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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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The Rundown
(Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
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| DVD Release Date:
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March 23, 2004
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| Length:
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105 mins.
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| Rated:
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14A
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1)
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| Audio:
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English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 2.0 Dolby Surround, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround
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| Subtitles:
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French, Spanish, Closed Captioned
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| Extras:
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Feature Commentary by Director Peter Berg and The Rock; Feature Commentary by Producers Kevin Misher and Marc Abraham; Featurettes: Rumble in the Jungle, The Amazon, Hawaii Style, Appetite for Destruction, The Rundown Uncensored, Running Down the Town and Walken's World; Deleted Scenes
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The Rock is the world's next action superstar. You might have thought you'd seen the end of the action superstar with the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger falling off the radar and the likes of Van Damme and Seagal unable to claim the throne, but leave it to a pro wrestler to come along and pick up the pieces. And what a name. The Rock. Has a name like that ever been so big in the movies? Sure, you've had Madonna or Cher, but The Rock? The name itself has action superstar written all over it. At the same time, it's difficult to say that this guy is already a superstar. Sure, he's conquered the wrestling world, but in reality, he's only appeared in a handful of movies. But with the new release of The Rundown on DVD, you can't deny The Rock.
In The Rundown, The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) plays Beck, a bounty hunter who is sent to the mining town of Helldorado in the Amazon to retrieve his boss's son, Travis (Seann William Scott). Helldorado is owned by a man named Hatcher (Christopher Walken) and Hatcher isn't too keen on letting Beck walk into his town to get Travis, even though he isn't too fond of Travis himself. So, Beck gives him two choices - the easy way, or the hard way. Which way do you think he chooses? Of course, Beck is no slouch, and he manages to escape with Travis in tow, but of course Travis manages to screw it up because he doesn't really want to leave either. Turns out that Travis is in search of a lost gold idol called the Gato del Diablo, and he's really close. Reluctantly, the two team up, the eventually find the idol, and they save Helldorado.
A really good movie. If you've missed the action flick genre these last few years, this movie has enough to get you going - and then some. And what can I say about The Rock that I haven't already? The guy is great. He carries the movie from beginning to end. The action scenes are fantastic, the story moves along at a great pace and all you can do is sit back, relax and enjoy.
For the DVD release of the movie, you get some great extras. First up is a great commentary track featuring director Peter Berg and the man himself, The Rock. If you're not already sold on The Rock, listen to this commentary. The guy is genuine - the real deal. He's got charisma coming out his ass, and this commentary only goes to prove it. And Berg isn't a slouch either. Second, there's a commentary by producers Kevin Misher and Marc Abraham. Sure, they're not The Rock, but this commentary isn't too bad either. They go over a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff and talk about how they got the movie made. It's worth a listen if you enjoyed the movie.
Our first featurette is titled "Rumble in the Jungle" which, oddly enough, is the international title of the movie. This one's all about The Rock, and it gives you even more of an appreciation for the guy's work in this movie. (Is that possible?) We see the cast and filmmakers in pre-production and rehearsals, going over some of the movie's better stunts and follow them to the filming location to see it done. Of course, everybody raves about our star. And why not - a big theme here is The Rock doing his own stunts. At one point, he says that in a lot of movies, just as you're about to get the big stunt, it's so obvious that it's a stuntman - and this is true. But not here. Like I said, it gives you an appreciation for his work.
Next up, we get "The Amazon, Hawaii Style" which is a look at shooting in Hawaii, and how they made it look like the Amazon. Apparently it wasn't too difficult - and it looked like they had a lot of fun too. Another featurette titled "Appetite for Destruction" goes over various effects and scenes from the movie, ranging from the bus explosion to the cattle stampede. Interesting - but not too exciting. "The Rundown Uncensored" is a fun look at filming with the baboons in the movie. Here, they try to get cute, and joke about a behind-the-scenes romance between The Rock and Kamila, the baboon. I guess it was a little funny. In "Running Down the Town", we hear from the production designer about turning the Los Angeles desert into the Brazilian town of Helldorado. You can see the work that went into the production design, but you can't make me care. The final featurette is a great one, titled "Walken's World". Christopher Walken is noticeably absent from the rest of the features, but he gets his fill here. We get to hear most of his great lines from the film and we hear from the cast and filmmakers about working with this Hollywood great. Best of all, we get to hear a little from the man himself.
Finally, for special features, we get some deleted scenes. If I had one problem here, it's that we don't get an index of scenes and we don't get any scene commentaries or introductions. I always like to know why these things are cut. Still, some good moments here. The first few are weak, but we get a great fight scene between Travis (Seann William Scott) and Harvey (Jon Gries), an alternate ending that almost sets up a sequel and a hilarious one with Christopher Walken. "Pig" - classic.
Of course, we also get our standard Cast and Filmmaker bios.
I can't say enough about how entertaining "The Rundown" was. Even if you manage to forget The Rock for a minute, this movie had a lot going for it. For an action piece, the story was decent, the supporting cast was strong and director Peter Berg brought his own style to the table. If The Rock was the cake, the rest would be icing - and it was tasty. And if this picture is any indication of what else we can expect from The Rock, we're in for a fun ride.
| The Movie: |
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7.5/10 |
| The Extras: |
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7.5/10 |
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Liam Cullin - Editor
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