Movie Review

The Rundown

Like Shanghai Knights (C+), The Rundown had potential, but gets spoiled by its family-skewed entertainment. While there are a few decent laughs (in the first thirty minutes), I sat stone faced through most of the running time, contemplating whether or not to stay.

I guess I could say that I was easily warned walking into this movie, as I am not a fan of The Rock, but find Seann William Scott to be an amusing presence?that is, in some movies. His move of starring in Bulletproof Monk was one trip I was not willing to take in theaters, but Scott has proved himself as an amusing character in the American Pie franchise ? but let?s also note that those scripts were, yes, R-rated.

When I saw The Scorpion King (D+), and yes, in a theater, a friend and I managed to laugh most of our way through the movie whether or not it was intended to be that way. With Rundown, The Rock goes for more of a serious action hero role and actually somewhat accomplishes the duty if one were to cancel out all the silliness interwoven around his persona. I can take silly and stupid movies, but they?ve got to be fun ? "fun" is a general word, but these movies have to resist from reaching into a specific genre: family movies.

The Rundown is very formulaic and standard in the buddy-buddy genre, but its humor is aimed to please young demographics who are a bit younger than those who showed up to Underworld on opening weekend. Rundown offers a simple and brainless plot (which I had no major problem with), but the execution is routine buddy-buddy material with two leads who think they are funny, and albeit a few moments, they are not.

The Rock, or otherwise known as Dwayne Douglas Johnson, stars as Beck ? a bounty hunter who is forced into one last assignment to clear off a debt. The job involves traveling to the Amazon jungle to find a young guy named Travis (Seann William Scott). Upon finding him, we learn through the villain role (played by Christopher Walken) that Travis has dead weight in his past, forcing Beck and Travis to go on their own escapade to clear off Travis? personal debt.

Unlike in Scorpion King, The Rock doesn?t induce laugh-out-loud reactions due to his appearance, negatively speaking. In that angle I was pleasantly surprised from the very beginning, as this is almost the toned down version of himself but in a very sassy manner. In the opening segment, his persona passes by Arnold Schwarzenegger at a club, with Arnold briefly telling him to "have fun."

Critics have applauded this element of the movie, as it gives The Rock a chance to fulfill the shoes of which Schwarzenegger may or may not be able to sustain in the future. But what backfires is that this is not a Schwarzenegger movie ? while there are action bits, they are not very exciting, and as the audience we?re never really allowed to watch a sequence play out and be persuaded to break out in claps or a cheer.

The key difference between The Rundown and most of Arnold?s past is that this product is PG-13 and skewed to a young demographic audience: pre-teens and some teenagers. Schwarzenegger has had some impressive titles, with True Lies (B+), Terminator 2 (A-), and Eraser (B) being among them. His main hero roles have taken place amongst R-rated plots, and while some of them have been adult-centered, they captured the enthusiasm of older teens and young adults simultaneously. The Rundown, however, is strictly family-oriented.
Most of the buddy-buddy tale involves Beck and Travis walking side by side through the jungle, arguing about their current situation, with Travis whining, spurting out one line after the other of idiotic complaints and remarks. One scene that could?ve been fun if played right involves the two being caught in a trap, with them hung upside down, fighting with each other while rabid monkeys invade their space, but is moronic. Yeah, it?s going to please young viewers, but it?s been a long time since I was that age.

As I mentally gathered almost halfway through the flick, the trailer to The Rundown is more amusing than the entire show. I personally did not think the preview was laugh-out-loud funny, but it appeared as if there might be some light fun, goofy material attached ? I was certainly wrong.

Christopher Walken, who I thought had the ideal chance of spreading some comedic charms for once, is mostly wasted in a role that is too straightforward and clich? for his style. One sequence where he almost mocks his own classic monologue tradition had me laughing for many seconds, but was one of the only parts I gave in throughout the duration.

The film is aimed to please and will satisfy many moviegoers for the most part, as it is light and has them them walk out feeling the emotions they wanted from the very beginning. For those moviegoers of whom, perhaps, are over 16-years old, however, The Rundown will probably be a silly experience that might persuade a really funny movie rental afterwards to make up for the downtime. I admit that I still think the trailer for this action/comedy is somewhat amusing, but The Rundown is everything but.

Lee's Grade: C

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%