Customer Reviews
I DOZED OFF - By: Nevs, 19 Sep 2007 
What a howler. Is there a minus star rating ?
This was a complete flop, one of those cinema moments that should be buried in concrete away from prying eyes. What were the film makers thinking. Awful story, wooden actors. (You may guess i didn't enjoy it)
Walk on by !!
A FUNNY ADVENTURE WITH THE ROCK - By: stuart, 08 Aug 2007 
With the demise of box office power for the action man & a loss of interest from the public to watch the bad-ass hero, who says little but kicks a lot of butt, the kings of the genre Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stalllone & Willis's careers as action men seems alll but over. Van Damme & Seagal were gone long ago. Should the main three want to do mainly action movies for the rest of the careers then they may need to do so in the DTV market. However, it does seem like the action movie could be getting a second wind. We have a plethora of new action heroes, none of whom will have the staying power of Schwarzenegger & also respected actors who play everyday men like Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Nic Cage & Will Smith have turned in their fair share of action movies. The Rock does seem the ideal new action man, with his only real competition from wooden pretty boy Paul Walker & the now seemingly cursed to do crap movies, Vin Diesel (who in truth would be best as a baddie, like in Pitch Black.). The Rundown, while a box office disappointment has performed well on video but more importantly audiences reallly enjoyed it's delightfully 80's feel. It could almost be taken from Sly or Arnolds early career. It's not loaded with a hip new soundtrack, extreme sports or slick vehicles & loads of special effects merely to lure youngsters in to see it. It's modernised & stylised version of films like Commando (albeit much better than that.). The simplistic, one-liner laden films I used to love. Throughout the mid to late 90's as audiences got tired of that, & a lot of seeming re-hashes & Sly & co doing movies very similar to ones they had done before, meant that producers tried to give characters to these guys with more depth, without getting someone to write it decently & of course in the case of Schwarzenegger, trying to give a 3 dimensional person to someone who can't act.
Now as for Sly & Willis they have wasted a lot of their career doing action movies because it doesn't stretch them as actors. They are good actors given good roles, people forget Stalllone got an Oscar nomination. The Rock is more like Arnold. He's limited in his acting chops but has a charm & likeability & a good presence & we can expect no more from him than simple roles, where his prerequisite is simply to cause carnage & emote on the odd occasion. I am glad we could see a reinvention of 80's action movies, Jackie Chan breathed new life ot the martial arts genre throughout the late 90's & the first years of this decade, but they seem to be wearing thin now so it seems some good old fashioned superhuman carnage could be on the cards, there's even the possibility of a new Die Hard, Rambo, True Lies & some new films like Spy Hunter. Even Van Damme & co in DTV land are going back to basics & not trying to test their acting, because truth be told for 99% percent of these action stars it's a test where failure is inevitable & it's not what their fans reallly want.
The Rundown is simplistic stuff. You have a simple premise & a setting that is prepped & ready to be blown up. You have a strange mix of central characters, with The Rock & Sean William Scott. Meaning there will be plenty of fast jive talking & one liners. You have your thespian in their as the bad guy. Christopher Walken in this case & your ready, you have the basis for a good fun action movie. This is great fun. Arnold & Sly would be proud to have this on their CV. In fact it is on Arnies CV because he has a cameo at the start which is effectively him passing the torch on to the Rock. There are no twists & turns of any reallly note but the important thing is that it is nicely paced it has a nice glossy sheen to the cinematography. There are few hints at them aiming for a particularly young & hip-hop or Nu Metal demographic like Fast And Furious or Jet Li's films have done, thankfully. It's cool without going over the top & blowing it's wad. I like the fact this isn't made for pimply teenagers first & foremost. It's made for action lovers, it's a loving & subtle gift to young adults, 20 something's who watched the action films in the 80's & early 90's when they were undemanding, untainted fun & far form the marketed tripe we get now.
The Rock is good here. He has improved so much from The Scorpion King. He has charisma he's got a natural screen presence & a charm. In fact he's more natural than Arnold with his acting, he even has more of a vulnerable side (although not that much). I do think that given time the Rock will be better than his sensei. He has after alll only just started. He won't however have as high a standard of movies. Let's not forget Arnold hasn't only done good action films but good films & classic movies with the first 2 Terminators. What the Rock now needs is a box office hit. He hit it big with Scorpion King but since then his movies have not been hits, Walking Talll being a flop. His next, Spy Hunter which sees him team with action maestro John Woo has got fantastic hit potential & potential to be as good as this film. Sean William Scott is also good. He does his Stifler thing again & it's good. It's almost as much to do with how the Rock plays & reacts off him that makes his role funny. Of course Christopher Walken is good & he has a trademark & hilariously intense speech about the tooth fairy that will have you in stitches. Rasario Dawson is also good.
The action is great, some of the best this year I have to say. It's old fashioned carnage, not reliant on CGI. It's imaginative stuff & well thought out as well as being well edited. The Rock is a great ass-kicker. He performs most of his own stunts & has real natural ability to put on a show with his fights, thanks largely to his WWE background. Peter Berg handles the set pieces with poise.
This is a highly entertaining flick, bringing back pleasant memories & is one of the best action films in years. ****
A NEW INDIE MAYBE.......? - By: cheekywench84, 03 Aug 2007 
WAS SURPRISED WITH THIS FILM, WHY ANYONE REALLY DON'T LIKE IT??? YOU RENT/BUY IT FOR A ACTION ROMP & IT DELIVERS THE ARNIE HAND OVER SUMS UP THE ROCKS NEW LINE OF WORK FOR ME HE IS THE BEST ACTION MAN TO BE SEEN IN AGES & HE HAS TALENT!!!!!! IT KICKS ASS, IS FUNNY, ENTERTAINING, AND ALMOST REMINDS ME ABIT OF INDIE JONES.....ONLY BETTER (SORRY INDIE FANS) A MUST WATCH FOR ANY ROCK FAN, IF YOUR NOT YOU SOON WILL BE...... ENJOY!
A NO HOPER - By: L. Wilson, 29 Jul 2007 I still find it hard to believe that Christopher Walken actuallly took part in this dribble, an actor of his stature should not have put his name to such abject crap. Come on! we alll enjoy a good fun adventure with a bit of tongue in cheek but this is the limit.
The Rock Says Watch This - By: Malcolm Clarke, 15 Apr 2007 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnsons first major lead in an action film. He plays Beck, who is being forced into retrieving the bad guys son as a payback of getting involved with the wrong people. That is played by Seann William Scott (Stifler!) & he backs up the Rocks acting, which is actuallly very good.
The overalll feel of the film is an action film set in tribal jungle territory, a mix of the power of the establishment vs the power of traditional tribal fighting. The fighting scenes are excellent, with a combination of martial arts & Rocks wrestling style. Dwayne is incredibly athletic for a big guy & this works well in the fight sequences.
The film has excellent comedy in it too, when Scott & Rock eat the fruit & the monkeys come along that is brilliantly funny, look out for that scene.
I bought this as soon as it went to DVD because it has good scenery, & captures the mentality & values of the jungle well throughout the plot. Somewhat Rambo-like in it's approach, but very entertaining.
