The Rundown Review
by Susan Granger (ssg722 AT aol DOT com)October 6th, 2003
Susan Granger's review of "The Rundown" (Universal Pictures)
After "The Scorpion King," there's no doubt that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a cinematic force to be reckoned with and, not surprisingly, this wrestler-turned-actor once again emerges as a competent, if not charismatic, actor. This action-packed Amazon adventure follows a bounty hunter, or "retrieval expert," named Beck (The Rock) who reluctantly goes into the jungle to retrieve Travis (Seann William Scott, a.k.a. Stifler in "American Pie"), the runaway son of a Los Angeles loan shark. The kid's a smart-aleck treasure hunter who has discovered the location of a valuable golden idol that's hidden in a booby-trapped cave. This prized artifact is also coveted by a villainous, greedy American (Christopher Walken).and an enigmatic bar-wench/rebel leader (Rosario Dawson) with a secret. In addition to "Option A" or "Option B," there's hallucinogenic fruit, hostile monkeys, exploited gold-miners and perils in the mining town called Helldorado.
Utilizing a formulaic "buddy" script by R.J. Stewart and James Vanderbilt, actor-turned-director Peter Berg ("Very Bad Things"), decided to shoot in Hawaii rather than go for Amazonian authenticity - for good reason. When he was scouting locations in Brazil with producer Kevin Misher, they were ambushed by native gunmen and robbed of their cash and computers. Oahu was a lot safer. And the idea of having Arnold Schwarzenegger do a cameo is clever; his off-hand - "Have fun" - line kind of signifies passing the action-hero torch to a successor. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Rundown" is a testosterone-propelled 5. Actually, the most exciting fight sequence is featured in the theatrical trailer as The Rock braves a smackdown from native tribesmen, including a tiny Brazilian kick-boxer.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
