It’s The Rock! Holla! Christopher Walken is also in this movie as well as the scene chewing villain of the movie, which is the primary reason I picked this movie for today. The Rundown is actually one of my more enjoyable, not really a guilty pleasure, but a movie that is really just a popcorn flick and that is all. It does manage to have a little of everything in it with some drama, lots of comedy, and pretty decent action sequences, that are a bit too cartoony in some instances. But hey, it’s still a great movie to sit back and watch The Rock, Walken, William Scott and Dawson do their thing.
Beck (The Rock) is a “retrieval specialist” in hock to a powerful and not particularly nice gentleman named Walker (William Lucking). Beck is anxious to retire from his dangerous work and open a small restaurant. Walker tells Beck he’ll be free and clear with enough cash to fulfill his dream if he does one more job. He sends Beck into the Brazilian rainforest to bring back his wayward son, Travis (Seann William Scott). Travis is down there looking for a legendary idol, El Gato Diablo, which he could sell for millions if he found it. A pretty local, Mariana (Rosario Dawson), offers Travis the use of her boat in exchange for a cut of the take on the statue. But the powerful Hatcher (Christopher Walken) owns the area’s huge mine, where locals work for slave wages, and feels that anything found in the area is his property. He refuses to let Beck take Travis back to the U.S. until the statue is in his hands. Using his estimable fighting prowess (he doesn’t like guns), Beck manages to get Travis out of town, but Travis doesn’t want to go home, and he ends up getting them stranded in the jungle, where they’re confronted with horny monkeys and angry guerrillas. To make matters worse, Hatcher and his thugs are hot on their trail, and Mariana turns out to have her own motives for getting involved. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
The Rundown is a really great action flick that doesn’t aim to break new ground in the genre, but rather do the best it can within the genre and the material given. A lot of credit is partly due to The Rock and Sean William Scott being this perfect little off kilter buddy duo that manage to bounce a lot of strong chemistry off one another. Every scene they are in, which happens to be the majority of the movie, are some of the more memorable and enjoyable portions of the flick. Scott has that natural comedic timing that allows him to be both obnoxious and funny while being escorted by the stalwart Rock who is a very focused individual. It’s nice to see two different characters find this uneasy middle ground that produces some really great back and forth exposition. They were the best part of the flick to say the least.
I can’t discredit Mr. Christopher Walken with his excellent scene chewing. He plays the clairvoyant, Hatcher, the man in charge of the slave mining operation. I like to think that his portrayal of Hatcher is just him having a lot of fun since the character just embodies all the little eccentricities of Walken as an actor. He sashays across the screen, makes quips and gives us that classic Walken style. Rosario Dawson plays Mariana, a local worker who also happens to have a stake in the livelihood of the miners. She brings her intensity to the role that doesn’t honestly get a lot of time or development. She just shows up, looks pretty, has a few kick ass scenes, but then that is about it as a character.
I will admit that I pretty much dismissed this movie when it came out in theaters as just another ho-hum Rock vehicle. I mean considering his past roles, I figured it wasn’t much to look into, but after seeing it several months after its release, I have to apologize for the judgment. The Rundown is a popcorn flick that is funny and action packed to the point that it elevates it above a middle of the road pack of similar releases. A lot has to do with Rock and Scott as the buddy duo that are at each others throats, but have a natural chemistry that carries the movie from start to finish. The action sequences are every bit of fun as the comedy, so you will at least enjoy the movie as a fun ride.
