Review: Walking Tall (2004)
JoBlo
RATING: 6/10
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PLOT:
A man returns to his small town after a stint in the Army, to find that
everything has changed...for the worse. The mill is closed, drugs are rampant
and his sister is turning tricks to support his dad's smack habit (okay, that
last part isn't true...just checking to make sure that you read all this shite)
Point being, the town is a mess and the man who returneth home, is none too
happy about it. He decides to fight back with a big stick and a comedic buddy
in tow (story of my life). The Rock rockin' ensues!
CRITIQUE:
A story that we've seen a million times before in which "one man" stands up
against the oppression of a whole bunch of "baddies", against all odds and
kicks a whole lot of ass in the process. This movie works because it sticks to
the basics, features some fun, 80s-type action sequences, but most of all,
stars The Rock, whose charisma, good looks and all-around presence (& pecs)
alone, make you want to root for him the whole way through. On the downside,
the film only lasts about 75-80 minutes (!!!) and has very little meat on its
bones. Of course, if you don't mind a movie that sticks to the basics, requires
very little thinking and asks that you forget about the so-called
"plausibility" of one man standing up against a ton of jerks, this cinematic
shotgun is sure to entertain you for what it's worth. I liked this film's
set-up, which moved slightly and introduced everyone in a timely fashion. I
liked the main bad guy, played delectably by Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist
Flea look-a-like actor Neal McDonough, and I liked how The Rock ultimately
didn't use guns to win his battles, but brute force and a big piece of wood
(which incidentally, I will hereforth also be carrying by my side at all
times). The audience with whom I watched this film was also taken by this
"stick of pain", since they literally cheered upon the first limber swing to a
baddie's head. Fun times.
It's the kind of movie in which you should find yourself rooting for The Rock
and his perfectly cast deputy, played effectively by Johnny Knoxville, and
feeling quite satisfied whenever one of their enemies gets their head kicked
in. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't seem too interested in developing many
of the secondary characters, introducing The Rock's sister as a possible pawn
in the game early on, but oddly dropping her out of any of the happenings by
the end (considering the film's short length, it makes you wonder). His parents
were also given a few lines, but not enough to feel deeply about them, nor his
girlfriend (although if there were awards given out to the "Best Shoot 'Em Up
Girl in a Red Bra"-she'd win!) Then again, the film isn't really about
developing a Byzantine plotline or characters, but about one man's plight to
stand up against the "wrong" in the world, and that part of the story is well
established. I felt The Rock's love for his small town and his pain from what
it had become. I'm also happy to report that the man is a stronger actor than
both Schwarzenegger and Stallone, and continues to look great shirtless! I
don't normally want a film to be longer, but in this case, it was just way too
short for a supposed all-out "Rock" movie, with its final confrontation and
concluding moments feeling somewhat truncated as well. A few more obstacles
would have been appreciated. So even though I enjoyed the film overall, its
soundtrack, its fighting scenes, its bad guy and its ass-kicking,
bubble-gum-chewing lead (he was out gum as soon as he stepped back in town),
I'm still waiting for the best all-around Rock movie to be released and
unfortunately, this is not it.
Where's JoBlo coming from?
Get Carter (7/10) - Gladiator (8/10) - Knockaround Guys (6/10) - Last Action
Hero (8/10) - Payback (8/10) - The Rundown (6/10) - The Scorpion King (5/10) -
Soldier (5/10)
Review Date: March 27, 2004
Director: Kevin Bray
Writers: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Producers: Ashok Amritraj, Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, David Hoberman
Actors: The Rock as Chris Vaughn
Johnny Knoxville as Ray
Neal McDonough as Jay
Genre: Action
Year of Release: 2004
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(c) 2004 Berge Garabedian
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Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
Bringing an action film in under 85 minutes, including the closing credits, is
actually a pretty good idea. Give the audience some fast fun and get them out
of the theater before they start to get bored.
WALKING TALL, a remake of the 1973 film starring Joe Don Baker, which itself
was based on a true story, uses just such a quick approach. The problem with
the remake, however, is that it begins with a long, stupefyingly tedious first
act that runs over half an hour before anything whatsoever happens other than a
bunch of guys chewing the fat, drinking beer and playing football on a lazy
Sunday afternoon. The preposterous middle section is followed by a
satisfyingly violent, revenge-themed ending act that gives the probably
predominately male audience the testosterone kick that they came for.
The star of the movie is that actor known affectionately and aptly as The Rock.
After a wonderfully likeable performance in THE RUNDOWN, in which he seemed to
be passed the action hero crown from Arnold, The Rock is an excellent casting
choice for a remake like WALKING TALL. Indeed, when the script finally lets
him show what he can do in the movie's brutal finale, The Rock earns his star
salary. Most of the movie, however, completely wastes his talents.
The story has Chris Vaughn (The Rock) returning to his hometown after eight
years in the Special Forces. Chris finds that the town's mill has closed. The
town's revenue is now derived from a casino (The Wild Cherry) that also serves
as a soft porn palace and hard drug emporium. His nemesis from high school,
Jay Hamilton, Jr. (Neal McDonough), is the owner of The Wild Cherry. Jay also
owns the sheriff and everything else in town. After Chris sees a casino
employee cheat one of his friends, Chris ends up in a big brawl, after which he
is left for dead on the highway.
Although all hell breaks loose in the last twenty minutes, the movie spends
most of its time in Dullsville. It does provide some opportunities to laugh at
it in a way-over-the-top trial that occurs briefly in the middle. If you do
go, show up at least a half an hour late. You won't miss anything.
WALKING TALL runs 1:25. It is incorrectly rated PG-13 for "sequences of
intense violence, sexual content, drug material and language." This is a very
violent film, which should have been rated R. It would be acceptable for most
teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, April 2, 2004. In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
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Harvey S. Karten
Reviewed by: Harvey S. Karten
Grade:B
MGM
Directed by: Kevin Bray
Written by: Channing Gibson, David Klass, David Levien, Brian
Koppelman, from Mort Briskin's screenplay
Cast: The Rock, Neal McDonough, Johnny Knoxville, John
Beasley, Barbara Tarbuck, Kristen Wilson, Kevin Durand,
Ashley Scott, Michael Bowen, Khleo Thomas
Screened at: MGM, NYC, 3/29/04
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman regularly beats
the drums for globalization, a phenomenon that's highly
controversial but is supported by Friedman without conflict.
What triggers anger against the U.S. administration-endorsed
policy is that corporations can take advantage of cheap labor
abroad, sending their jobs overseas and resulting in massive
layoffs in American plants. Friedman believes that new
industries can be created here in the U.S., with workers
retraining for the 21st century doing what America does
best which is decidedly not manufacturing.
In "Walking Tall," the villain could be called a supporter of the
aforementioned columnist as well as a cheerleader for
President Bush, but though local politics rather than
international intrigue plays the heavy role in Kevin Bray's re-
imagining of Phil Karlson's 1973 pic starring Don Baker in the
role now played by The Rock, we do get a picture of how
American workers can indeed be retrained for new jobs. Chris
Vaughn (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) doesn't like what he
sees, he doesn't like the way workers have been retrained, and
he means to do something about it. Think globally, act locally.
What's happening in the Washington state of the story (filmed
by Glen MacPherson in the Vancouver area) is that the local mill
in a hamlet beautifully framed by mountains has been shut
down. The whole town had depended on jobs in the mill, which
has been bought out and converted into a casino by Vaughn's
wealthy high-school chum, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough), a
handsome, steel-eyed fellow who at first embraces Vaughn,
who has just returned to the town after a stint in the U.S. Special
Forces. Vaughn's high-school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), is
now dancing around a pole while others have taken jobs as
croupiers and security guards, but while Vaughn obviously
disapproves, his dander rises only when his nephew, Pete
(Khelo Thomas), is strung out on crystal meth allegedly
distributed by the honchos at the casino and when his pals are
being taken for a ride by weighted dice at the craps table.
"Walking Tall," inspired like the 1973 film by the true story of
Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, finds comic relief in the antics
of "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville in the role of recovering
addict and newly deputized sheriff, Ray Templeton. The Rock,
however, dominates the proceedings throughout. A buff,
charismatic fellow on whose wrong side you don't want to get,
The Rock's performance comes from a long line of quiet men
(Gary Cooper in "High Noon," for example, or Clint Eastwood as
Dirty Harry), who get the job done, civil liberties be damned. A
right-wing fantasy, "Walking Tall" is unlikely to cheered by
members of the American Civil Liberties Union, but the targeted
audience young men (and young women as well, attracted by
the muscular and handsome hero), will likely eat up the fight
scenes while at the same time tolerating the tepid family drama
involving the returning war hero with folks who may not have
seen him for eight years and are now living in a modest,
wooden home, resigned to the loss of the town's only reputable
employment.
The physical conflicts, energetically edited by George Bowers
and Robert Ivison, pit Vaughn, large wooden club in
hand against security guards, auto tail lights. In a sizzling
climactic scene Vaughn finds the branch of a tree an able
counter to Jay Hamilton's swinging axe. To keep the PG-13
rating, director Bray makes sure that the lovely Deni keeps her
red bra firmly in place while smooching with Chris, though the
MPAA apparently has given a free hand to the ensemble to
create mayhem with assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, a hatchet,
and explosives. A nice, briskly paced, ultra-violent scenario that
makes good use of The Rock's charisma.
Rated PG-13. 86 minutes.(c) 2004 by Harvey Karten at
Harvey...@cs.com
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Jon Popick
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2004 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
It's tempting to mistakenly call Walking Tall a remake of the 1973
hixploitation classic that launched the career of Hollywood box office
juggernaut Joe Don Baker. In reality, it's probably closer to being a new
version of just about any vigilante film Charles Bronson made during the
Carter and Reagan administrations. But to compare it to the original
version of Tall is practically laughable. The names have changed (c'mon,
man - Buford T. Pusser is, like, the Snake Plissken of the '70s!). The
setting has changed. The running time has been gouged by nearly a full
hour. All of this doesn't do well for Tall's already questionable status as
a depiction of events that actually occurred.
Rural Tennessee is replaced by rural Washington State, and Baker is
substituted with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who plays not Pusser, but Chris
Vaughn, a Special Ops soldier who returns home after spending a decade away.
This return home is depicted in Tall's opening credits, which eats about
five minutes off of the already lean 73-minute running time. Vaughn goes
straight to the old lumber mill, where he hopes to get a job. Turns out the
mill, which employed most of the town back in the day, has been closed down.
Now the residents of Unnamedville work out of the casino run by Vaughn's
albino high school foe, Jay Hamilton, Jr. (Neal McDonough, Boomtown).
In addition to offering hot (but fixed) gaming action, Hamilton's casino can
also provide you with a wide variety of drugs, as well as the hottest
poontang this side of Aberdeen. None of this sits well with Vaughn,
especially after his nephew (Khleo Thomas, Holes) nearly overdoses on meth.
Going to the police accomplishes nothing, since the local sheriff (Michael
Bowen - he's Buck and he likes to fuck) is on Hamilton's payroll. What's a
grotesquely muscular man with hardcore military training to do? And will he
do it with a cedar four-by-four whose odor reminds him of how his dad used
to smell when he worked at the mill? Lord, yes.
Vaughn kicks ass, becomes sheriff, and then you go home, scratching your
head as you look at your watch and say, "Jesus, did I pay eight bucks for
something barely longer than a super-sized episode of Frasier?" Yes. Yes,
you did. And I think it's a big rip-off. Christ, I've had sex that lasted
longer than 73 minutes. Actually, that's not true, but you get the point.
If the running time makes you mad, check out the crane shot of the casino
right before the closing credits start to roll. The place looks smaller
than a two-car garage.
Kevin Bray (All About the Benjamins) shoots Tall's action so tightly, it
felt like I was sitting in the front row, despite actually being located in
the back row. This made me thankful for the film's quieter moments, which
showcase Johnson's obvious charisma much more than the louder scenes do.
This will do nothing to further his career, though. This guy desperately
needs to land the right role - even a supporting one - in the right indie
film to give him some serious credibility. Had Johnson undergone a
Theron-esque makeup and weight gain transformation to become Buford T.
Pusser, we'd be talking Oscar.
1:13 - PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, sexual content, drug
material and language
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