***Official THE RUNDOWN Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Brian Ford · Jul 19, 2003

The Rundown (formerly Helldorado / Welcome to the Jungle)

View The Trailer Here

While many viewed the new trailer to Robert Rodriguez's "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" before "Bad Boys II" last night, select audiences also were able to view the new trailer to Peter Berg's "The Rundown", which held my attention from start to finish.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson leads in the role of professional bounty hunter who tracks down a man (Seann William Scott) in an area of the Amazon known as "Helldorado" (The title of this project during production).

Along the way Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken and even Arnold Schwarzenegger get thrown into the mix. Gold hunting, monkey fighting and the most painful looking fall-down-a-steep-hill ensue.

A stand out scene in the trailer appears when Ernie Reyes Jr. (Mr. Surf Ninjas / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II himself) lays the smackdown on The Rock.

While Yahoo Movies does offer the trailer to be viewed online, I recommend that you watch it first on the big screen. It offers a very different experience.

Thankfully, the cast looks to be much more comfortable and suited for their roles than in "The Scorpion King", and the director looks to be following a much better script than "Very Bad Things". Looking forward to this one.

Jason Harbaugh · Jul 20, 2003

Saw the trailer tonight before Bad Boys II and it actually didn't look that bad at all and the trailer had a ton of great scenes. They could have cut a minute and a half out of that trailer though. I have a feeling that they gave away nearly every action piece and comedy bit in the movie.

Scott Weinberg · Jul 26, 2003

I was all set to dismiss this Shelf Movie until I saw the most recent trailer.

(Here it is on the Quicktime site: http://www.apple.com/trailers/univer...e_rundown.html )

It looks like low-I.Q. action adventure - but the trailer alone is more entertaining than Tomb Raider 2 and LXG combined.

Quentin · Jul 26, 2003

Pretty funny trailer..."Establish dominance!"

Dave Simpson · Sep 11, 2003

Saw the Great One's latest movie, The Rundown, at a promo screening last night here in Toronto, and much like his previous effort The Scorpion King, it's definately not the train-wreck I had anticipated. In fact, The Rundown (formerly known as Helldorado) is an entirely serviceable and sturdy, 'tho wholly unoriginal, action-adventure buddy-flick which I'm sure will please the millions...and millions of fans of the Brahma Bull. Plot concerns The Rock, as a "retrieval expert", venturing to South America with the intention of returning to Lalaland with the son (Stifler, from the Pie series) of an underworld figure to whom the People's Champion owes a significant debt. Much running, jumping, shooting, chasing, fist and foot swapping, bull-whipping, treasure-hunting, and peasant-liberating ensues. Pic has the heavily-processed look and rat-tat-tat editing style so prevalent in today's action movies, which surely befits a star of The Rock's ability, and that's intended by me as no slam; it's a wise choice by director Peter Berg (he played the daredevil doc on Chicago Hope, and previously directed Very Bad Things). The Rock demonstrates great screen-presence, and appears more sure-footed here than in his previous lead outing, which I think in this sort of picture has greater bearing on the proceedings than do acting chops. Special note must be made of the contribution of Christopher Walken, playing the villain, natch, who really anchors the picture. I've really no idea why a thesp of his talent is slumming in stuff in like this, so I'll just suppose that, as with Krusty The Klown, the producers drove a dump-truck full of money up to his house. Nevertheless, Walken is at the top of his game here, 'tho it might be convincingly argued that his performance consists mainly of doing an impression of the various actors and comedians who've reaped considerable mileage in recent years out of doing Walken impressions themselves. Light applause greeted the credit roll following the pic's predictable resolution, but then, we all saw it for free. For the WWE fans among us, and I'm one if you couldn't tell (duh!!), the crowd also clapped and cheered when the Great One layed the Rock-Bottom on a baddie in the opening sequence. No hand-licking Smackdown, however, and no People's Eye-Brow, neither. Lastly, there's a really brief cameo by a well-known fellow which effectively serves as a passing-of-the-torch in both appearance and dialogue (skip the IMDB listing if you prefer to be surprised).
In sum, I'm giving The Rundown a rating of **/****, a guarded

. If you're a fan of The Rock, you'll surely dig this improvement on his prior lead effort; others will find an action pic which breaks no new ground.
Thanks for readin' this far, and cheers!

DS.

Mikel_Cooperman · Sep 12, 2003

He's back in the theatre and we should be happy about this?

Ive seen previews of The Rundown and I thought it looked rediculous.
People falling hundreds of feet without Broken bones, trucks fallikng from trees above them and them conveniently dodging out of the way.
Its films like this that make me Hate Hollywood.

Sad that Peter Berg has had to resort to this.

Ricardo C · Sep 12, 2003

Finally, The Rock Has Come Back...To Your Local CIN-ema

Alright, which one of you wiseguys opened the door and let him in????

Click to expand...

Dave Simpson · Sep 12, 2003

Quote:

Ive seen previews of The Rundown and I thought it looked rediculous.
People falling hundreds of feet without Broken bones, trucks fallikng from trees above them and them conveniently dodging out of the way.

------------------------------------------------------------

Mikel,

And the rest of today's action pictures are somehow less rediculous(sic.)?
Cheers.

DS.

JustinCleveland · Sep 12, 2003

Dave,

I saw this movie where a guy put gun powder in his body and lit it on fire... that was believable! And that movie where the guy wouldn't die, and he fell 30 feet and caught himself by his fingertips. Ooh, and what about the one where a guy shot from his hip and hit 5 opponents before they could draw.

Realism, in action movies, has always been optional. I saw the trailers for this film, thought it looked entertaining, and I might rent it when it comes out on DVD for a weekend lark. Probably not cinema-friendly, for me, but it'll be fun.

Mikel_Cooperman · Sep 12, 2003

I am all for a mindless action movie every once in a while but I am still having a hard time believing that anyone would call The Rock "The great one".

Ryan_C · Sep 13, 2003

I am all for a mindless action movie every once in a while but I am still having a hard time believing that anyone would call The Rock "The great one".

Mikel,

The Rock calls himself "The Great One" when in character on the WWE. I beleive that is why Dave referred to him as such.

Click to expand...

Dave Simpson · Sep 13, 2003

I beleive that is why Dave referred to him as such.

Ryan,

You're absolutely correct, sir! He is often referred to as "The Great One" where the WWE is concerned, although
I'm sure The Rock intends no offense to either Wayne Gretzky or Jackie Gleason. Thanks for the clarification. Cheers.

DS.

Click to expand...

Angel Pagan · Sep 13, 2003

I'm a fan of both WWE and The Rock and will be there opening day.

Pic has the heavily-processed look and rat-tat-tat editing style so prevalent in today's action movies

This is what bothers me of action films lately. As with Once Upon A Time In Mexico, I could hardly tell what the hell was going on.

Click to expand...

Nick Graham · Sep 14, 2003

I have hope for The Rundown. I was shocked at how stiff and wooden he was in his last movie, as he had never been the least bit stiff or wooden playing a cartoonish hero and villain in wrestling, so I was wondering what had seemingly zapped all of his charisma when he was in front of the camera filming Scorpion King.

Rock has the charisma to make it in Hollywood, and it's not the Hulk Hogan "will only work in wrestling" type of charisma either. He's got genuine, vialble charm and talent that if used properly could make him as big as Ahnuld was in his heyday. Hopefully the combination of working with Walken and Berg will get him out of his shell a little bit.

Malcolm R · Sep 14, 2003

He has a nice singing voice, too.

I hope he's successful; I'm rootin' for him and I'm not even a wrestling fan.

Steve_Knutzen · Sep 14, 2003

More power to The Rock. He's extrememly charismatic and a lot of fun to watch. I'll be there opening day and I'm also looking forward to him hosting the season premier of SNL. His first appearance was classic.

Mikel_Cooperman · Sep 14, 2003

Yeah he has about as much carisma as Ving Diesel.

I have no doubt that this movie will make millions because this type of dumbed down, loud Hollywood extravaganza for the crowd who drives Big Trucks, will deliver Bigtime.

Nick Graham · Sep 14, 2003

Is Ving Diesel the love child of Ving Rhames and Vin Diesel? Oh, and thanks for thread farting.

Lewis Besze · Sep 15, 2003

Yeah he has about as much carisma as Ving Diesel.

It's Diesel Van, actualy

I agree I won't be breaking down the doors to see this,that's for sure.

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JamieD · Sep 15, 2003

I have no doubt that this movie will make millions because this type of dumbed down, loud Hollywood extravaganza for the crowd who drives Big Trucks, will deliver Bigtime.

Yeah, now that's constructive! You tell em, Johnny! You tell the world!

Geez.

If the "action film" vein, this film doesn't look too bad at all. Probably get some of my "action lovin" friends together, maybe give it a try.

Click to expand...

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