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

Steve_Tk

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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.
Not that I fit in that category, nor do I want to see the movie. But if the movie is made for those people and they enjoy it then how is this bad? Oh, I forgot, it's bad because you don't like it, sorry my mistake.
 

Garrett Lundy

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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.
This is the reason I like movies. It kind of reminds me of the Monty Python sketch "In the world of supermen" where everyone has fabulous superpowers, read "Chronicles of Tax Accountants" comic books and have to assume secret identies, such as Bicycle Repairman to appear special.
If movies were only about ordinary people doing ordinary things.... Movies would get kinda boring. Its escapism fantasy.

This reminds me, I just watched Day of the Dead on DVD, and would like to point-out that this movie had regular people getting shot, having limbs hacked off and other such realistic goings-on. Of course the underlying story of the film is that the dead wander around and eat people....
 

Tommy Ceez

Second Unit
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type of dumbed down, loud Hollywood extravaganza for the crowd who drives Big Trucks, will deliver Bigtime.
Ahhhh, the evils of the SUV!

I guess the type of 'forign, endlessly boring character studys made for the granola eating, hemp growing, tin can hybrid car driving crowd' delivers bigger, huh?

Cinematic elitism...the last bastion of the truly unsociable.
 

ChuckSolo

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Hopefully it will better than that POS "Scorpion King" which I actually looked forward to since it should have been a nice addition to the "Mummy" series.
 

Angel Pagan

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I actually enjoyed SK more than the Mummy movies. Not that I feel SK was great, just that I hated the Mummy flicks. :)

I'll be there during opening weekend.
 

Seth Paxton

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Cinematic elitism...the last bastion of the truly unsociable.
I like that quote.

Just as long as we keep in mind that QUALITY can be found in every genre of filmmaking. Those who love the art should expect no less from an action film than we do from a drama, and neither should you let a drama off the hook if it is a mess just because it "tried really hard".

I always place an action film against Raiders or Road Warrior and then grade downward with them as "10s" in the genre. Action films can and should involve just as much cinematic art as any filmmaking. After all, it's not like they don't charge you just as much for the bad ones. If you hire a plumber you want it done right even if it is just some plumbing.


But I also agree that people should be allowed to make crap that sells simply because of the fact that it does sell. I won't regard it as "good" in conversation but I won't protest the production either...I might roll my eyes though. ;)
 

Steve_Knutzen

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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.
Well then I can't wait for next Friday to jump in my BIG TRUCK and have a loud, dumbed-down time. Yee Haw!!
 

Nick Graham

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Steve, I'll see you then good buddy! I'll bring Cooter and a 12 pack of Bud....hope they don't mind if he tries to hump the usher's leg again. NEEEEE-HAW!

Ah, the wonders of being stereotyped.
 

teapot2001

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The sneak preview is tonight.

On this week's Ebert and Roeper, both men had great things to say about the movie: inventive, great action, Rock is a bonafide movie star, funnier than pure comedies, star-making performances from Rock, Dawson and Scott, and Walken alone is worth watching. Roeper called it the best "summer" escapist movie of the year, and Ebert seemed to have agreed with it. The only complaint was the fast editing.

Also, in last week's LA Times article, it was mentioned that the test screening of this movie was so well-received that the executives scrapped the planned focus groups.

It sounds like it'll be good.

~T
 

Alex Spindler

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Totally agree with Keith. This was quite the fun movie. Walken was good as the villain, and I especially love his trademark Walken monologue about the tooth fairy analogy.

The Rock and Scott were a great pairing (and he's much more well suited here than in Bulletproof Monk). The action was both fun and even inventive at times. The comedy was also very well done, with balance given at all times.

This movie will deserve all the sucess it can muster, and is four times the movie that The Scorpian King was.
 

Steve_Knutzen

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Saw it last night and I loved it. EXTREMELY entertaining film. Christopher Walken was awesome as usual and The Rock and SWS worked great together.
Hope it's a huge hit as it deserves to be.
 

Bill Williams

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With positive word of mouth that this film has been getting, they're already talking sequel. Sure bet it's in the works.
 

Michael Reuben

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This thread is designated the Official Discussion Thread for "The Rundown". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of "The Rundown" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

M.
 

Jeff Adams

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Wow, this good huh? Anymore reviews? I have to choose what movie to see tonight and have narrowed it down to 3. Rundown, Cabin Fever and Matchstick Men. And just to put in my 2 cents about the Rock as an actor. I really, really like The Rock as an action movie actor. I am not a wrestling fan nor have I ever liked The Rock before and I remember saying to myself when I first saw previews for The Scorpion King,"Man this is a complete joke, Hollywood must be real despereate for and action star. I was VERY wrong, I liked the movie and him in The Scorpion King.

(MODERATOR NOTE: This post was moved from the Offical Review thread, which is for reviews only.)
 

Scott Weinberg

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Yup. I haven't penned a review just yet, but I had a really good time with this one!

Plenty of action, a handful of sincerely funny bits, a kinetic directorial style that enhances (rather than overshadows) the moments of mayhem, the adorable Ms. Dawson, the always-fun Mr. Stifler, the brilliantly cool Chris Walken...and The Rock displaying more charisma and likeability than I ever thought possible.

Fun flick, period.

:star::star::star::star: out of 5
 

Nick Graham

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Coming from a long time wrestling fan (I know that will invalidate my opinion for a lot of people, but so be it), and having followed the Rock since he first started showing up on WWF television, I had high hopes for his movie career.

Nobody the "rasslin'" industry has produced in the last 20 years has had the potential to be a true crossover mainstream movie star that Dwayne Johnson has. Having said that, I almost changed my mind after his wooden performance in The Scorpion King. I was flabbergasted by how stiff and emotionless he was in The Scorpion King....if anything, I figured he might OVERact, something that is kind of required in the wrestling world, though even in that profession his subtlety and wit easily stood out in a sea of performers who have never heard of the phrase "less is more". Wow, I am the king of run-on sentences.

Guess all it took was working with a solid actor/director, one of the modern legends of acting, and two good up and comers to pull him out of his shell. The Scorpion King was a nervous misstep, but here he finally emerges as the star the Hollywood hype machine has been playing him up as, the marquee name movie star we wrestling fans knew he could be.

If he continues working with talented people and with good (or at least fun) scripts like he has in "The Rundown", I can easily see his star rising significantly faster than Ahnuld and Stallone's did.

After his performance in this film, he's gonna have to try REALLY hard to end up with Jean Claude and Segal on the video shelf, a now thankfully avoided future I feared was likely after The Scorpion King.
 

Justin Hargis

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Oct 15, 2002
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At the beginning of the film I saw the Universal logo, fade-to-black, then I saw the Columbia Tri-Star logo. It's usually a small studio followed by the major one. Not two major studios back-to-back? What's going on? Someone enlighten me.

By the way, this is the best action, adventure, comedy I've seen since Arnold's glory days. In my opinion, The Rock is the new "Action Hero."
 

SteveGon

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Caught this on DVD today. Not great, but a decent effort all things considered. The Rock has the presence to be a pretty good action star, I just wish he'd find better vehicles. The main problem with The Rundown is that it seems awfully toothless - our hero refuses to use guns (lest he Hulk out) so what does he do? Beats up the bad guys. Yawn. I remember when Arnie would just say screw it and mow down the baddies with a machine gun. He also wasn't averse to ramming a steam pipe through a guy's chest if need be. Sure, the Rock eventually gets involved in some gunplay, but even that's a bloodless affair. My, how I yearn for the good ol' days of The Terminator, Robocop, and The Road Warrior. :D

And you'd think Christopher Walken would be tired of these kinds of roles. It's gettin' old, Chris.

 

Pete-D

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I think the Rock might have something personal about guns. Walking Tall, his next film, seems to have the same theme (killing people with guns is not cool).

Not like that's a bad message to send kids, but yeah I wouldn't mind an old-fashioned 80s-shoot-em-up, lol.
 

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