Explosive
Summary
The Rundown is one of Dwayne Johnson’s best films with the right amount of comedy, action and adventure to be endlessly rewatchable. The 4K looks and sounds great and there are plenty of special features to keep physical media fans engaged for hours.
Plot: Welcome to the Jungle! Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Walking Tall) teams up with Seann William Scott (Road Trip) for a wildly entertaining action-adventure that Good Morning America’s Joel Siegel raves is “one of the year’s biggest, most fun movies!” Beck (Johnson) is a bounty hunter sent into the treacherous jungles of the Amazon to bring the rebellious Travis (Scott) back to the States. When Beck and Travis reluctantly join forces to hunt down a priceless treasure, this unlikely team embarks on a pulse-pounding, non-stop thrill-ride. Co-starring Rosario Dawson (Sin City), Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite), Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting) and Christopher Walken (Mouse Hunt), and directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor).
Review: I just got the Kino Lorber 4K of The Rundown starring Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson and Christopher Walken. I hadn’t watched it for a few years so it was fun to revisit it again.
Directed by Peter Berg, this was the movie that introduced us to Dwayne Johnson: The Next Action Hero and we even get a quick passing of the torch cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger at the start… too bad Johnson never really lived up to it despite a few entertaining action pictures.
The Rundown remains one of Johnson’s best movies as it has the right mix of comedy, action and sense of adventure. Dwayne Johnson and Seann William Scott make for a fun duo trading insults and blows although I do find a little Scott annoying after a while and he’s not a character I particularly took to. The humour is mostly juvenile with some jokes that work better than others, but it’s so tightly paced with practically constant action that it’s difficult to not be entertained.
Christopher Walken steals the show here as the villain, Hatcher; his “tooth fairy” speech is the most Walken-iest scene you’ll ever see.
There is some impressive stuntwork especially the scene with Beck and Travis jumping out of the jeep and falling down those hills; stunt guys actually did that and I have no idea how they survived, but I imagine there would be a few sprained ankles after that.
Ernie Reyes Jr. has a small but awesome role as Manito who has that hilarious fight scene in the jungle with Beck. That’s maybe my favourite scene of the movie as it’s such a crazy but entertaining fight.
This is just me nit-picking but I could never be bothered with Ewen Bremner’s Declan who is putting on a pointless Irish accent; admittedly it’s not the worst but Bremner is from Scotland and making the character Irish meant nothing to the story, so he should have just used his own accent without any detriment to the film.
Although it’s hardly classic the music score is decent; it lacks a memorable theme but that tends to be the way of things these days sadly and it works for this kind of movie.
The final 20 minutes has Beck go into one-man army mode and it’s satisfying stuff. I still think it isn’t too late for a follow up as you could have Beck retired and happily running his restaurant, but he has to come back for one last job. I know Peter Berg has wanted to do a sequel for a while now and he also was looking for Jonah Hill and Kevin Hart to join it; that was back in 2016 so I wouldn’t be waiting on that happening any time soon.
I only ever had this movie on DVD so I welcomed the 4K upgrade and it didn’t disappoint.
Special Features:
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
- Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Director Peter Berg and Star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
- Audio Commentary by Producers Kevin Misher and Marc Abraham
- NEW Audio Commentary by Action Film Historian Mike Leeder and Filmmaker Matt Routledge
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0
- Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
- Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Director Peter Berg and Star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
- Audio Commentary by Producers Kevin Misher and Marc Abraham
- NEW Audio Commentary by Action Film Historian Mike Leeder and Filmmaker Matt Routledge
- Rumble in the Jungle: Featurette (10:32)
- The Amazon, Hawaii Style: Featurette (5:27)
- Appetite for Destruction: Featurette (8:20)
- The Rundown Uncensored – A Rock-umentary: Featurette (6:08)
- Running Down the Town: Featurette (4:09)
- Walken’s World: Featurette (5:33)
- Deleted Scenes (13:50)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:35) Newly Mastered in 2K
- 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0
- Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
The deleted scenes don’t add too much however, I think the scene with Rosario Dawson being chased and captured in the jungle would have been a good addition as it’s just mentioned in passing that she didn’t escape. Walken’s World is an enjoyable featurette where the legend is interviewed; it’s interesting to see him directed by Peter Berg who isn’t afraid to stand up to his actors to tell them exactly what he’s looking for. The Appetite for Destruction featurette focuses on the action and how some of the amazing set-pieces were put together. I like how Seann William Scott doesn’t seem afraid of doing a lot of his own stunts either. The commentaries are also fantastic as are the other featurettes. The picture and sound were faultless and I didn’t even need to have the subtitles on which is are these days.
Overall, The Rundown is still a fun ride and remains one of Dwayne Johnson’s best films with some fun buddy banter, crazy action and a scene stealing villainous turn by Christopher Walken. The 4K is a worthy addition to the collection as there are plenty of entertaining featurettes and deleted scenes with near perfect audio and visuals.