The Rundown popped up on HDNet this past week. A little over 8 years since its release, the movie has held up surprisingly well. Actually, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. The Rundown is a pretty basic action film, not overly enhanced with sci-fi techno elements, or CG special effects. Fights, double-crosses, chases, captures. Hero wins in the end.
Herewith some of the reasons I enjoyed watching it yet again:
-
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson actually evinced a little acting depth.
-
The directer, Peter Berg, tightly paced the flick with no fat. Comes in at a clean, efficient hour and a half. Plus there’s actually a distinctive visual style to the whole affair.
-
Christopher Walken doing a great, batshit exploitative warlord.
-
Rosario Dawson is, as always, easy on the eyes.
-
The film is actually funny in quite a few spots. Go away monkey!! Seann William Scott’s scruffy ass actually adds a solid comedic lift.
-
The kick ass opening sequence. Heck, all the fight sequences. Well done and not your run of the mill punch out.
You could do quite a bit worse than The Rundown on a slow, weekend afternoon.
Update. Forgot about the Arnie cameo.