johnlink ranks THE RUNDOWN (2003)
I think I’ve finally sorted out this action movie bonanza on my site this year. It’s been a hectic 2013. Baby not sleeping, lots of classes, lots of work responsibility. When Liz and I sit down to watch a movie, there has been a somewhat conscious choice to avoid heavy or serious. This often leads to picking movies we’ve seen and which are easy to absorb (and easy to pause when the baby wakes up). Anyway, THE RUNDOWN falls into the easy to absorb category for sure. No work necessary in taking this thing in.
I watched THE RUNDOWN (2003) on 3.5.13. It was my second viewing of the film, and first since it was in theaters (ten years ago!).
It may be difficult to remember the mild wonder which accompanied this movie’s entrance into theaters. The Rock had been in THE MUMMY franchise, but his one lead THE SCORPION KING, had been only mildly received. THE RUNDOWN marked his entry into attempting to be a legitimate movie star taking the lead in a modern horror-comedy, heck Arnold Schwarzenegger almost literally passes the torch to him in the first scene. It was supposed to really allow his best attributes to shine.
And, for the most part, it does. THE RUNDOWN is so easy to watch. A couple of known commodities help. Seann William Scott attempts an odd sort of Stifler-as-Indiana-Jones persona, though he is 94% Stifler and 6% Jones. Christopher Walken lends weight (and a wonderful tooth fairy scene) to the villain who mines locals in a South American village to be, well, miners. Rosario Dawson is the tough local who is more than she seems. All three of these actors allow Rock to shine.
The action in the movie is high-energy and fun, even if director Peter Berg sometimes cuts around too quickly and moves the camera too much. Still, we get to see the Rock land some of his wrestling moves, we get to see him beat up guys who are bigger than he is, we get to see what we expect. The movie is smart to not make him invincible, however. Perhaps the most surprising scene comes when a group of locals of a small stature beat the heck out of him for a few minutes. The movie is smart enough to make The Rock human and not unstoppable. Well, to a certain extent. He still goes Rambo on their asses in the final act.
This is a just an enjoyable light action movie. There is not all that much to go into in terms of depth. It’s a film which would have been in my regular rotation as a kid if it had come out ten years earlier. Instead, I view it as something fun and distracting. It won’t take me ten more years to throw it on again, that’s for sure.
SCORES
FILM: 4; MOVIE: 9; ACTING: 5; WRITING: 6
4+9+5+6+0=24
FINAL SCORE: 6
johnlinkmovies 
It’s called Welcome to the Jungle in the UK 😀
That was a working title here until it was vetoed. I feel like Guns N Roses had something to do with the US not running with that title.