ROCK OF AGES - archive from 19th June 2012.

Had to see 'ROCK OF AGES' last night - what a blast and very enjoyable it was too! Tom Cruise like you never seen him before (except for Les Grossman maybe!) and living it up in a 1987 LA as ageing Rock God Stacee Jaxx channelling in equal measure Iggy Pop, Axl Rose, Keith Richards, Jim Morrison with a little Bon Jovi and Def Leppard thrown in - he laps up the role, is clearly enjoying the self mockery, looks great (check out the cod-piece) and is quite brilliant. He prepared for the role by taking singing lessons for five hours a day, convinced early on that he wouldn't be able to pull it off. All actors sang their own songs in the film production!

The plot is paper thin but that doesn't really matter with star turns from a heap of supporters that are clearly relishing the nostalgia - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Cranston and Mary J. Bligh amongst others. The story surrounds young kids migrating from country hicksville to the big smoke with dreams of hitting it big in the music industry; the local live music club with tax payment issues in fear of being closed down; the straight laced local politicians campaigning against such devil music and the venues that play it; and the infighting between Stacee Jaxx and his band, Arsenal, and the repercussions of this. Somewhere in there too there is some love interest, betrayal, reconciliation . . . and, sex and drugs and surprise surprise Rock 'n' Roll, and guess what too . . . everyone lives happily ever after!

Some great tunes belted out by the cast with the best for the Cruisemeister himself which he turns in very well. Catherine Zeta-Jones is not left out and nor are Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand who do a great romantic ballad together that you have to see! There are cameo's too from a number of Rock personalities from that era still belting out a tune today that add weight to the story, and there is a monkey too which is amusing in its own way!

All that said, it's worth the price of the ticket alone to see Tom Cruise strutting his stuff replete with six pack abs, waving locks and tattoo's aplenty, and doing it so well - he IS Stacee Jaxx! At a cost of US$75M to make, this film tanked at the global Box Office limping home with a haul of just US$60M. The film picked up one award win and nine other nominations in the final analysis including the win for Favourite Movie Actor for Diego Boneta at the ALMA Awards, as well as Worst Film from the Village Voice Film Poll! Rent it on DVD or BluRay now and decide for yourself!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-