Rating: - Great action movie
First and foremost, The Rundown has one of the best opening sequences in movie history. Beck (The Rock) is a collections expert who is in a packed club attempting to collect some cash from an NFL quarterback who has renigged on a wager he lost. After being denied by the QB, and having alcohol thrown in his face, Beck proceeds to an epic beatdown. The coolest part about it is the fact that since they are all football players, the movie does an introduction of sorts, with the players' vital statistics like height, weight, and position. It's highly entertaining to watch Beck demolish a group of guys; it's even better when we know how big each guy is, and that they are professional athletes.

After the initial beatdown, in which it's clear that Beck is one of the baddest men on the planet, Beck meets with his employer (William Lucking), who just happens to be the father of a wannabe archaeologist named Travis (Sean William Scott). Unfortunately for Beck, Travis is in the Brazilian rainforest, where there's sure to be a ton of trouble.

Upon arrival in Brazil, Beck soon meets Hatcher (Walken), an over-the-top, slave-driving, gold-mine owner who refers to his cast of workers as oompa-loompas. Hatcher's character is completely ridiculous in a good way, a megalomaniacal way that can probably only be accomplished by Walken, or maybe an early Apocalypse Now version of Brando jacked up on caffeine for the hyperactivity, and Adderall for the blinkless focus. Why he has an interest in Travis is inconsequential, other than the fact that it serves as a plot fodder and a hindrance to Beck's mission. Nonetheless, he doesn't want Beck to take Travis out of the rainforest.

What follows is a collection of oddities like monkeys that molest people, outrageously long sequences of Beck falling out of trees without turning into a cripple, fruit that has incredibly strong halleucinogenic affects, and a handful of Walken lines that are hilariously quotable. There's also an irrelevant ancient artifact (El Gato) that Travis is hunting, and a resistance force of trapeze-artist capoeira fighers, led by Rosario Dawson, who battle Hatcher's dictator-like control.

The Rock delivers in this one with enough charm, action, intrigue, and witty dialogue to keep an audience enthralled to the very end.

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