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"Walking Tall" Reviews
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| From Film Critic.com - 4/01/04 Three Stars Ironically, Walking Tall runs short. Credits included, the testosterone opera two-fists its way through 77 sweat-soaked minutes, and it’s just enough. You won’t be hungry for seconds by the time the last baddie hits the floor, but you won’t be checking your watch repeatedly, either. Let’s not sugarcoat it. Tall remains a one-note genre picture specifically tailored to its shining star – The Rock. For what it is, though, Tall is quite good. It has fun with its limitations. It boasts strong fight choreography and interesting direction by Kevin Bray, who keeps the spotlight on its charismatic and camera-friendly leading man. Inspired by a 1973 “Hixploitation” flick of the same name (which I’ve yet to see), this new Tall moves the action from Tennessee to Washington state. Chris Vaughn (The Rock) is a soldier gone from his home for eight years who returns to his childhood town to rekindle relationships and rest. He discovers that a former acquaintance named Jay (Neal McDonough) blessed with some family money and influence has shut down the town’s mill and set up a profitable casino. Debauchery follows. The impact of legal gambling both helps and hurts the town. It gives struggling community members a place to work but also provides cover for a lucrative drug ring that’s targeting children. When Vaughn’s nephew overdoses on crystal meth provided by the casino staff, the burly enforcer takes it upon himself to clean up the streets and rid the town of the criminal element. In his professional wrestling incarnation, The Rock usually orders opponents to “know their roles,” but it’s his Tall co-stars that take heed. McDonough oozes a natural arrogance onscreen as Vaughn’s slimy adversary, and Johnny Knoxville is consistently funny in his limited sidekick role. I’ll take Captain “Jackass” over Seann William Scott any day of the week. Tall initially aspires to be something deeper. Vaughn has dimensions, fears, hopes, and anxieties. His self-serving vendetta elevates him to a higher plane above the law, which leads to a comically campy court scene that has the soldier defending his actions and baring his barrel chest for the members of a jury. It’s hard to explain here, but it made perfect sense in the film. There’s only so much room in the abbreviated Tall, though, and it chooses to be an action vehicle more than a human drama. It’s worth noting that The Rock, amazingly, would have been fine in either type of film. On a side note, in this post-Matrix era of elaborate and tiresome martial arts sequences, it’s nice to see a good old-fashioned fistfight again. From www.eye.net - 4/01/04 Three Stars Dwayne Johnson can no longer wrestle. The ex-CFLer doomed to be forever known by his geological WWE moniker has been looking pretty shaky lately. He's dropped some weight, and stumbled over his lines in a couple of recent in-character interviews. This would seem to suggest that his budding acting career is in jeopardy of going the Hulk Hogan route: make a few novelty films, then resign yourself to obscurity. But surprisingly, Walking Tall gives no evidence to support that. Kevin Bray's remake of the 1973 hixploitation classic is not, of course, a masterpiece; it's based on a fun but poorly assembled piece of trash, and makes no bones about endorsing a kind of half-dimensional action-figure morality that equates justice with beating on rednecks with a four-by-four. But for all that, it's no toss-off. Like The Rundown, Walking Tall draws on action-movie templates that are outdated but undeniably better than the ones endorsed by the Jerry Bruckheimer school. The Rock is Chris Vaughn, an ex-soldier coming home to roost. When he gets there he finds his beloved sawmill closed, a new casino corrupting the townsfolk and a dirty sheriff letting things slide into moral disaster. This does not please him, and so, with the help of a big piece of lumber and his sidekick Ray (Jackass Johnny Knoxville), he takes back the town. The story is unabashedly ludicrous -- but less so than the original, which saw a sweaty Joe Don Baker take a beating that would make Mel Gibson blush. The Rock gets messed up good, but the fight scenes are well spaced, and the film never falls into supernatural hero histrionics. At heart, it's a drama: slowly paced by action-movie standards, and shockingly faithful to the original's structure. It is to that film what The Rundown was to Romancing the Stone, and, like The Rundown, kind of refreshing in its refusal to suck when it undoubtedly should. From NBC4.com - 4/01/04 Arch on the Arts 1 Star Another notch in The Rock's career - he stars in a remake loosely, and I do mean loosely, based on the story of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser. The Rock plays a returning Gulf War vet shocked at the crime in his small Washington state town. His high school rival Neal McDonough (from TV's "Boomtown" and a great villain) opened a crooked casino complete with prostitution and other evils. The Rock runs for sheriff, cleans things up, and closes the story in a bloody shoot-em-up, fists-flying finale. They toned down his sex scenes to get a PG 13 rating, otherwise, this one's "R" rated violent. And really not much of a movie. |
Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune - 4/01/04 2 stars (out of 4) In the movies as in life, is vigilante justice really justice? That's the question that plagued me throughout "Walking Tall," a remake of the 1973 hit movie of the same name, which spun off into two sequels and a television series. Inspired by actual events surrounding Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser, this latest incarnation has migrated north to Ferguson, Wash., and stars The Rock (nee Dwayne Douglas Johnson) as a modern-day Pusser named Chris Vaughn. (The fewer syllables, the better.) After serving eight years with the Special Forces, Chris returns home to find his town in disarray. The lumber mill where his father worked has closed, with a crooked casino owned by Chris's high school rival, Jay Hamilton, taking its place as the city's main source of income and jobs. Hamilton, played fiercely by the convincing Neal McDonough , runs the town like a Pacific Northwest despot, with the local sheriff complicit in all his corruption. When Chris' teenage nephew Pete gets crystal meth from the security guards at Hamilton's casino, Chris seeks vengeance, wielding a long piece of lumber to smash slot machines and drug pushers' knees. He gets arrested and argues his case in court, promising the jury that if it acquits him, he will run for sheriff and clean up Ferguson. His defense, essentially, is that though he may be guilty of bashing in six guys' heads, he did it for a good cause and therefore should be found innocent. He is, and here is where that question I mentioned earlier started pecking away at my concentration. I know it's a movie, and sure, the bad guys are pretty brutal, but siccing this hulk of a man on the town, no matter what his intentions, doesn't spell justice to me. The Rock tries to infuse his performance with delicate emotion, but in most of the film's quieter scenes, his hard exterior overrides any cinematic softer side. I feel a little guilty placing so much emphasis on the guy's physical appearance, but if you're going to pump iron to look like a powerhouse, you're going to be treated like one. As sheriff, Chris enlists his old screw-up buddy, Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass" fame), to be his deputy, and the two manage the town with a big stick - literally. As in the original, the sheriff carries an intimidating wooden club, and I'm relieved director Kevin Bray chose not to update that stick into some sort of giant pine Taser. Ray and Chris beat up on cars and men as a means to their honest ends. Their ethical bender endangers the Vaughn family, and for protection, Chris arms his pacifist father (John Beasley), who, of course, must eventually use the weapon in an act both heroic and demoralizing. Forgoing computer-generated special effects, Bray worked up intense and gritty fight scenes with hand-to-hand combat and the scaled-back use of explosives - the flashiest pyrotechnic trick in the whole movie is a truck that blows up. I didn't expect much tension from the climactic brawl between Chris and Hamilton, because, well, who wouldn't put money on The Rock? But credit should go to McDonough, who emblazons his character with a toughness of body and mind and gives the battle suspense. In the end, "Walking Tall" is a fine shoot-'em-up remake. The story is mildly gripping, and the action is fresh and entertaining. But when Sheriff Vaughn pulls Hamilton over, asks for his license and registration, cites him for a broken headlight and then proceeds to break that headlight with a 4-by-4, I wonder who we're supposed to be rooting for - the bad guy who sells drugs and rigs dice, or the good guy who breaks arms and skulls? Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News - 4/01/04 Tall Order B- It may not be a direct duplicate of the 1973 hixploitation flick - arguably a good thing - but the remake of the vigilante-with-a-badge classic "Walking Tall" holds its own. It has a charismatic leading man and a more restrained level of head-busting and moralizing. The original movie starred Joe Don Baker in the more-or-less true adventures of Buford Pusser, an ex-Marine, ex-wrestler who retired to Tennessee, ran afoul of local crime and corruption and proceeded to clean up the place by running for sheriff and whomping the bad guys with a very big stick. The movie spawned two sequels, a made-for-television movie and a short-lived series. Many of the details of the original story have been altered, but the basic structure remains. Wrestling superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as Chris Vaughn, an ex-Army Special Forces soldier who returns to his family and the rustic small town in Washington state he'd escaped eight years earlier. It's a place vastly different from the one he left. Vaughn had hoped to get a job at the mill that serves as the town's main source of income. Instead, he finds that it has been closed by Jay Hamilton (the wonderfully slimy Neal McDonough), who has opened a casino, which has brought prosperity at a price: The mom-and-pop stores have closed and adult video shops have sprung up in their place. Vaughn briefly flirts with Hamilton's offer of becoming head of security until he gets a clearer picture. The casino is not only full of rigged tables, but it's also a front for Hamilton's prostitution and drug operations. After Vaughn defends himself in court on not-so-trumped up assault charges, he ousts the town's crooked sheriff, deputizes his best friend Ray (Johnny Knoxville) and wages war on Hamilton. The supporting cast is mostly unremarkable in their stock roles, with the possible exception of John Beasley as Vaughn's pseudo-pacifist father. It's the principal actors who carry the film, and they do it well. The Rock displays a degree of charm to balance his brawn and the picture's PG-13 brutality. He's a stronger successor to the vacant action hero throne than the likes of Vin Diesel or DMX, and a more challenging role could take him into more mainstream dramatic territory. The same could be said for Knoxville, who provides comedy relief as the obligatory sidekick. With his crackling voice, easygoing presence and a surprising range, he's gradually shrugging off his "Jackass" persona and shaping up to be someone to watch. McDonough, who made a lasting impression as the conflicted, tortured D.A. David McNorris on NBC's late, much-lamented cop drama "Boomtown," lends an air of legitimacy. The best performer in the movie, he's sadly underused. As a whole, "Walking Tall" is lean. But this incarnation is diluted and lacks tension. It's solid but unremarkable, a fast-food film that's the equivalent of a good cheeseburger and fries. |
University of Maryland Student
Newspaper - 4/01/04 Walking Tall, kicking ass Disclaimer: Don't buy a ticket for Walking Tall expecting to see a blockbusting thriller with stellar performances and jaw-dropping special effects. You'd be better off renting The Matrix. But if you have the hearty American hankering for some good old-fashioned ass-kicking courtesy of everybody's favorite half-Samoan wrestler, you'll walk out satisfied. Ex-Special Forces Sgt. Chris Vaughn (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) returns from his eight-year tour of duty to find his once-pleasant rural Washington hometown plagued by drugs and corruption. Jay Hamilton Jr. (Neal McDonough) shut down the lumber mill and opened a casino - which appears to be the root of the town's sudden degradation. Heck, even Vaughn's ex-girlfriend Deni (Ashley Scott) from high school is now a stripper at the casino. Vaughn calls on his old high school buddy Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville) and a 2-by-4 to help bust the drug circle and bring a sense of order back to the town. It's no stretch to imagine Johnson as ex-U.S. Army, and he puts just the right amount of depth into Vaughn (which isn't too much). Granted, he's not turning Vaughn into a brilliant, multi-layered hero, but he sure can swing a 2-by-4, and it almost makes up for it. When he's not busting skulls, Johnson's dramatic scenes (notably one courtroom monologue) are weighty enough to prove him a mainstay in the action world, comparable to Vin Diesel and maybe even edgier. Johnson's 6-foot-5 inch frame is big enough to keep the film from falling into the realm of cheesy Jean-Claude Van Damme flicks. The script is a little clunky - at one point, Templeton turns to Vaughn and says, "It's his subtle attention to aesthetics ..." What? Since when did Johnny Knoxville know what those words meant? Otherwise, Knoxville's scenes are decent, but it's going to take more than his Walking Tall effort for him to prove he really has big screen chops. On the other hand, McDonough's evil smirk alone is enough for him to fall right into the stereotypical villain's shoes. Cleveland Scene - 3/31/04 Before Star Wars and Indiana Jones, audiences thrilled to an epic big-screen trilogy of a different sort: the tale of one righteous lawman and his big piece of wood. Based on the real-life exploits of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, the first Walking Tall movie (1973) made lead actor Joe Don Baker a redneck hero forever and ever. The second film was supposed to star Pusser as himself, until a mysterious "accident" claimed his life; Bo Svenson went on to make the role his own in two movies and a TV spin-off. In the year 2004, it's a newly written rule within the Hollywood studio system that every '70s B-movie that was ever popular needs to be remade . . . wait, no; "reimagined" is the term they're using these days, to give themselves an easy out when viewers with memories invariably complain that the originals were just fine the way they were, thanks. Such reimaginings tend to be on bigger budgets with slicker production values and less thought-provoking content, but slap a Johnny Cash song on the soundtrack, and it confers the momentary illusion of profundity. Thus the all-new versions of both Dawn of the Dead and Walking Tall. Buford Pusser isn't even mentioned (save a dedication right before the end credits) in this new version of his life story, which has also been moved from Tennessee to Washington State (aka Canada). In his place is a younger character named Chris Vaughn, played by The Rock -- which actually isn't as much of a departure as it may seem. The cinematic Buford, remember, was a retired pro wrestler known as "The Bull"; The Rock is now semiretired from the ring, where he was known as "The Brahma Bull." Besides the fact that none of the original characters remain, the new script follows the original beat-for-beat, with one scene from Walking Tall Part II thrown in for good measure. Hero comes back to his parents' hometown to find a crooked casino has corrupted everything and almost everyone, stands up for himself, gets beaten and left for dead, runs for sheriff, then decides to beat the bad guys upside the head with a large plank. The original was very much a '70s film, though, with a vulnerable hero who -- after exacting his revenge, despite being in a half-body cast -- is taken away in a squad car, tears streaming down his face, having won the battle but lost his loved ones. This is a contemporary PG-13 film, however, aimed at the young-skewing fan base of The Rock -- only mild sleaze here, no family members executed, and, without spoiling too much, let's just say a less ambiguous ending. Assuming that one has never heard of the original franchise, however, the current incarnation is good basic fun. It could almost be an episode of The A-Team, with The Rock as Mr. T, George Peppard, and Dirk Benedict all in one. The role of token crazy guy Dwight Schulz is filled by Johnny Knoxville, who's developed an entire career around trying to persuade people that he's insane. Director Kevin Bray shows more skills here than in his annoying Ice Cube-Mike Epps buddy flick All About the Benjamins. A couple of bird's-eye-view shots are particularly nice and convey the necessary plot information without rubbing it in. Director of photography Glen MacPherson has generally turned in forgettable work before (the aforementioned Benjamins, Exit Wounds, Loser), but delivers the goods here, with one or two scenes that will no doubt be on his highlight reel for years to come. Both The Rock and Knoxville have a natural charisma that has somehow, inexplicably, been honed from years of masochistic, self-inflicted pain, but credit must also go to villain Neal McDonough (Timeline), who bears more than a passing resemblance to Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's charismatic blood-sucking antihero. Possessing the greatest character arc in the film, McDonough moves effortlessly from charming huckster to ice-cold kingpin, in a performance undoubtedly inspired by numerous studio executives. Less successful is obligatory love interest Ashley Scott (TV's Birds of Prey), who looks and performs like every wannabe actress in the world. In fact, the only thing about Walking Tall that absolutely screams "Blasphemous remake!" is the atrocious ballad-style cover of New Order's "Blue Monday" that plays during Scott's love scene with The Rock. Granted how much fun the lead performers are to watch, one wishes they were appearing in a more substantial movie. The Rock, at least, will be doing an Elmore Leonard adaptation next, in which he should finally get to use his comedic skills; it seems unjust somehow that one of the funniest men ever to give a WWE interview has been stuck as the straight man with a comedy sidekick in every film thus far. In Walking Tall, at least, the sidekick-hero relationship is a sign of societal progress, as Sheriff Pusser's comedic sidekick was a black man in a racially tense town, whereas Chris Vaughn has a token white sidekick as well as an interracial family that's never made an issue. |