The Rundown is a rather good movie for what it is. Thisaction film is somewhat predictable yet still fun to watch. It is a project that has been circulating around the Universal lotfor about 10 years and was originally slated for a vehicle for thedirty dancer himself, Patrick Swayze.  That fell through andwas then revamped to suit The Rock. 

The Rock, whose previous movie rolls are a small cameo in TheMummy Returns and the lead in The Scorpion King, ishoping this movie propels him into the big time.  Well, itshould because it shows that The Rock has the ability to carry hisown movie without the help of being part of a franchise (TheMummy series). He also gets to show the comedic side of hisacting ability, which he first gained fame for when he hosted oneof the top rated “Saturday Night Live” shows in thelast 10 years.

The Rock plays bounty hunter Beck in the film.   Hehas a tough exterior but is a really good guy at heart.  Whenthe film begins it shows him in the midst of trying to complete ajob, which requires him to get some collateral for a paymentowed.  Things don’t go well for Beck, and he is forcedto use his skills on an entire football team. Now he only useshand-to-hand combat because he says “bad things happen when Iuse guns.” What is really great about this establishing sceneis the small cameo from the Terminator himself, ArnoldSchwarzenegger. 

There is almost like a passing of the action hero torch. AsSchwarzenegger is walking out of the club, he tells The Rock to”Have fun.”  This scene was not originallyplanned, but the director, Peter Berg , thought it would be cool toconvince him to do it. So he and The Rock went, had dinner withSchwarzenegger and asked him. They went straight from dinner to themovie set and it just happened.

So now back to The Rock. His character Beck wants out of thebounty hunter game in order to pursue his dream job but is forcedinto doing one last job which is to find the son of hisemployer.  This role is played by none other than Sean WilliamScott, the Stifmeister himself.

Scott plays archeologist Travis in search of an ancient Mexicanartifact.   Retrieving Travis from Brazil proves to beharder for Beck than he originally plans. He ends up on a littleadventure with him through the jungles of this small Braziliantown.

Sean and The Rock have really good on-camera chemistry and makethe movie enjoyable to watch. The blending of action and comedy,which has been done before with Rush Hour, is combinedperfectly in The Rundown.  With scenes involving agroup of monkeys to a group of rebels that fights with The Rock,you’ll be laughing and amazed at the same time.

The action seems pretty tense, especially when Beck fights therebels. The Rock’s stunt double actually broke his ankle onthe tree falling scene.  Also, in one scene Scott wasaccidentally cut by The Rock and had to get stitches.

Their adventures lead them to finding the ancient Mexicanartifact and to fighting a crime lord played by the indelibleChristopher Walken.  He does great in this role and brings acomedic side to the movie that one would not expect. For example,he tries to use the tooth fairy as a metaphor for himself and goldas his teeth; The Rock has some of his teeth.  Trust me— it’s way funnier coming from Walken.

So if you’re looking for a fun movie in which youdon’t have to look deep below the surface, you’ll havea great time watching The Rock laying the “smackdown”on Walken and the gang in The Rundown.