User reviews

Wow. Movies like this are for me both a big surprise and a guilty pleasure to watch. At first, I was doubtful that the Rock had the screen presence or the acting ability to pull off a movie like this, since I had only known him before as "the eyebrow guy from wrestling". This movie proved me wrong and has rapidly moved up into my list of favorite films.

Beck (The Rock) is somebody who chases down people that have irritated the mob, be it financially or socially. This is not his job of choice, however; he would rather own a restaurant. His bosses give him one final job: bring Travis (Sean William Scott, in a refreshing departure from the "horny idiot" style of movies) back from South America to the States. Beck finds Travis, but immediately runs afoul of Hatcher (Christopher Walken), who owns the mining town Travis lives in and wants something valuable that Travis has been looking for in the jungle. Then there are fights, running around from evil guys, more fights, monkeys, hallucinogenic fruit, and other such entertaining things.

Scott brought some well-done comic relief into the film with his quirky upbeat character. I could not stop laughing when Travis really tries to take on Beck in a contest of physical strength. It's like watching a caterpillar try and beat a Mack truck. Christopher Walken, as always, is a pleasure to watch. The man makes a perfect psychopath and I always brighten up when I see him on screen.

"The Rundown" is an excellent film which I would recommend to anyone who loves kinda-brainless (in a good way) action films. Bravo to the Rock. May he have a long and fruitful movie career.

Yup, this is way hokey and one of the dumbest movies I own in my collection, yet it's very likable and mostly a fun film with great style and scenery.

An adventure story, played strictly for entertainment value, it mostly succeeds because Dwayne Johnson, better known as "The Rock," is a very likable hero. He's clean-cut, well-spoken, modest, etc. Supposedly this film was supposed to be The Rock grabbing the action mantle, so to speak, from the king - Arnold Schwarzenegger - who will no longer make movies. They even have Arnie make a quick cameo, wishing The Rock good luck! That was a good touch.

Meanwhile, Rock's cohort in this film, Seann William Scott, gets by with his sense of humor. It almost plays like one of these "buddy movies" except that these two guys ("Beck" and "Travis," respectively) are not on the same page about anything. In no other film can I recall two characters getting beat up and annihilated like these two guys....but they never seem the worse for wear! Unbelievable!

Rosario Dawson adds some female sex appeal and Christopher Walken adds his normal entertaining take on being the villain. His dialog was very good in here.

I didn't realize until the second time I watched it (which is where I stand now) just how stylishly this was filmed. This movie reminded me of many made by either Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Taranatino with the gimmick photography. It makes it all the more fun to watch. Add some excellent sound, tremendous Hawaiian scenery simulated to look the the Amazon jungle in Brazil......and you can put up with the stupidness of the story and have a good time.

And very funny.

I can honestly say I seriously doubted I would like this film and I only went to see it because it was on and I was there. I'd never seen a movie with The Rock before or even watched any wrestling so I was kind of dubious as to whether or not he would be any good.

In fact he was a great actor, full of personality and charisma, willing to make fun of himself and was great with the action. The Rock is definitely the next Arnie. Vin (Donald Duck) Diesel is the next Jean Claude Van Damme.

Seann William Scott was also pretty funny in a rare NOT Stifler performance. As an actor he does have genuine talent that's usually wasted in low-brow teen sex comedies.

The Rundown is a sort of Indiana Jones-lite movie. The Rock plays a bounty hunter/chef who is sent to track down Seann William Scott south of the border. Against his will The Rock ends up on a trek through the depths of the Mexican jungle looking for some ancient artefact. Unoriginal it may be but director Peter Berg keeps it moving with plenty of stunts, action and laughs. Christopher Walken's villain is a bit of a cardboard cut-out but how evil are you allowed to be in a PG-13?

I look forward to the next movie starring The Rock. With talks of a third Conan movie I can only imagine him being the best choice. And keep a lookout for Arnie in the nightclub at the very beginning. 'Have fun' is his only line. And fun The Rock will certainly have as the next BIG action hero.

Keep a lookout for Scottish actor Ewan Bremner (a zillion times the 'star' Ewan MacGregor is) in a funny role as a slob pilot.

The Rock's newest one this weekend and found The Rundown to be quite entertaining. Sure, the plot is nothing to sneeze at but casting Christopher Walkin as the lead villain was wonderful. He has a very unique way of playing with the dialogue to make it quite funny. Seann William Scott is pretty darn hysterical and plays the second banana well. The impressive find is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's performance. The guy is getting better and better. I found his first one, The Scorpion King, to be fun but not worth collecting. This one might have to be bought though. His years of using a script and improvising in front of a multi-thousand seat auditorium has translated well to the screen and he has a sense of timing and ease in front of the cameras that has been hard won. He obviously can handle the action aspects of the movie too but (as with most action stars) I hear he wants to stretch his wings and perform other stuff. That has the potential to be fine down the line but lets see how he continues with the Action/Comedies first. Should be interesting to see how they do the Walking Tall remake. The original one was a pretty powerful movie with some seriously tense sequences.

Hopefully it won't be changed to much. Anyway, gonna have to give this one 3/4

This movie will appeal to all who like action for the sake of action. "The Rock" does a moderate job of acting in this movie-but his performance would not win him any awards. I love the fight scene in the beginning against the football team. Overrated and improbable: of course...but it really appeals to the thrill seeker in me for some reason.

Sean William Scott plays off The Rock's character very well. I was disappointed with his performances in American Pie/Wedding. I thought he was a foul-mouthed, obviously stereotyped actor. I was pleasantly surprised at his different acting ability in this movie.

This movie is a B+ flick with good fight scenes and low budget story lines. Good for mindless entertainment.

This moving film concerns upon Beck , ¨ The Rock¨ , a bouncing and hunk man who's assigned by William Lucking to track down his son , Travis/Sean William Scott , in Amazon jungle . He will have to confront lots of dangers until find him and both of whom will take on a villain , mine proprietary , Christopher Walken . There is a girl , Rosario Dawson , who will help them . They are chasing an extraordinary treasure , the two team up in pursuit of riches stored in a mine , facing off revolutionaries , jungle's monkeys and nasty enemies.Welcome to Rock-Solid Entertainment! . Bulls, guns, whips, gold and one sacred cat .

In the film there are noisy adventures , action pace , impressive struggles , beautiful landscapes and a little bit of humor concerning the starring couple , making a ¨Buddy movie¨ type . Both of them fighting against an oppressive town operator and the search for a legendary treasure . There are a lot of references to Dwayne Johnson as the famous wrestling fighter , subsequently he turned a successful and box-office actor . According to Sean William Scott there are several bits were just jokes , but they were so entertaining and amusing that kept in the film . From start to finish the action-packed is non-stop . Runtime movie is adjusted , around hundred minutes , it's fast moving and that's why it is neither tiring, not boring , but bemusing . The final confrontation between ¨Rock¨ and the contenders is breathtaking and overwhelming ; likeness to ending showdown in the pictures starred by Chuck Norris , Charles Bronson and Arnold in which they kill a great deal of enemies with fists and weapons . The movie though shot in fits and starts obtained success enough , but didn't fail in box office .

The film's original title was "Helldorado" , it was then modified to "Welcome to the Jungle" , before being changed again, and it was finally titled "The Rundown". Thrilling and moving musical score by Harry Gregson-Williams . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Tobias A. Schliessler . The flick was professionally directed by Peter Berg . The movie will appeal to exotic adventures and action movies fans . Rating : 6/10 , well catching .

Loosely based on Midnight Run, Beck is sent to retrieve Travis from the Amazon. One last job before he can quite and open up his restaurant. Along the way things don't go according to plan and the two of them have to fight for their lives.

After his brief cameo in The Mummy Returns and the lead role in the forgettable The Scorpion King, it seemed that The Rundown would be his first true chance at taking over the action franchise from the likes of Arnold, who coincidentally has a cameo in this film. The Rundown does just that, shows The Rock in a lighthearted, action oriented funny film that showcases his talent as an actor. He's not another Hulk Hogan making movies because he can, but he actually has some talent. The guy is fun to watch on the screen and his film career since then has proved so.

The Rock get physical in this film, all the fights scenes are stylized to the point of exaggeration. This doesn't detract from the film, it sets up the viewer for the way the film will play out. The fight scene that uses this stylized violence the most is when The Rock takes on the rebels and Keno from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Can a simple kick really throw him in the air like that, just to be kicked again mid air? I don't think so. If you can get pass this style of action, then the Rundown will be entertaining.

Sean William Scott manages to break out of his Stifler role, something he tried to do earlier with Bulletproof Monk. Here he has a better co-star to play his comedy off of. Since then he seems to have been hit or miss with his films and continues to star in films with The Rock. Here, Scott isn't irritating, so that is a plus, with the exception of one scene in which he reuses his Evolution joke of making a bird call.

Rosario Dawson and Christohper Walken are the supporting players, both plays their roles with no real memorable parts. Rosario Dawson is almost completely forgettable in a role that is underwritten and Walken just seems to be doing his own thing, which he always does in films. We let him get away with it because his Christopher Freakin Walken.

Peter Berg did well with this one, he manages to balance both comedy and action very well and the sequences are entertaining to watch. It helps that he has two stars that played well off each other and could pull off the physical stunts required from the roles. The Rundown isn't something to jump up and down about or rush out to see either. It's a film that you can sit down and watch randomly one day and not be upset about it afterwards.

With the demise of box office power for the action man and a loss of interest from the public to watch the bad-ass hero, who says little but kicks a lot of butt, the kings of the genre Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone and Willis's careers as action men seems all but over. Van Damme and Seagal were gone long ago. Should the main three want to do mainly action movies for the rest of the careers then they may need to do so in the DTV market. However, it does seem like the action movie could be getting a second wind. We have a plethora of new action heroes, none of whom will have the staying power of Schwarzenegger and also respected actors who play everyday men like Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Nic Cage and Will Smith have turned in their fair share of action movies. The Rock does seem the ideal new action man, with his only real competition from wooden pretty boy Paul Walker and the now seemingly cursed to do crap movies, Vin Diesel (who in truth would be best as a baddie, like in Pitch Black.). The Rundown, while a box office disappointment has performed well on video but more importantly audiences really enjoyed it's delightfully 80's feel. It could almost be taken from Sly or Arnolds early career. It's not loaded with a hip new soundtrack, extreme sports or slick vehicles and loads of special effects merely to lure youngsters in to see it. It's modernised and stylised version of films like Commando (albeit much better than that.). The simplistic, one-liner laden films I used to love. Throughout the mid to late 90's as audiences got tired of that, and a lot of seeming re-hashes and Sly and co doing movies very similar to ones they had done before, meant that producers tried to give characters to these guys with more depth, without getting someone to write it decently and of course in the case of Schwarzenegger, trying to give a 3 dimensional person to someone who can't act.

Now as for Sly and Willis they have wasted a lot of their career doing action movies because it doesn't stretch them as actors. They are good actors given good roles, people forget Stallone got an Oscar nomination. The Rock is more like Arnold. He's limited in his acting chops but has a charm and likeability and a good presence and we can expect no more from him than simple roles, where his prerequisite is simply to cause carnage and emote on the odd occasion. I am glad we could see a reinvention of 80's action movies, Jackie Chan breathed new life ot the martial arts genre throughout the late 90's and the first years of this decade, but they seem to be wearing thin now so it seems some good old fashioned superhuman carnage could be on the cards, there's even the possibility of a new Die Hard, Rambo, True Lies and some new films like Spy Hunter. Even Van Damme and co in DTV land are going back to basics and not trying to test their acting, because truth be told for 99% percent of these action stars it's a test where failure is inevitable and it's not what their fans really want.

The Rundown is simplistic stuff. You have a simple premise and a setting that is prepped and ready to be blown up. You have a strange mix of central characters, with The Rock and Sean William Scott. Meaning there will be plenty of fast jive talking and one liners. You have your thespian in their as the bad guy. Christopher Walken in this case and your ready, you have the basis for a good fun action movie. This is great fun. Arnold and Sly would be proud to have this on their CV. In fact it is on Arnies CV because he has a cameo at the start which is effectively him passing the torch on to the Rock. There are no twists and turns of any really note but the important thing is that it is nicely paced it has a nice glossy sheen to the cinematography. There are few hints at them aiming for a particularly young and hip-hop or Nu Metal demographic like Fast And Furious or Jet Li's films have done, thankfully. It's cool without going over the top and blowing it's wad. I like the fact this isn't made for pimply teenagers first and foremost. It's made for action lovers, it's a loving and subtle gift to young adults, 20 something's who watched the action films in the 80's and early 90's when they were undemanding, untainted fun and far form the marketed tripe we get now.

The Rock is good here. He has improved so much from The Scorpion King. He has charisma he's got a natural screen presence and a charm. In fact he's more natural than Arnold with his acting, he even has more of a vulnerable side (although not that much). I do think that given time the Rock will be better than his sensei. He has after all only just started. He won't however have as high a standard of movies. Let's not forget Arnold hasn't only done good action films but good films and classic movies with the first 2 Terminators. What the Rock now needs is a box office hit. He hit it big with Scorpion King but since then his movies have not been hits, Walking Tall being a flop. His next, Spy Hunter which sees him team with action maestro John Woo has got fantastic hit potential and potential to be as good as this film. Sean William Scott is also good. He does his Stifler thing again and it's good. It's almost as much to do with how the Rock plays and reacts off him that makes his role funny. Of course Christopher Walken is good and he has a trademark and hilariously intense speech about the tooth fairy that will have you in stitches. Rasario Dawson is also good.

The action is great, some of the best this year I have to say. It's old fashioned carnage, not reliant on CGI. It's imaginative stuff and well thought out as well as being well edited. The Rock is a great ass-kicker. He performs most of his own stunts and has real natural ability to put on a show with his fights, thanks largely to his WWE background. Peter Berg handles the set pieces with poise.

This is a highly entertaining flick, bringing back pleasant memories and is one of the best action films in years. ****

The Rundown or Welcome to The Jungle it's a typical modern adventure/action movie. Entire movie's idea wasn't too bad, though it contains nothing original but its implementation became only a disappointment because the story was poor written and awfully predictable all the way. Acting in the movie was pretty bad even for an action movie and about the directing I can say only the same. On the other hand the movie was well shot with carefully selected good scenery that brought reasonable exotic to the audience. Some jokes were really funny, although entire humor was as usual vulgar and silly Fight scenes look very typical for The Rock and they were quite different during the movie. While some of such action sequences were not bad a all most of them look only ridiculous and unreal. Overall The Rundown is nothing more than a silly action/adventure movie. It has some entertainment value but due to all its flaws and weak parts its worth seeing only for hard action fans or for fans of the Rock

4,7 out of 10. Sorry for my bad English.

The Rock has done it again! He has made another big screen hit, and this time, he has used every trick in the book from the WWE. The results: The Rundown! Playing a bounty hunter is definitely a good role for The Rock. He doesn't play around, and I think he should thank Martha Stewart for the cooking ideas. Better yet, it should the "E" man; Emeril Lagasse. For the voice he lends to the The Rock's character. I liked all the scenes in the movie, and even though they were pretty fast paced, the fun factor was never lost. Take the jungle scene, where all the rebels fight Beck, there was a lot of action there. And I think the humor was the backup factor there too. Rosario Dawson provided a lot of quality as well. I liked the part where she gave Beck(The Rock) and Travis(Seann William Scott) some of that funky fruit. And then they had to wake up with the monkeys, with what Beck had to put up with earlier in the movie. Christopher Walken was good playing the bad "a". It was funny, when he had the .44 automatic shot out of his hand, and had to choose Option A, the hard way. This movie had a lot to give, action, adventure, and comedy. What more do you want? Rating 3 out of 5 stars!

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.

Combination action, adventure, broad comedy, and buddy movie has The Rock well-cast as a "retrieval expert" fed up with his occupation and looking for a way out. He agrees to one last job in which he travels to a remote village in South America to find his employer's delinquent son, but in the midst of his search he tangles with the town's greedy, Svengali of a boss, embittered citizens, and gets caught up in a search to find a rare and priceless artifact. Engaging, high-energy action scenes, enthusiastic performances, and moments of genuine humor make this a blast from start to finish. Formulaic to be sure, but lots of fun with Walken adding a hilarious presence as vile Hatcher. ***

Fine photography and scenic wonders are all there in this film, but, oddly, it is a youthful Seann William Scott who steals this film from star Dwayne Johnson and everything else. The story, naturally, is silly...but it has humor and lots of action scenes. In fact, almost all of it is action, often with comedic touches that are played well by the two men. Johnson has charisma, but Scott is in his element, offering the kind of zany performance, and good looks, that should have propelled him to more important and jucier roles. Not a bad film to sit through on a rainy or snowy night. You won't be bored.

Saw this movie not too long ago for the first time, and it astounds me that it came out in 2003. Makes me feel real old, and it also was strange to see The Rock not quite as big in this film as he is now. The film had a rather large budget, which is also very questionable as this is the first film that I know of that has The Rock as the lead and seeing it only made 80 million worldwide and cost 85 it did not even manage to break even. Granted, I am sure with DVD sales and such it has made a profit over the years, just not as quickly as a studio would like.

The story has The Rock as some sort of retrieval and enforcer kind of guy, but he is tiring of this lifestyle and wants out so he can be a chef. Well, he is given an opportunity to get out, because if he can get his boss's son and bring him back, he will be allowed out of the business. The problem is that his son is in South America. So he proceeds down and proceeds to have a hard time with his target as he is a smart mouthed guy who has no intentions of going back before finding a treasure. They also run afoul of a guy who pretty much runs things in this town and soon they will be pursued as they make their way through the jungles in search of the treasure.

The Rock does a pretty good job in his first leading role not associated with The Scorpion King and shows glimpses of the star he will become as he is able to do the action thing good and do well in the humor department too. Sean William Scott is also good as the guy The Rock is trying to retrieve and gives the Rock all kinds of problems. Christopher Walken is also in this one and of course he is good!

So, it was a pretty good film when it is all said and done, not sure why it did not do better when it initially released. I have seen far worse films make lots of money over the years, but then, they are sequels and that is why one tends never to see anything original these days. This one had some good action, some good humor and it was a nice distraction while it was on.

I highly recommend this to pass time, it's very well done action comedy. It's fast paced, the jokes are great, the action was eye catching, you also get a legendary cameo of an action star oldtimer.

If you are looking for action, it doesn't come any better than this. This film has one of the best fight scenes in a movie between The Rock and the Kontiki rebels. It also has some of the best stunt work as two stunt men are thrown from a jeep as it falls off the side of a cliff. The stunt men tumble and fall down the cliff, hitting multiple trees and debris. Eventually the two men perform a tumbling 55' high fall into a large pool without the use of wires.

But, what it has most of all is the Puerto Rican, Cuban, African American, Irish and Native American beauty Rosario Dawson (Rent, Sin City, Grindhouse).

This is probably the best role I have seen for Christopher Walken. He plays Hatcher, the bad guy, and he plays it well.

Even Arnold Schwarzenegger puts in an appearance.

Hollywood released a ton of buddy action movies around Y2K and "The Rundown" is easily the best of the lot. What makes the film work is the unlikely chemistry between The Rock and Sean William Scott, as well as Peter Berg's stylish direction. Both actors seem totally unhinged, yet always natural despite their often cartoonish circumstances.

Add a psychedelic Chris Walken to the mix and you have comedic gold.

When The Rock,(Beck) had just completed a very tough assignment and returns to his boss to get paid, The Rock winds up getting another assignment that is deep in the Amazon Jungle to find the boss's son. The salary is a large sum of money plus he has ownership of an eating establishment for all his efforts. The Rock quickly walks into a saloon and meets a female bartender deep in the jungle and asks for a beer. The bartender is Rosario Dawson,(Mariana) who is well built, attractive and ready to take no fooling around. There is a bad dude who controls the jungle area and a very large mine which is hard labor and poor pay for the poor local people, Christopher Walken plays the bad evil dude who finds that Beck is starting to upset his complete operation. There is lots of action and plenty of comedy and a film worth viewing.

Very good mindless entertainment!Personally,sometimes I really miss the simplicity of action films made in my youth)Glorious 80 s -90s)))Simple plot, always funny one liners and jokes, improbable fights...But so very entertaining! That's what this film delivers in abundance !Enjoy!