Sometimes things look good on paper, then translate well to film, and still don’t work at the box office. I am still not quite sure how 2003’s The Rundown failed to win over a massive audience (80.9 million made on an 85 million dollar budget).
Developing an action frenemy comedy script that deftly mixes the two genres (by Xena: Warrior Princess writer R.J. Stewart), what followed was inspired casting. . . pairing the biggest wrestler of the time (and one of the most charismatic human beings on the planet – The Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson – who had only dabbled in Hollywood with The Mummy Returns/The Scorpion King), with Seann William Scott, who was just coming off of the success of the American Pie trilogy (as well as some other memorable roles at the time – Road Trip and Old School come to mind), the pair have instant chemistry. It should be no surprise that Vince McMahon is a producer on the project.
Then bringing in a new, inspired director into the fold (who only had one credit under his belt), Peter Berg (who would go on to make such films as Friday Night Lights; The Kingdom; Lone Survivor, and Patriots Day), decided to play the action rough (inspired by the legendary fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David in John Carpenter’s cult classic They Live) and the comedy loose (often feeling improvised in a good way). Wrap the whole thing up with a super villain brought to vivid and entertaining life by the one and only Christopher Walken, and supporting performances from Rosario Dawson and Ewen Bremner, and, as I said above, it looks mighty good on paper (and film).
Johnson plays Beck, a fixer/retrieval expert for a high powered mobster, Billy Walker (William Lucking). . . but all he really wants to do is open his own Michelin star restaurant. In the film’s opening scene, action fans will get a kick out of a cameo from the then new California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who passes the action mantle to The Rock – his heir apparent, as the wrestler turned actor takes out a good portion of a football team in a bar (one of them owes his boss some major moolah). Wresting fans will notice that Johnson uses his finishing move, The Rock Bottom, on one of the players attacking him.
But the real story comes from the mobster wanting his wildcard son, Travis (Seann William Scott), back home – as he skipped out on University, had a dangerous affair, and then decided to start a wild archaeological goose chase in Brazil. If Beck returns him to his angry father, he’ll finally get the money he needs to start his restaurant.
Flying into the remote community with local pilot Declan (Bremner) – a man whose brogue is as thick as a rich New England clam chowder, the Duct tape on the wing immediately makes clear that this is a location off any map. Running a local gold mine is Hatcher (Walken), a maniacal millionaire who uses and abuses the local population to grow his privilege. Beck, knowing the situation he’s in, makes a beeline for the kingpin, making a deal for Travis.
Finding his target in a bar run by Mariana (Dawson), it does not take long for Hatcher to reappear, immediately reneging on their deal since he has realized that the amateur archaeologist has supposedly found the location of the long fabled O Gato do Diabo – a priceless golden artifact. Pitting Beck against the mine owner and his small army of whip, gun, and knife carrying baddies, all while trying to get the unrelenting, over the top Travis through the jungle and back to the runway, will make for a most difficult task for the retriever.
Setting up a number of running gags along the way – Beck not wanting to use guns (“Very bad things” happen when he does. . . incidentally, Very Bad Things is the name of Berg’s first feature film); Travis’ spastic thunder and lighting fighting style; different food inspired gags; Beck giving everyone two options (though everyone always thinks that there is a third). . . each of these moments (seemingly big or small) come back into play in a clever and most engaging way. Pulling from adventure flicks like the Indian Jones trilogy and Romancing the Stone movies, and countless buddy comedies (the confrontational aspects of Midnight Run immediately come to mind), you can’t say that this narrative is completely fresh, but it pulls from all of these references to create something that is both fun and has a high re-watch-ability level. In fact, the whole experience is a comedic thrill ride, with Berg’s almost hyper-stylized flair of directing/editing bringing with it a hard hitting wresting aesthetic to the fight scenes, while the starring pair, which sometimes come across as a modern version of the abusive, always 100% right and wholly unyielding Abbott, to the goofy, bumbling Costello (I think you can guess which is which), makes for a really endearing recipe.
Originally titled “Helldorado”, it then became “Welcome to the Jungle” (both of these monikers are seen or referenced in the movie), only to end as The Rundown, and you could argue that all three suit the picture. The burden on the local townsfolk is truly evident (a hell on Earth, there is an acrobatically violent rebel force vying for the golden artifact – a chance at changing their community for the better), while the thick jungles of Hawaii fill in for those of Brazil (as Berg and his team were robbed while scouting in South America, leading them to the safer American location), while there is a whole lot of chasing people in this one. . . though in hindsight, it would have been weird for Johnson to have two movies titled Welcome to the Jungle. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so choose whichever of the above titles you like and see this film today. . . you’ve been running it down for far too long and it’s about time you watch it already.