This 2003 action-comedy stars Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson and Christopher Walken. Johnson plays Beck, a bounter hunter turned chef who is sent to find his employer's son, Travis (Scott) in the Brazilian jungle. While on his mission, Beck runs into obstacles meeting new allies and enemies. Dawson (Sin City) plays Mariana, a rebel leader/bartender and Walken (At Close Range) plays Hatcher, a ruthless, Despot who is searching for an ancient artifact that Travis has hidden. This is a good flick with a great cast, good score and thrilling action sequences. Johnson makes his mark in this film and there's a quick cameo by a certain, "Terminator" star.

Ahh, Peter Berg's The Rundown. What a sun soaked galavant of action fun, a purely cinematic exercise in excitement and joyous fun, a rollicking genre exercise that's free from the burdens of intellectual expectation. No, it's nothing but playtime here, and one of the rare cases where a PG-13 rating actually doesn't hurt an action film. It's so lighthearted and affable that the extra bloody punch of an R rating probably would have been a jarring, unnecessary distraction and offset it's tone. For the record, you will almost never hear me advocate that in this genre, but I suppose every issue has its extreme exceptions. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson plays Beck, a rough and tumble dude who coyly disguises the title of bounty hunter by calling himself a 'retrieval expert'. He's essentially a big teddy bear with the ability to rip out your stuffing and kick the ever loving crap out of anyone whose demise will earn him a pay cheque. He doesn't like using guns, and every cent he makes goes towards a dream of opening up his own restaurant. Pretty much the most adorable action hero you can imagine. He is sent by a Miami crime lord (William Lucking hamming it up royally) to retrieve his wayward son (Sean William Scott) who has run off to an unspecified tropical country. Beck jumps a plane and runs off to said country to give us one of the most pleasantly riotous action/comedy/adventure of the 00's. His pursuit of Scott leads him to endless picturesque jungles, horny baboons, invincible native Kung fu warriors and more. Scott turns out to be an elusive wise - ass who is nothing but calamity for both Beck and himself. The scenes where they try the dodgy local fruit are rewind worthy. He really shines here, bringing the same burn-down-the-house attitude he did as Stiffler. There's also a priceless artifact that everyone is trying to retrieve, including a tough local bartender (Rosario Dawson). There's also a villain, as there must be in any action film, a bugnuts local tyrant named Hatcher played by the one and only Christopher Walken. Hatcher is a wonderful Walken creation whose attempted menace is constantly undone by his penchent for silliness, a winning combination that super-charges every scene he gets. That lanky Scotsman Ewan Bremer is wicked funny as a deranged bush pilot who assists Beck in unintelligible endearance. Hearing him vivaciously recite Dylan Thomas's 'Dying Of The Light' right before a big old gunfight kicks off is absolute gold. Dwayne makes nice work of the action hero archetype, bringing an almost adolescent buoyancy to his vibe that he may even have not seen coming when he got into the craft. There's a surprise cameo from a genre titan early on in the film that is essentially a passing of the torch symbol, so eyes should be kept peeled. Director Berg knows how to wow an audience in many a genre, this being my favourite excursion of his thus far. It's loud, scenic, unapologetic and has fun six ways to freaking Sunday.

In a blink-and-miss-it cameo during the opening scene of Welcome to the Jungle (AKA The Rundown), Arnold Schwarzenegger hands over his action hero mantle to the only star capable of filling his shoes: Duane 'The Rock' Johnson. While this movie isn't anywhere near on a par with Arnie at his best, it certainly sets Johnson on the right path, delivering just enough OTT action infused with comedy to make it a mindlessly entertaining slice of slam-bang fun.The former WWF star plays retrieval expert Beck, who accepts one last job before becoming a restaurant owner: bring troublesome treasure hunter Travis (Seann William Scott) back from the Brazilian jungle to face his father in Los Angeles. Of course, doing so isn't as easy as it sounds, with unscrupulous gold-mine owner Hatcher (Christopher Walken) refusing to let Travis leave, believing that he knows the whereabouts of a priceless artifact.What follows is a whole load of knockabout silliness, Scott playing comic relief to Johnson's hero, as the guys evade Hatcher's army of hired killers, come face-to-ass with some angry baboons, locate the valuable statuette (in an Indiana Jones style scene complete with booby-trapped cave), and return to the gold-mine to rescue sexy rebel Mariana (Rosario Dawson), who has been trying to free her people from Hatcher's oppression.At 104 minutes, the film is perhaps 15 minutes or so too long, and the ballistic mayhem in the finale—where Beck finally breaks his 'no guns' rule—is of the 'A-Team' variety (i.e., lots of goons getting gunned down, but no blood), but as an introduction to Arnie's successor, Welcome to the Jungle does just fine.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

Get the popcorn. It's quite watchable, except for Chistopher Walken who has been phoning it in for as long as I can remember now. Not great art for sure, but some cool machinery, some well-choreographed action sequences, some good laughs, and a workable plot. This film also plays perfectly to the talents of both Seann William Scott and "The Rock", which is what really keeps it right-side up. It's been said that casting is the most important decision in making a movie, and this film looks like good evidence.The ending seems quite problematical to me, but up to that point, it all flows very well. This film begs for a sequel to elaborate on how "The Rock's" character works his way out of the difficult situation that he has certainly left himself in. Maybe one was intended and that is why it finished in this seemingly incomplete fashion.