this guy back?), "The Stories We Sing" (13 minutes) offers a perspective from the original artists on the songs in the movie. This is sort of interesting, but the anecdotes are pretty fluffy. "Defining a Decade" is a series of making-of featurettes that, unfortunately, must be viewed one at a time instead of as a single string of segments. (Why?) The pieces focus on the look of the movie (including the costumes), the choreography, the hairstyles, the challenge of shooting the movie in Florida, and finally a look at the original stage production, which includes comments from those involved in creating the show. We get a MUSIC VIDEO for the song "Any Way You Want It", which is just a scene from the movie with clips from elsewhere in the film. "Musical Numbers" allows the viewer to jump to specific songs.
Review Copyright 2012 by Mike Long