MOVIE REVIEW: Although mindless, ‘Rundown’ entertains
Grade: B
“The Rundown” is brainless, loud, obnoxious, and an insult to the efforts of numerous directors and filmmakers that have worked so hard to raise cinema from base entertainment to the level of socially conscious art for decades.
And that’s exactly what is so great about the movie.
When I walked out of the Stadium 8 into a typically brief Utah rainstorm, I couldn’t help laughing to myself. For the last two months, I had been subjected to the painfully unfunny “Medallion,” the audience-confused mess of “Dickie Roberts,” the arduously amateurish “Book of Mormon Movie,” a “Blues Brothers/Sister Act/Commitments” knock-off, and the latest in a long line of “Sixth Sense”-inspired “twist movies” that build an entire movie on one foundation, then throw it in the bin with a last minute shocking revelation. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the professional wrestler movie, a film whose lead character was named after sediment, would be more fun than all of them.
But fun it was.
“The Rundown” is the perfect film for anyone looking for two hours away from the monotony of the daily grind. It’s two hours away from school, work, dating or anything that is getting on your nerves.
It’s the kind of movie that helps you forget that California just put the Kindergarten Cop in office. That is, until you realize that one day the hero may follow suit himself.
Incidentally, “The Rundown” is about a bounty hunter – played by The Rock – who is sent to Brazil to grab his boss’ rebellious kid (one of the “American Pie” guys) and bring him home. Along the way The Rock beats up everyone from over-pampered college football stars to South American political revolutionaries to the kid he’s supposed to rescue to Christopher Walken. Great stuff.
What’s surprising is how inoffensive the film actually is. There’s basically no sex, and the violence isn’t bloody. It’s just really loud. The Rock doesn’t even use guns through most of the film (though he tosses the anti-gun statement out the window in the movie’s climax).
Plus, the most potentially offensive culprit in a movie like this -the dialogue – isn’t. I was expecting a lot of “Armageddon”-style macho lingo, but relatively speaking, it wasn’t too bad.
“The Rundown” never tries to push itself as anything other than what it is – a loud action flick. It never tries to be funnier than it is, and it never tries to push any hypocritical morals on us. It also confirms Christopher Walken’s spot as my second-favorite actor of all time, next to Gene Hackman. Watching him try to explain the concept of the tooth fairy to a bunch of Brazilian mercenaries is worth the price of admission all by itself.
Just pray that The Rock stays in the movies.
Josh Terry is a graduate student in the American studies program. He can be reached at jterry@english.usu.edu.