MOVIE REVIEW

Rundown, The  (2003)

Starring: The Rock, Seann William Scott
Director: Peter Berg

Rating: PG-13

Studio: Universal

Release Date: 9.26.03

Review Posted: 9.26.03

Spoilers: Minor

By Sara M. Fetters

While The Rock Cooks, "Rundown" Lost in Traffic

I never understood the fascination with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the WWF wrestler that’s known for asking his opponents if they smell what he’s cooking. In his previous films “The Mummy Returns” and “The Scorpion King,” playing the title character of the latter in both, I found him rather awkward and stiff, the fantastical nature of both not allowing him to showcase any charisma or panache needed to be a successful action star.

With “The Rundown,” the Rock’s fist starring vehicle since “The Scorpion King,” count me amongst those convinced this beefy wrestler has what it takes to make it on the big screen. With charm, style and just a bit of winking intelligence, Johnson shows a magical ability to carry a picture from start to finish. If only the movie was worth the star’s winning efforts. The only thing worth doing after seeing this unfortunate waste of time is to rundown to the local video star and rent all the superior films that obviously inspired it.

The mysterious, muscular Beck (The Rock) is a problem solver for a local bookmaker known for his ability to rundown missing people. He’s very good at what he does, but the constant violence and carnage that flows in this enforcer's wake is starting to ware him down, and Beck wants out. With the promise of release from service, he’s asked to perform one last job: running down his boss’ wayward son Travis (Sean William Scott), currently spelunking through the forests of Central America.

Beck tracks Travis to the town of El Dorado, a small village under the tyrannical fist of a grimy, gold-seeking American named Hatcher (Christopher Walken). At first, the mining baron is more than willing to let the bounty hunter take his prey, but all that changes when he learns of the junior archeologist’s find. You see, Travis has somehow managed to unearth the resting place of a fabled native idol made of solid gold, and it’s worth millions on the black market.

Beck could care less about the idol, Travis, Hatcher or even the townspeople so obviously suffering as they work and live like slaves. He just wants to get back to California and collect his bounty. But things don’t work as planned, and soon Beck and Travis are lost amidst the dense jungle being hunted down by the landowner’s vicious henchman. Forced to make a deal with the mysterious local bar owner Mariana (Rosario Dawson, who after this and “Men in Black II” deserves far better), he allows Travis to lead them to the idol in exchange for guidance out of the jungle. Along the way, the mutual loathing between the stolid Beck and the flippant Travis begins to melt into something approaching – if not friendship – than a grudging respect. Even more, the mercenary’s eyes slowly open as he sees first hand the callous injustices dished out by Hatcher and his cronies.

“The Rundown” has some cute, throwaway moments here and there that are justifiably amusing. I liked the fact The Rock could so affably make fun of himself (he longs to open a restaurant, and is constantly taking notes as to what dishes would be perfect for the place) and there is a winking, good-natured cameo by a certain aging action star that’s perfectly amusing. He’s also amazing when thrown into action. Whether battling a bunch of super-fast, vine-swinging natives or assaulting a town like a mythic western hero, The Rock is an immediately commanding presence.

Than why can’t the movie be half as engaging as its star? Well, the paint-by-numbers script by former “Xena” writer R. J. Stewart and “Darkness Falls” scribe James Vanderbilt doesn’t help. A mishmash of “Midnight Run,” “48 Hrs.,” “Romancing the Stone,” “High Noon,” Looney Tune cartoons and the Indiana Jones trilogy, the duo squash a potentially fun B-movie premise by squashing the movie full of poorly drawn-out sequences and events more suited to their own picture. It’s a traffic jam of constantly changing tone, the two charismatic stars given no chance to gel.

While a genuinely funny and exciting opening had me thinking “The Rundown” was going to make it, there is a moment just a few scenes later where I started to realize how badly things were going to – literally – fall. After escaping Hatcher’s hands, Travis sends the jeep he and Beck are traveling over a steep forest cliff. Soon, the two are rolling and tumbling their way down the several hundred-foot ravine smashing into trees and rocks like they were both Wile E. Coyote. It’s an inhuman beating, and while I know it’s all supposed to be in silly fun, there is a point where things just get taken too far. It is a moment so obviously lifted from “Romancing the Stone,” and that wouldn’t be a bad thing save the filmmakers take it to such extreme heights any portent of believability is thrown completely out the window.

Blame sophomore director Peter Berg. The “Very Bad Things” auteur amps things up to such an absurdist level that “The Rundown” keeps threatening to turn into a cartoon. That wouldn’t be so bad, save for the fact Stewart and Vanderbilt’s script keeps trying to bring it all back to some sort of western old-school realistic revisionism. It is as if those behind the camera wanted to craft a Bugs Bunny adventure in all its reality-bending lunacy and then tried to cement it in honest human emotions and a contemporary reality. But that combination just doesn’t work here, the movie feeling like some schizophrenic exercise in bombastic over-indulgence.

The actors all give it their best shot, however. William Scott makes the most of the poorly written Travis, although I would have liked him more had he played the character with more of the honesty he displayed in “Bulletproof Monk” and less of the raunchy silliness he panders in so excessively in fare like the “American Pie” trilogy. Better is Walken, and while he is obviously slumming the esteemed “Catch Me if You Can” actor seems to be having such a giddy good time as the slickly sadistic Hatcher he’s a joy to watch. A loopy monologue about the tooth fairy and missing teeth is almost worth the price of a matinee admission on its own.

But, in the end, “The Rundown” is The Rock’s show and he does far more wonders with it than the movie does for him. He forcefully proves he can be a winning and captivating presence on film, the sexily sleek wrestler an enchanting force of nature worth keeping an eye on. His complete dismantling of the town and dispatching of the villain’s cohorts is mythic, and I just couldn’t keep my eyes of The Rock as he precision-like made his way towards his final opponent. Here’s hoping that he finds a vehicle more suited to his charms and talents next time out, leading to a career more like a Schwarzenegger’s and less like a Seagal’s.

Rating: êê  (out of 4)

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