Walking Tall

After having found Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's last film, The Rundown, a very enjoyable action outing, I was hoping for big things from The Rock. When I discovered his next film was this remake of the 1973 version of Walking Tall I was hoping for great things. The week before the premiere my enthusiasm was tempered by three huge things the film had working against it.

The first disappointment was in discovering it was to be an MGM release. From the studio that once boasted "more stars than there are in heaven" it can now be referred to the studio that makes it as cheap as possible, then throws it on the big screen for a few weeks, and finishes it off by rushing the DVD out to market. As a profitability concept, I can't argue whether the strategy is working or not, but having seen many of their recent films I can say it fails as far as any kind of cinematic achievements are concerned. Oh sure, once in a while they get lucky with one and it's half way decent, but it's not because of any real concern for quality.

The second slap in the face was to discover the running time was a little over an hour and fifteen minutes. Considering that the original Walking Tall with Joe Don Baker ran for over two hours, this was definitely not a good sign. Add to that the fact that I had once seen the running time of the remake listed as one hour and forty minutes, one could only guess as to what footage was now cluttering the cutting room floor.

Then the coup de grace was after reading some of the IMDB comments before leaving for the theater, we find that Vince McMahon, the guy who gave us Wrestling and even worst, the XFL, has his hand in this film some where. Things were not looking good this morning but my mind was made up and I was going to go. So, were my early hopes realized, or did my worst nightmare come true? The answer is somewhere in between.

Whereas the first Walking Tall film was a fictionalized account of Sheriff Buford Pusser of McNairy County in Tennessee, the writers, producers and director of this remake decided it wasn't fictionalized enough. Not only does it no longer take place in Tennessee, it now takes place in Washington. Our hero is no longer Buford Pusser the ex-wrestler he is now Chris Vaughn, ex U.S. Special Forces Sergeant. I guess it wouldn't have looked good to have The Rock talking negatively about wrestling the way Joe Don Baker badmouthed it in the original. Especially since Vince McMahon is a producer. Chris, unlike Buford who had a wife and two kids, is single. But he does have an ex-girlfriend lurking about somewhere. The reason I relate this information to you is because a lot of the original film depended on Buford's home life. In this version it is only slightly needed, which would partially explain the short running time. It also makes this remake a film that lacks the ability to involve us in it's storyline like we should be.

Walking Tall actually does start off well and is relatively faithful to the original. Upon returning home, Buford...err I mean Chris, returns home to find that the Lumber Mill that supported his home town has closed placing his father, Chris Sr. (John Beasley)out of work. Also living at home are his mother, his paramedic sister, and his nephew. Unfortunately, unlike the original film, his family is here for the purpose of supplying a few plot devices that develop later in the film and nothing more.

What is new in town is a corrupt casino, built by the an old buddy,(Neal Mcdonough), who closed the mill putting everybody out of work. On a visit there with his friend Ray (Johnny Knoxville), Chris finds some crooked dice at a crap game. After fighting with the casino's security force, he is subdued, viciously cut and left for dead. Later when Chris's nephew overdoses on drugs (ahh! the plot device I mentioned) supplied by the same people who knifed him, Chris decides to seek revenge. It is at this moment that the film begins to loose it's grip by degenerating into a series of poorly staged fights and even worse shoot 'em ups.

Portions of the film are entertaining, in large part due to the on screen natural charisma that The Rock has. Just as in The Rundown, the role of action hero seems to come naturally to him, and as far as acting ability is concerned, after only three leading roles he is already ahead of Schwarzenegger's capabilities after the same number of films. An even bigger surprise was Johnny Knoxville as his best friend Ray. He has some of the best written lines in the film, and seems to have just the right screen persona for his role. The rest of the cast is basically generic. Neal McDonough's villainous Jay, talks more threatening than he appears and that's a major problem. In the original film, the threat of danger always seemed imminent and except for Chris's initial fight, we never believe he or anyone else is in any real danger. Even a tussle between Ray and some guys holding Rock's family hostage is played partially for laughs, which also indicates how badly the film slips into being just another cardboard action film.

Another gripe I have though, is obviously there are chunks of this film that are missing. I don't know whether it was a studio decision, a McMahon decision, or a decision by director Bray, to cut the film, but the decision was a bad one. At times the film loses what little cohesiveness it has by leaving some scenes unfinished, and jumping inexplicably to others. Go figure.

I suppose there's nothing totally bad about being a formulaic action film, except there is no reason why this film couldn't have been and shouldn't have been so much more. If it had been developed into the same kind of engrossing story that the original was, it wouldn't matter how much they changed it. It was a golden opportunity for The Rock to really shine and strut his stuff, but it is an opportunity now lost. If memory serves me correctly, the original Walking Tall was blasted mercilessly and I think unfairly by some critics. Audiences didn't care though and they flocked to it. This remake has also been blasted by some critics and I won't disagree with them. Unfortunately for The Rock, I don't think the audiences are going to stand in line for this one.

If you want to see more about the original Walking Tall film you must do two things. First, forget that you ever saw Joe Don Baker in Mitchell, and second, get the DVD that is readily available. That's my recommendation, and when I have to recommend another film to people, I have no choice but to give the remake my grade which is a more than generous C-

Walking Tall is a decent remake with some flaws from director Ken Bray whose admirable in making this movie but a short running time, some over the top action, and the lack of a more central villain is what weighed it down. Walking Tall however isn't that bad and it's one of the better remakes out there. Dwayne Johnson is solid as the lead and proves to be a talented actor while bringing some of his wresting experience to the movie during the action/fight sequences. Johnson turns in a good performance of a man who returns home to find it overrun by crime and corruption, which drives him to become sheriff in order to put an end to it. The rest of the cast including Johnny Knoxville, Neal McDonough, and Ashley Scott are okay in their roles but (except for maybe Knoxville) they're not given much to do. The movie felt short and rushed with an 86 minute running time. Some of the fight sequences especially the one near the end between Johnson and McDonough go over the top. Johnson's performance however and the action sequences make this movie worth seeing at least once. Overall despite its flaws Walking Tall is decent remake one of the better ones with intense action, fist fights, some humor, and good performances by the cast.

This film sees Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson playing Chris Vaughn an ex-serviceman who has returned to his home town in rural Washington State. He finds it isn't the place he left... the mill that employed most people has closed; a casino has opened and corruption is rife. He soon tries to expose corruption and makes dangerous enemies. That won't stop him though.

This is a decent enough action film that should please fans of the genre and of Dwayne Johnson. The Rock does a solid job in one of his earlier film rolls. There are plenty of clichés; nobody will be surprised that the sheriff turns out to be corrupt or the casino owner, who Vaughn knew in his youth, is a villain. The action is fun without being excessive; Vaughn's preferred weapon is a large piece of timber rather than a more expected firearm. The supporting cast is okay; Neal McDonough is suitably menacing as villainous Jay Hamilton and Johnny Knoxville provides some levity as Vaughn's friend Ray. Overall I'd not call this a must see film but it passes the time nicely in an inoffensive way.

I hate wrestling, but when I saw "The Rundown" last year I had to admit, The Rock is one cool guy, and a perfect action star. He's big and tough, but most importantly he's charismatic and has a sense of humor and a certain softness that actually makes him seem somewhat vulnerable. This is what sets him apart from someone like Vin Diesel, who was all set to be the next big action star but never was because he has no personality or sense of humor.

"Walking Tall" is a remake of a 1973 based-on-fact film about a man who fights back against corruption in his town by becoming sheriff and waging war on the bad guys. I haven't seen the original, but I'm willing to bet it's closer to the truth than the 2004 "Walking Tall", which is packed with more machine guns, axes, exploding trucks, and gunfighting strippers than anything that's "based on fact" could possibly be.

Here, Vaughn returns home after years of being away to find his hometown in shambles and dependent on a corrupt casino run by drug-dealing, knife-wielding thugs. After he receives a brutal beating and his nephew (Khleo Thomas, from "Holes") nearly overdoses on crystal meth bought there, the war is on. My inner 12 year-old says "Woohoo!".

Yes, this film is ridiculously over the top. It's also completely predictable. But it's FUN. A lot of fun, in fact. It's extremely fast paced, well-acted, the action scenes are excellent, and at just under 80 minutes, it's exceptionally lean too. Not one unnecessary or drawn-out scene.

"Walking Tall" doesn't aim to be anything except old-fashioned popcorn entertainment, and it succeeds, yet it has been made with surprising artistry as well. The cinematography is very good, and there are some interesting things done with sound and unexpected fade-outs. Also, Vaughn is an interestingly complex hero (complex as far as these movie go, anyway). At one point, when he clearly wants to bring a loaded shotgun into a fight with him, he hesitates, and brings a less-deadly 2x4 instead. It's a neat moment.

So it's not going to be winning any awards any time soon. But I had a really good time, plain and simple, and the audience I saw it with did too.

The key note here is inspired by a true story. Not based. So who knows whats true and whats not. I doubt Meth was a big time operation in the early 70's or whenever this was based. But nevermind that, this was a fun movie. Yes it's rushed, yes it's 75 minutes long. Yes there is indeed 11 minutes worth of credits. O_O

But if you wanna see a good Dwayne Johnson movie, this is certainly better than the other movies he's done so far.

The acting isn't too bad and good IL Johnny Knoxville continue's to have a lot of fun. He's growing on me. the sheriff's girlfriend seems to be a dead ringer (at least for the movie) to Britney Spears. Although just like Spears, her acting abilities are much in doubt. Dwayne's a good actor. Hey he's a wrestler, and he's had a lot of practice in that area. Wrestling is all about acting. ;)

7/10

Quality: 5/10 Entertainment: 10/10 Replayable: 10/10