The Rundown
Movie Reviews | Sep 26th, 2003
Starring The Rock, Sean William Scott, Christopher Walken, Rosario Dawson, Jon Gries, Ewen Bremner, Ernie Reyes Jr.
Written By: R.J. Stewart, James Vanderbilt
Directed By: Peter Berg
I wasn’t going to see this but after seeing the commercials more and more and hearing good word of mouth I decided to check it out.
The story is about Beck (The Rock), who’s a bounty hunter and he’s sick of the brutal business and wants to live his dream of owning a nice fancy restaurant. Beck has to do one last job before getting his restaurant and has to track down his boss’ son, Travis (Sean William Scott) who’s pissed off the wrong people in South America. That person would be Hatcher, a land slave driver and he wants Travis because he found something priceless on “his land.” What’s The Rock gonna do, when The Walken comes after you?
I was actually surprised by the movie, I thought it was gonna be just plain hokey. It WAS that but it was also fun as well! I kind of believe The Rock is gonna be that next action star like Arnold, Sly, Steven Seagal, etc. Or he already is. Arnold actually was in the movie for a brief cameo and it was like a “passing of the torch.” The Rock’s movie career is sort of a guilty pleasure to me, because I kind of enjoyed the Scorpion King even though it was very cheesy and the same goes with this movie. Sean William Scott is the same character in every movie, just slightly different. This time he’s supposed to be some Indiana Jones type character looking for some artifact, but unlike Indiana Jones; his character dropped out of college. Christopher Walken is just funny in any movie he’s in, whether he’s knows it or not haha. Just when he speaks, you start laughing. Same goes with actor Ewen Bremner, because his Scottish accent is soo thick you can’t hear what the fuck he is saying. The movie had lots of laughs. Some funny jokes, some not.
Some of the jokes involved The Rock & Sean William Scott in physical pain, like them falling down a huge ass mountain and crashing into trees. That scene had the audience laughing and going “oohh” at the same time. The Rock’s timing with jokes was right on, and he worked well with Seann William Scott, who was annoying at times and funny the other times. The action is the reason why you would have went to see this movie in the first place and there’s plenty of it. The action is very cartoony and over the top. Which is fine, I wasn’t taking this movie serious anyway. The Rock’s character Beck doesn’t use guns, even in most extreme situations. Well until the end when it’s truly necessary. So if there is a point to the story at all, it’s guns SAVE the day!! Hooray!! I think I even said to myself in the theater, “Go Guns!!” haha like “Yo Joe!”. Not out loud mind you, to myself.
One thing I didn’t like about the movie was the editing and camera shots. They were annoying and wanted to make be vomit because some shots went by super quick, and then other times the shots would go at normal speed, and then slow down, then go fast. I don’t know what the hell Peter Berg was thinking. Also another thing that was stupid was all the wire work done for the fight scenes. At one point, it was like the Rock could fly from building to building and smash down pillars from a ledge in the process. So if you go see this movie definitely leave logic and common sense in the car. If you want to see a fun movie to see with your friends and laugh at and make fun of, this a good movie to do that. And just remember, Go Guns! hahaha.
Favorite Scenes: The peeing scene, The scene where Beck and Travis wake up after eating something from the jungle. Hatcher explaining the tooth fairy to a bunch of Spanish people. The action scenes were pretty cool too.
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 104 minutes
Overall Rating: