Walking Tall

We were looking forward to this one - I loved the original Walking Tall with Joe Don Baker in 1973. That movie was the story of Buford Pusser, a man who became sheriff and single handedly cleaned up the corruption in McNairy County, Tennessee. Sheriff Pusser was an amazing man who experienced great loss in his mission - including losing his wife in an ambush shooting. Joe Don Baker captured that story very well in the first movie. It makes you think "talk softly and carry a big stick" all through as you watch.

This remake is a good action movie that stands on it's own, although it's now "based on a true story" of Sheriff Buford Pusser. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) stars and his name is now "Chris Vaughn". The town is in Washington state but the mission remains very much the same. Everyone loves a good 'clean up the corruption and run the bad guys out of town' movie - this one is energetic, fun and interesting, even if you already know the story. We missed the fact that much of the townspeople are in the background, or ignored completely and it's very much a One Man movie, but on that basis it's a decent one.

The Rock has been steadily improving his acting skills. In The Mummy he was questionable, in Scorpion King better but in The Rundown he really showed us that he was destined to be the next huge action hero. He is Arnold, to the nth degree. Looks like he brushed up on his Sheriff Pusser history too - check out this website http://www.sheriffbufordpusser.com/nfhome.htm.

The surprise in this movie was Johnny Knoxville (best known for Jackass on tv and Jackass the Movie, best known in this house as 'The Meter Fairy' from Jackass) He did a great job, gave us the second best use for a potato peeler, and did one of the best (most interesting anyway) gun fight scenes in recent memory. He seems very natural and convincing in this part, where The Rock still has a bit of that "I know I'm on camera" thing going on.

Khleo Thomas (Holes) pops in and out as the cutie little nephew. He's always fun to see onscreen.

We enjoyed seeing a good, decent, rural hardworking American family that happens to be interracial featured here. There's really no other way to give The Rock a family that's anything but mixed, since that's his own heritage, and it was refreshing to see this treated totally normal. Never is there a racial slur or anyone pointing to his heritage. That alone is a huge positive mark.

There are very good fight scenes, but not Over the Top crazy (Stallone or Arnold) type scenes. It's a good one! Lots of fun. Popcorn was fresh and we brought White Cheddar with us to sprinkle on top - and ate way too much! :)

Rating - a 3 - Fun!