Overall, The Rundown is a good blend of action, adventure, and comedy.
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You have to figure it was only a matter of time before Hollywood would give us the next muscle-bound tough guy. With Arnold Schwarzenegger out of commission for a few years, it's only obvious the position is up for grabs. And who better to fill the void than the Hawaiian stallion, tough guy himself, The Rock. As with any new action star to come along, he has some very big shoes to fill. After all, it is not as if people who admire action films will not compare him to Arnold, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Bruce Willis, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, and others of the genre.
The Rock does have advantages over his predecessors. He's young, certainly big enough, and definitely gives the same wooden, stilted performance that many of his heroes before him etched on the silver screen. It would be safe to say that the man will have no hope of ever being a great character actor or ever winning an Academy Award. If that does happen, then I can only hope I'm not around because I wouldn't want to be here to find out what happens next. However, this is not to say that I don't like The Rock I think he fits the tough guy persona rather well, and as long as he chooses decent scripts, like "The Rundown," then he should have a good career ahead of him.
In the tradition of my good friend, John Puccio, let me first provide a definition of the word "Rundown" from dictionary.com, via Princeton University: "Rundown (n): a concluding summary (as in presenting a case before a law court). (Adj.): worn and broken down by hard use; "a creaky shack; "a decrepit bus...its seats held together with friction tape"; "a flea-bitten sofa"; "a run-down neighborhood; "a woebegone old shack."
In all respect, I don't think that any of those definitions apply to "The Rundown." The movie's title is more in the literal sense of chasing someone down. In the film, The Rock plays a debt collector named Beck, and he's not the friendly debt collector that calls to harass you on the phone. He's the kind of man who gets the job done by means of violence when he is pushed to the point of having to use it. He does present himself with some unique clichés, however, such as he doesn't like guns and prefers never to use them. He is also fond of cooking and always carries a wallet-size recipe book with him and plans to open his own restaurant once he quits the collection business. He also gives us some campy dialogue whenever he is about to get violent. He always gives his victims the choice of option A or option B, and believe me, it's best to choose option A. Of course, since this is an action movie, no one ever chooses option A.
In the film, he's asked to find his boss's son, Travis (Seann William Scott), who has been in search of a very valuable artifact in the jungles of Brazil. Mr. Beck reluctantly takes the job and heads to South America, which is really Hawaii, and sets out to bring Travis back to Los Angeles. Once he arrives in a small mining town, he meets up with the villain of the story, Mr. Hatcher (Christopher Walken). Now, I should point out that Walken's role is the usual bad guy character that he is so good at playing. Without his dry dialogue, which always puts a smile on my face, I'd say the movie might have been a total flop. Walken's character adds so much to the film that it makes it that much more enjoyable. My favorite scene in "Pulp Fiction" is him giving the speech about the gold watch. In "The Rundown" I found myself looking for comparative dialogue. He does go into something about a tooth fairy, but nothing compares to the gold watch story.
Once Mr. Hatcher gives Mr. Beck permission to take Travis out of his little mining camp, the real action begins. Hatcher finds out that Travis, who has no intention of going back to Los Angeles, is on the hunt for a valuable artifact, so Hatcher decides to cancel the deal he made with Beck. This, of course, leads to a big fight scene in a local bar as Beck manages to escape with Travis. From here, the film can be summed up as a plethora of action sequences. Mr. Beck and Travis take a long tumble down a very steep hillside into the heart of the jungle, and, as the usual cliché goes, neither one of them manage to break any bones or get a scratch on them. Soon, they both find themselves stuck in a booby trap, and this is accompanied by a rather funny scene with baboons.
Next, we are thrown into an extensive, overelaborate fight scene with some South American rebels. The fight is eventually stopped by Maria (Rosario Dawson), who is the local bartender by day and rebel leader by night. She is aware that Travis is on the hunt for the artifact and means to take it for herself in order to free her people from Hatcher. Alas, though, Hatcher with his usual thugs finds the group of rebels, and we are thrown into a big chase scene through the jungle.
Maria, Beck, and Travis finally find the resting place of the artifact, and we are then tossed into what can only be described as an Indiana Jones adventure. The artifact is retrieved, but as anyone can guess in this kind of film, it ends up in Hatcher's hands. This, of course, leads to a highly explosive ending as Mr. Beck and Travis practically level a small town in order to retrieve the stolen artifact and rescue the girl.
In the end, you may find yourself as I did, highly entertained, pleased, and laughing at the usual clichés found in this type of film. "The Rundown" is full of nonstop action, thrills, and lighthearted humor. The plot is nothing special, and for that matter, the movie is nothing special. It is, however, enjoyable enough and worthy of wasting a couple hours of one's time. If you're looking for a fun action film that doesn't ask you to think, then "The Rundown" is a satisfying choice. It will most likely never be a film classic, nor will it be one of the greats. However, what qualities it lacks are made up for in its fast pace and campy action. As I said, it is nothing special, but, then again, it is the kind of movie that does not have to be.
Video:
"The Rundown" is a dual-layer, single disc presented in anamorphic widescreen, 2.53:1. The colors are in a very vivid high contrast. In fact, they're so brilliant you may find the need to make adjustments just to tone them down. Not that this is a bad thing in any way. I found the picture to be astonishing compared to other Universal releases I've seen. The overall picture is sharp and clean, with very little grain. Even the dark areas seem to have a smooth blend, with very little distortion. With as many extras as were placed on the single disc, you'd have to expect a high compression rate just to fit the movie; however, it's surprising how well the picture quality turned out.
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[release]12072[/release]