Customer Reviews

The Rundown [HD DVD]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

God bless Dwayne, he's a talented guy whose thirst for knowledge in the acting arena is admirable and sadly, rarely seen these days but some of the movies he's been in have seriously lacked the plot to hold my attention. This movie had some hilarious parts (monkey scene, eating that fruit that made you high) and some rather pathetic moments ("thunder and lightning", tooth fairy speech and the fact that Dwayne is supposed to be a CHEF!?!--no backstory on that and a waste of lines). But if you're looking for an action movie that is pretty non stop, this is it. The fight scenes are good and the action is enough to keep you interested despite the poorly executed plot. Dwayne is charismatic, funny and believable in his role...I think he makes the absolute best in what he was given to work with. Sean makes the best of his role as well but for someone who has outsmarted the long arm of the slumlords for so long, some of the lines he was given were totally cheesy. I think they make a good duo though and if the script were a little more developed there's the possibility to be the next Lethal Weapon-esque buddy movie stars. (Dwayne did state he'd be interested in that type of role...interesting thought)

But if you're renting/buying this movie to see The Rock and/or a good action movie, you won't be disappointed. If you want that AND a plot, well...2 outta 3 ain't bad!

Onto the DVD extras. THIS is the reason I'm buying the DVD. My husband and I were laughing so hard we could barely breathe. It was like a whole separate bonus comedy after the movie!! Their chemistry is even more apparent on this section and the behind the scenes stuff was just great.

the rock is amazingly cool and never thought he could be so talented. there's no meaning to talk about what should be done better, what's the purpose of making this movie, just have fun is quite worth it. all the castings are pretty good, directing, editing, script, hawaiian settings for brailian jungle is seamlessly relocated. fine with me. really enjoyed. by the way, the filmcritic.com said some of the actors' teeth seems so white, i totally agree, and i just wish i could have those pure white teeth like those of the rock.

There is a scene early on in the Rundown where Arnold Schwarzenegger appears in a brief cameo, the only purpose of which is to seemingly pass the action movie baton to wrestler turned actor The Rock. And in a genre where leaden or hammy actor is par for the course - where the best actor in the bunch may be Schwarzenegger and it goes down from there to the VanDammes, Seagals and Lungrens - the Rock fits right in. He is not bottom-of-the-barrel, but the odds of him showing up on Oscar night are roughly equivalent to a lightning strike.

Of course, in an action movie like the Rundown, we don't expect to find the next Olivier or DeNiro, but even in its genre, the Rundown is nothing special, only notable for the Rock being in it, and as discussed, this is no great feature. The story has him as a bounty hunter named Beck who wants to be a cook in his own restaurant. (That's around the extent of the cleverness of this film: the idea of a macho character actually wanting to be something considered non-macho is supposed to be ironically funny, and maybe it would be if it hasn't already been done before numerous times.) Hired by a mobster to find his son, Beck goes off to South America where he runs into complications involving a ruthless miner (played by Christopher Walken in one of his weaker performances...and he's still the best in the bunch), an ancient artifact and a bunch of rebels (who actually aren't rebels in that they are defying Walken, not rebelling against the government). The result is a mishmash of many, often better movies, most notably Raider of the Lost Ark and Midnight Run.

How is the action itself? Okay, but usually overly stylized, as the director tries to show off how clever he can be. The result is that the direction is on the same level as the acting and writing, which is unimpressive at best. Beck is neither particularly bright and his fighting level seems to fluctuate with the demands of the scene: early on, he takes on several football players without breaking a sweat, then later on he has his problems going one-on-one with a small (albeit nasty) rebel, and even Sean William Scott is occasionally a challenge.

With okay action and little else to recommend it, this barely gets two stars. This is a movie that is overdirected, underwritten and woodenly acted. If you're stuck watching it, you will survive, but even in the field of cheesy action movies, there are a lot better films out there.

I have always enjoyed the Rundown on standard DVD. However,the Blu-Ray edition raises the bar of picture and sound quality to the highest level.

This Blu-Ray is a must for any fans of the The Rundown or Dwayne Johnson "AKA The Rock". Mothball your standard DVD copy and get this edition in your collection right away.The Rundown [Blu-ray]

Whereas The Rundown did not live up to my expectations, it did have some good moments. The Rock(Dwayne Johnson) does add some charisma to the screen with his glib style. Sean William Scott and Christopher Walken are fine in supporting roles.

However the story line is really nothing special. It certainly lacks depth and basically was written as a vehicle for The Rock to show if his wrestling moves and stunt man abilities. There are other action thrillers that succede on both levels(story and action). Just check out anything by Denzel Washington or even Arnold Schwartzenegger.

The Rundown does feature some comedic moments and some good action scenes. However, the story is middle of the road at best.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was both an action adventure as well as having many funny lines. I would recommend this for anyone who wants to have an enjoyable evening in front of the television.

This is such a good movie. You will laugh you butt off. Seann William Scott is great in this movie. You will see a side of the Rock you never knew existed and will love it. A must see!!

rock has to go to the rain forest to bring a guy home for a criminal who he is forced to work for.there is the rock,some goofy idiot hes chasing whose also in bulletproof monk.the bad guy plays a mob type in every movie ive ever seen him in.but well.the kids will like it too.it is a action movie.there are some minor flaws with this like the rock delivering a rock bottom during a fight.CHEESEY!!!!!!!!!!the part where the monkey humps rocks face is just nasty.i dont see why the directors have a great movie like this one then go throw a monkey trying to force himself on an x-wrestler into it.its just stupid.theres this one mexican chick in it but shes to cranky to be hot.there is an outstanding fight scene pitting the rock against some midget rain fotest people.this movie is better than the hype!

If you're looking for Acadamy Award winning acting or a compelling plot, The Rundown is not for you. But when Dewayne "The Rock" Johnson takes on an entire offensive line in a bar fight in the opening scene, and uses WWE caliber stunts to beat them all, you know that this is a fun action flick. The Rock plays Beck, a retrieval expert who collects on bets and performs other tasks for his rich employer. He is tired of the trade and wants to quit. But his boss has one final task for him: find his estranged son and bring him back home from Brazil. As Beck attempts his task, he finds his target(Sean William Scott) but has trouble lugging him back home. Many fights ensue and these fights are the meat and potatoes off this movie. The action is mostly wrestling like stunts, with a few guns mixed in. But Beck doesn't like guns because they take him to a place no one wants to see him go. Sean William Scott provides a few laughs in the movie as he complains about being kidnapped. I enjoyed this movie despite the weak plotline. The Rundown would be enjoyed by action or comedy fans. Most people will either love this movie or hate it. If unrealistic but fun to watch fighting, gunshots, and a few laughs sound like a movie you would like, you should at least rent this movie.

"The Rundown" is the latest entrant in the "action musical" category, a movie so entrenched in its belief of brawling that director Peter Berg occassionally stops the narrative to spin the Hawaiian jungle (filling in for the Amazon) in a tizzy and throw some bodies at each other. These fight scenes, most of them starring The Rock as a straight-arrow skip tracer, are at least devoted and energetic, more joyous than angry. It's jungle war, all right, but they're loving it.

The Rock is Beck, hired muscle for a loan shark looking to bring his son Travis (Seann William Scott) back from South America for reasons the movie never even cares to explain. Travis is a Stanford dropout and a treasure hunter; he is currently looking for a hidden, "priceless" aritifact called "El Gato," which in Travis-speak translates to "My Gato!" As in "You're not going to take me away from My Gato!" This is before he's even found the Gato.

Travis seems to work for Hatcher (Christopher Walken) the Kurtz-like mayor of El Dorado, a gold-mining town. A barmaid (Rosario Dawson, on the 12th of her 15 minutes) has her own buried agenda. El Dorado is a mix of sadist soldiers (whips, chains, old Jeeps), kung-fu natives and a Scottish pilot (Ewen Bremner) given to drunken, biblical, incoherent stump speeches. "Indiana Jones" and "Romancing The Stone" are influences, as are any of the hard whiskey movies of William Friedkin and Sam Peckinpah.

Amidst this, The Rock brings a dash of Schwarzenegger with him, a detached, comical disbelief that, one, he's in movies to begin with; and two, that anybody inside the movie even bothers to mess with him. Scott still tries to channel Jim Carrey, but he's beginning to settle on becoming a more gifted version of Ashton Kutcher. Berg, praise be, shoots and lights the film without any artistic flourishes: There are no washed-out skies, no sepia jungles, no cool blue interiors, no high contrast. It's bright, lucid, crisp. Doesn't seem like much, but the natural scenery is its own character because of it.

"The Rundown" aspires to escapist, Saturday matinee entertainment. It succeeds, although Rock-ogling aside, women will likely want nothing to do with this movie.