The Rundown, or 450 reasons to say "that's gotta hurt." Dwayne Douglas Johnson using his wrestling name "The Rock" does what he does best--choreographed fighting for crowd titillation. But his real gift is for charm. The Rock oozes charisma. And it's that charisma that has taken him the wrestling ring to moderate fame. Many people who have never seen wrestling know of The Rock, with his trademark eyebrow left and his signature cry: "If you smell what The Rock is cooking,"

        In The Rundown he plays Beck, an indentured thug to a loan shark. The film is pretty typical action fare. Beck establishes his credentials in the opening scene by taking on a nightclub full of football heroes and tough guys to collect a gambling debt. His instruction is to collect a diamond ring from a gambling quarterback. Beck is not keen on the situation when he realizes the entire team is in the nightclub--he doesn't want to hurt their shot at the playoffs.

        But he does. Beck is impressive in a fight. However, he wants to give up thuging to open a restaurant, which is rather amusing considering the whole "if you smell what the Rock is cooking" thing. But before donning the apron, Beck has to complete one last mission. Go to Brazil and bring back his boss's wayward son. Travis, played by Seann William Scott of American Pie fame.

        Simple, except he has to deal with Christopher Walken, now apparently so old he wears his trousers just below his sternum, but hasn't retired his freaky stereotype. Here he owns a jungle and all the people in it and wages war against The Rock for trying to take out one of his pawns.

        Speaking of stereotypes, there's Rosario Dawson as Mariana, the only woman in the movie except for the dozen or so extras in the crowd scenes. Dawson's costume is tight fitting jungle fatigues with a plunging neckline, which seems fairly appropriate in a movie obviously designed for the testosterone market.

        Once Beck interacts with Mariana there seems to be a moment when this action adventure buddy flick threatens to become an action adventure romantic comedy, but since the humor stays at middle school level we can be fairly sure the plot will too. For the most part, The Rundown is all about men who either punch or get punched, shoot or are shot in a constant whirl of action so intensive I felt that my consistent adrenaline rush had to be considered a cardiac workout.

        I like The Rock, so I liked The Rundown. I got exactly what I expected--a film so wincingly hokie you have to chuckle, a clumsy plot packed with fast camera work and more stunts than you can count. But I was entertained. The Rock knows his market and understands the power of his charisma. The Rundown is campy and predictable and impressive at the same time. Oh, and it takes 50 minutes for The Rock to take off his shirt. It's worth the wait.

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