While many have doubted if a wrestler could ever actually be a credible actor, the Rock slaps the skepticality out of their mouths. The Rock is truly this generation's action superstar. He has the look, and he has the personality, and best of all, he can actually be believeable in a movie for other purposes than just to beat people up (although he does that a lot too). Rock's character is great here. You can really read his hesitance in his face, as he is the unwilling bounty hunter who wants nothing more than to settle down and open a restaurant. Rock pulls off the character great, and never seems to be overdoing anything. He has just the right amount of nobility and honor, but also the right amount of anger and badass-ness to balance it out. This is Beck, not the Rock, although he does pay homage to the role that made him famous, as we see him give his signature finishing move, the Rock Bottom, to a character in a club, and later in the movie utter his catchphrase, "shut your mouth." I was smiling a lot while Rock was on screen. He's that good.
Sean William Scott is great here too, and it's nice to see him in something OTHER than American Pie. The humor here is entirely unsexual, but relies on his cocky demeanor that he delivers like no other actor could. The relationship between he and Rock is great, an unlikely pairing that turned out better than most movies.
Rosario Dawson also works well here. It isn't a breakthrough performance by any means, but for her purpose in the movie, she works perfectly. She has a great balance of sex appeal and take charge attitude, and she's not adverse to mixing it up with the boys when it comes to her agenda.
Christopher Walken is as brilliant as ever here, as the film's main villain. We've seen him like this many times before and loved every minute he's on the screen. This is no exception. He has a kind of psychopathic gentelness about him (a la Steve Buschemi) and this is where his comedic genius lies. On the other hand however, he truly can come across as a "bad" guy, and shows his disregard for anyone but himself perfectly. The fight scenes in this movie are a huge part, and they never disappoint.
Rock, coming from a background career that focuses on choreographed fight scenes, probably has a huge advantage while filming action scenes in a movie, only it's better here because there's room for mistakes, whereas in a wrestling ring live in front of several thousand people, there isn't. The fight scenes are choreographed brilliantly, and are (in this respect) reminiscent of Jackie Chan, as this is purely physical, and doesn't rely on computers or wires to get the job done. In my opinion, the comedy is the crowning acheivement in this movie.
One part buddy slapstick, one part verbal assault, one part jungle hijinx, this movie will keep you laughing for most of it's running time. Rock and SWS are such a great comedic pair, that you'll wonder why neither of them have been this funny before. This is largely thanks to the writing of this movie. The script itself is great, but whoever thought up the comedy in deserves a pat on the back.
We've seen a lot of movies featuring slapstick, animal attacks, and drug humor, but it's been a long time since they've all been pulled off so well. The humor at times reminded me of Rock's first film, the Scorpion King, but done much much better this time around. We expect summer movies to be huge blockbusters that are filled with good characters, lots of laughs, and tons of great action. Sometimes they deliver (Pirates of the Carribean) and become favorites that will gain huge success in the box office. Other times they are big disappointments and only gain a following from 14 year olds who like fake breasts and cars (2Fast 2Furious).
The Rundown (while a bit late to be a summer movie), is definitely one of the former.
|
Top Stories
117 Comments
