Walking Tall (2004)
Picture: B
Audio: B Extras: C+ Film Overall: D
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce
Willis used to have one thing in common: action movies. The bulk of their films (with the occasional
comedy thrown in) are all bang-bang, shoot ‘em up, high-octane action
flicks. Nowadays, though, their
commonality boils down to one simple word: old. So, with the old generation of action stars fading fast, a new
generation of action stars is coming to take their place. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Colin Farrell
are just a few of the names that have already become synonymous with action
films, but a new contender is stepping out of his old ring and into a new
one. He is none other then Dwayne
Johnson. Wait, Dwayne Johnson? Oh, right—we know him as the WWE’s (WWF
before the lawsuit) famous wrestler The Rock.
Having taken roles in The Mummy Returns, The Scorpion King,
and The Rundown, The Rock has already taken the necessary steps to have
his name among the memorable ranks of action stars. But in order to solidify his name, he needs a big action hit,
which the previously mentioned films haven’t been. So, will Walking Tall (2004) be able to give him that
final step he needs? Unfortunately, no,
but he’s still getting closer.
Walking Tall (2004) is inspired (emphasis on
inspired, i.e., loosely) by the true story of Sheriff Buford Pusser from
Tennessee who fought to the end to fight corruption in his town. The reason for the emphasis on “inspired” is
due to the fact that the majority of everything that happens in this film is so
far from believable that it really does a disservice to the real Sheriff
Pusser. The Rock plays Chris Vaughn, a
former military man who returns home after leaving the service. The only problem is that his once sweet,
little Washington town now runs rampant with gambling, drugs, and
corruption. The cause for all these
problems can be linked to the man behind it all, Jay Hamilton (portrayed by
Neal McDonough), Chris’ childhood friend.
Jay’s way of running things has closed down the local mill, which has
put Chris’ father out of a job. When
Chris has a run in with some of Jay’s cronies over fixed gambling, they
brutally beat him and leave him for dead.
When the local police fail to do the right thing, Chris takes matters
into his own hands. Of course, it’s
modern day so he doesn’t get away with it and is arrested. But in probably the most ridiculous and
unbelievable court scene ever in film history, he gets out of it and promises
to clean up the town by running for sheriff.
Yep, he wins, and he sets out to fix everything wrong with his
town. The problem is everything is
unbelievable. Everything happens way
too easy for him. And then he fires all
the other deputies and hires only his friend Ray (Johnny Knoxville) to
dispense justice with him. Are we
really supposed to believe two men can properly defend a town from every single
criminal element? The Rock does a good
job acting wise, but he could have done better had he not been constrained by the
limits of the film. Knoxville is good
as the comic relief and McDonough does a good job as the villain.
This has to be one of the shortest feature films in
history clocking in at 74 minutes.
Don’t believe the box that says it’s 1 hour 26 minutes, because even
more amazing for such a short film is that the credits run 12 minutes. The film is all about the action scenes, and
there’s plenty of them. Where this film
really fails is in any character development from the lead actors, or ample
back-story. Most of the relationships
with a past are merely hinted at, and any interaction among characters has very
little to no chemistry. And since The
Rock has so much charisma and commands great screen presences, it’s really a
shame that they didn’t utilize that fact to its fullest.
The video is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and
it’s a pretty good video to look at.
The colors are nice and crisp, with no appearance of over- or under-
saturation. Black levels are good
throughout. The exteriors look
beautiful and provide a nice contrast in color and tone when they move to
interiors. All in all, a pretty
good-looking print and transfer with no hints of grain, scratches, or dust.
The audio is given in an English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround sound, as well as in Spanish and French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
surround sound. Subtitles for English,
Spanish, French, Chinese Mandarin, and Chinese Cantonese are also
available. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
sounds pretty good. The action
sequences properly make good use of all channels and actually surround
you. All the audio levels work well,
and are at the appropriate levels depending on the scenes.
There’s plenty of extras on this set. First up is a set of audio
commentaries. The first is provided by
The Rock. His solo commentary provides
some insight into how and why the film got made and he tells a lot of good
stories about things that happened during filming. Right off the back, he says the commentary isn’t going to be “art
house”—and he’s not lying. His
commentary is more like that of your buddy who doesn’t shut up during the movie
and has to point out everything about the movie and throw in his own brand of
humor to liven things up. It’s mostly
he making fun of stuff he sees on screen.
Oh yeah, and he has to say that everyone he knows on the film is “his
man” or “his guy.” All in all, it's
more comical commentary than anything else, but some interesting facts that the
normal person wouldn’t know. The second
is provided by director Kevin Bray, cinematographer Glen MacPherson (who
arrives 12 minutes late which makes for a distraction), and editor Robert
Ivison. They give more of the technical
commentary about how certain scenes were made, what went into them, etc. Their commentary is somewhat dry and slows
the pace of the action in the film, but what they do mention is interesting,
mentioning even the smallest of things that viewers would easily overlook.
There’s a short 8-minute featurette entitled “Fight the
Good Fight” which covers all the stunts and fight sequences in the film. Their big thing with this featurette is
their emphasis on how they avoid the use of any CGI in their sequences and use
good, old-fashioned style fighting and stunts instead of relying on
computers. It’s pretty basic, and
nothing new is shown that people wouldn’t get from watching other featurettes
on stunts and “old fashion” fisticuffs.
Other extras include three deleted scenes, which,
considering the film is so short, is a mystery why they were deleted. They add more character development, but
considering the film really focused more on action than anything else did, it’s
easy to see why they were cut. The
audio commentary from director Kevin Bray, cinematographer Glen MacPherson, and
editor Robert Ivison mentions more deleted scenes, but they are inexplicably
absent from the DVD. Also included is
an alternate ending, which is really just the same ending in the film just shot
in a different location. There are a
few funny bloopers, but they only leave you wanting to see more. Finishing off the extras are photo gallery
and the original theatrical trailer.
So, The Rock still has yet to truly dazzle us with an
action blockbuster, but there’s no doubt that that day will soon come. He has all the makings of a great action
star; he just needs the right script and right director. Schwarzenegger had his James Cameron, Willis
had his John McTiernan, and The Rock has his, well, that position is still
open. Heck, he’s already an action star
thanks to his career in the WWE, but he still needs that right director to give
him that bona fide crossover into the movie world.
- Antonio Lopez
