The Rundown (2003)

The Rundown is a pretty good action adventure with equally impressive performances by Dwayne Johnson and Seann William Scott. Director Peter Berg has done a solid job of making this movie about a mob enforcer who goes to the Amazon to bring back his boss' son but gets into far more than he bargained for while on a search for a legendary treasure. Dwyane Johnson turns in a good performance as Beck an aspiring chef who takes this last job to bring back the son of his boss. Johnson's very believable as the hero especially in the action/fight sequences no matter how over the top some of them get in the movie. Sean William Scott is just as good as the boss' estranged son Travis who's after a legendary treasure thats somewhere in the Amazon forest. Scott bring much comic relief to the movie as he usually does which balances well between the action, drama, and suspense. The rest of the cast are solid in their roles including Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken, Ewen Bremner, and Jon Gries but they're not given much to do. There's also a blink and you missed it cameo by a certain governor I'm sure everyone has heard about. The action/fight sequences are well executed but some of them get unrealistic at times which isn't necessarily a bad thing it just makes you shake your heard saying, "yea right I don't care how tough you are" once and a while but other than that they're still intense and well paced. Overall despite some flaws The Rundown is still an entertaining action adventure comedy thats definitely worth seeing because of the impressive performances by Johnson and Scott.

Fmovies: One of the ideal popcorn movies of recent years has been Peter Berg's "The Rundown" a highly humorous 2003 action-adventure flick starring Dwayne Johnson (back when he was billed as The Rock) and Seann William Scott. There is a key moment early in the picture when Johnson is walking into a rough n tough party room and passes Gov. Schwarzenegger on the way out. The governor, once the hot muscle-man in movies, turns to Johnson and comments: "Have fun." He passes down the torch to the next generation and in just the right movie. Since "The Rundown" and other early successes of his', he has become a movie icon and deservedly so. He just had to showcase his genuine talents in a great movie. And "The Rundown" is a great movie. It is 104 minutes of pure enjoyment, something we don't find so easily these days.

What's even more remarkable about the film is that it accomplishes this without breaking any new ground. It is an old-fashioned adventure tale just brought to life with a modern style. Other films have attempted this and failed. So why does "The Rundown" succeed? Let's take a look and find out.

The movie stars Johnson as Mr. Beck, a mob boss's collector who is afraid to go against an NFL offensive line because he doesn't want to hurt them and ruin their chances of winning another championship. Wanting to leave and start his own business (a restaurant) he gets the final assignment of tracking down his boss's renegade son (Seann William Scott) who is residing in Brazil. When Johnson gets there, he not only has trouble restraining the rebellious and persistent Scott, but also faces opposition from a cruel land-owner played by Christopher Walken and freedom-fighters led by Rosario Dawson, all of whom want to get their hands on a priceless artifact hidden in the jungle.

Nothing new in terms of plot. And not much else new in terms of story. I think a key element that makes "The Rundown" a winner is because of its ideal casting. Sure, anybody from Sly Stallone to Gov. Schwarzenegger or even a new face could have been cast as Mr. Beck, but Johnson not only has the buff and cynical looks, but an enormous amount of on-screen charisma that we seem to be lacking in a lot of movie stars these days. Johnson not only fits the role, but he plays it extremely well. He's tough, but funny at the same time. The jokes are well-written, but he plays the notes just right. Seann William Scott is also ideally cast in his role. In the hands of a lesser actor, or somebody else, the smart-lipped character might have come across as being nothing but irritation. Scott plays the role like an early Jim Carrey role. Sort of like Ace Ventura if he were a treasure hunter. But he neither overplays nor underplays this role. He finds just the right note in between and produces a very funny and likable guy even if those around cannot agree with us. Christopher Walken has a cut-out villain to play, but he does so with such scene-stealing power that he makes a rather memorable character out of his standardized dialogue and motives. And Rosario Dawson is very well suited for her role. She is beautiful, but not smoking hot so that does not distract us. She also plays the role of a freedom fighter with conviction.

Another key element to the success of "The Rundown" is how it chooses to mix both action and humor. But it never overplays one or underplays the other. The action is neither too intense nor too lackluster. By contrast, it is very

This movie will appeal to all who like action for the sake of action. "The Rock" does a moderate job of acting in this movie-but his performance would not win him any awards. I love the fight scene in the beginning against the football team. Overrated and improbable: of course...but it really appeals to the thrill seeker in me for some reason.

Sean William Scott plays off The Rock's character very well. I was disappointed with his performances in American Pie/Wedding. I thought he was a foul-mouthed, obviously stereotyped actor. I was pleasantly surprised at his different acting ability in this movie.

This movie is a B+ flick with good fight scenes and low budget story lines. Good for mindless entertainment.

The Rundown fmovies. The Rock has done it again! He has made another big screen hit, and this time, he has used every trick in the book from the WWE. The results: The Rundown! Playing a bounty hunter is definitely a good role for The Rock. He doesn't play around, and I think he should thank Martha Stewart for the cooking ideas. Better yet, it should the "E" man; Emeril Lagasse. For the voice he lends to the The Rock's character. I liked all the scenes in the movie, and even though they were pretty fast paced, the fun factor was never lost. Take the jungle scene, where all the rebels fight Beck, there was a lot of action there. And I think the humor was the backup factor there too. Rosario Dawson provided a lot of quality as well. I liked the part where she gave Beck(The Rock) and Travis(Seann William Scott) some of that funky fruit. And then they had to wake up with the monkeys, with what Beck had to put up with earlier in the movie. Christopher Walken was good playing the bad "a". It was funny, when he had the .44 automatic shot out of his hand, and had to choose Option A, the hard way. This movie had a lot to give, action, adventure, and comedy. What more do you want? Rating 3 out of 5 stars!

After seeing The Rundown some odd sensation in me suggested that if director Peter Berg had been more interested in surveying his characters in his ultra-stinker debut, Very Bad Things that he could have had a masterpiece on his hands. With that assumption stated it is hard to believe that The Rundown is one of those rare films that physically pits its heroes above their action. Allowing a story to build around natural causes instead of setting up backdrops in order to initiate planned action sequences.

Existing somewhere between a big, dumb summer popcorn flick and a sincere alternative, staring into the eye of adventure, this is a film that is entertaining on almost all levels. We are given assurance to this early on in the film from none other than Arnold Schwarzennger when he tells star, the Rock to `have fun' while walking down the hall of a nightclub. Having had such a mighty torch passed to him so early on it would be a dishonour to expect anything less than off the wall amusement from the Rock. He in turn gives a performance in Beck that is so crisp and fresh that we believe he has the potential of a hero. Beck works for the bad guys, taking jobs that no man without a purpose would ever question. But the Rundown is a good movie, and a good movie knows enough that its characters need dimension. Thus Beck is a man who does have a purpose. He is aspiring to open his own restaurant. But in order to get the money to achieve his goal he takes one last job. The job finds himself traveling to Brazil to a small town called El Dorado in order find his bosses son Travis (Sean William Scott of American Pie) and bring him home, not an easy task as the duo quickly develop a strong love/hate relationship.

Along the journey we find another layered characteristic about Beck in that doesn't like guns. `You're the only American I know who doesn't like guns,' says an onlooker. But he doesn't like them because `bad things happen when I use guns.' And from watching Beck in hand-to-hand combat it is not hard to image what life would be like with a gun at his disposal.

What follows in the jungle is an action flick that I've already seen, in Gunmen and Indiana Jones. But Gunmen was a joke that no one seemed to be in on or, maybe it didn't realize it had one, but the Rundown does. Making it a lot easier to have a sense of humour about something that sees caricature in itself. We then encounter a villainous mine owner named Hatcher in Christopher Walken who says all the things that we tend to wonder when unbelievable circumstances are questioned in a serious film. Walken, an actor so aware of himself and his purpose that he seems to make even the most senseless dialogue meaningful, is given the films single best line. When asked by one of his henchmen if he thinks Beck and Travis are dead after driving off a cliff, Hatcher replies, `what am I, psychic.' He later outdoes himself and his character again when, after a stampede erupts in the middle of a town he utters impressively, `that's a lot of cows,' while watching a video monitor.

But Walken isn't the only key player with something unique to show. Rosario Dawson gives the most curios and understanding action performance from a female since Linda Hamilton stared in the Terminator, and the Rock proves that, although his acting range may be limited, that is no excuse for one dimensional character association. Scott also shows that his smart-alecky nature is not just reserved to the American Pie movies.

The Rock's newest one this weekend and found The Rundown to be quite entertaining. Sure, the plot is nothing to sneeze at but casting Christopher Walkin as the lead villain was wonderful. He has a very unique way of playing with the dialogue to make it quite funny. Seann William Scott is pretty darn hysterical and plays the second banana well. The impressive find is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's performance. The guy is getting better and better. I found his first one, The Scorpion King, to be fun but not worth collecting. This one might have to be bought though. His years of using a script and improvising in front of a multi-thousand seat auditorium has translated well to the screen and he has a sense of timing and ease in front of the cameras that has been hard won. He obviously can handle the action aspects of the movie too but (as with most action stars) I hear he wants to stretch his wings and perform other stuff. That has the potential to be fine down the line but lets see how he continues with the Action/Comedies first. Should be interesting to see how they do the Walking Tall remake. The original one was a pretty powerful movie with some seriously tense sequences.

Hopefully it won't be changed to much. Anyway, gonna have to give this one 3/4