Built like a brick Rock house!! (Walking Tall (DVD))

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Walking Tall (DVD)
Date:	23/04/06 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good action scenes, nice story

Disadvantages: Nothing original

Chris Vaughan is coming home. After eight years in the Special Forces he wants to settle in his hometown and work in the local mill with his father. However arriving at the mill he finds it has been closed down. Arriving in time the new sheriff offers him a lift home whilst filling him in on the changes that have happened. Namely the new casino run by his old school friend Jay Hamilton.

Chris kicks back and relaxes for a bit with his family, meeting up with some old friends and his best friend Ray Templeton, an ex-drug addict who is now trying to turn himself around and stay clean.

Following on from a welcome home football match, Chris and his friends are invited for a night out in Jay’s casino and this is where the trouble starts. Chris realises straight away that the place is no good, with loaded dice and illegal goings on. His realisations come to a head when he gets into a fight over the dice and ends up severely beaten and stabbed from stomach to chest with a Stanley knife.

Once recovered Chris wants to turn the town around and goes about it with a lump of 2x4 cedar wood and the help of his best friend.

##MY OPINION##

Well, I was actually really looking forward to this after reading the synopsis on the Internet for what this was about and it really didn’t let me down.

The Rock who played Chris Vaughan was actually quite good. I hadn’t seen him in anything before and just knew that he was an ex wrestler turned actor. Don’t think along the lines of Hulk Hogan though as he so much better and more sincere. Hulk seemed to still be a wrestler just in films but The Rock has dispelled the wrestler image, well in this film anyway, and you are left with a very fit bloke built like brick s**t house, who delivers his lines pretty believably, although those amazingly white teeth may not be so authentic!

The story is easy going and predictable to watch but there are some really good action scenes with The Rock smashing up the casino and various other fighting or wrecking scenes which all involve him and his lump of wood. You can’t expect too much from this though as it is not one for the brain. I seem to be drawn to this kind of film, I want entertainment without having to work for it. I like my films (mostly) to be able to entertain me while I veg on the settee only moving to see to my ever-sleepless kids!! I do not for the most part need to be stimulated through my brain and am satisfied to be stimulated through my senses and sight and sound are enough for me. This film delivers in all the right places to fit those criteria.

Johnny Knoxville who is no stranger to getting knocked about after his Jackass antics plays Ray Templeton and he is also a pretty good actor. I was impressed and he made me believe in his character. There are moments of comedy in this film, although not lengthy and these are always delivered or about Johnny’s character and this is a pleasant little bit of light heartedness in a film of mostly action and violence. There is one scene in particular which had me in fits for some reason, although I don’t think it was meant to be a particularly funny shot. Chris and Ray are sitting on the sofa at home while Chris recovers from his stabbing. Something funny comes on TV and Ray cracks up, while Chris is unable to laugh as it hurts him too much. Ray just goes on laughing like a hyena until Chris talks sternly to him, but this scene just made me laugh out loud, it is very well done and shows the closeness of the two friends.

Neal McDonough does an excellent job as the baddie Ray Hamilton. Whilst he is not your average looking baddie he comes across from the first moment you see him on screen as dangerous and arrogant, He is confident in his operation and his back up and that confidence oozes out of his expensive truck and designer clothes. The arrogance of drinking while driving, in order to say that the whole police department for this small town is in his pocket and he is above the law, which certainly seems to be the case during the aftermath of Chris’s stabbing. His bleached white hair just seems to make him look more dangerous, unlike Eric Roberts in National Security who sported the same hairdo and looked ridiculous.

Of course there is a love interest for Chris and this comes in the lovely parcel of young actress, Ashley Scott. Given the unusual name of Deni in the film, she is a beautiful blonde from Chris’s past, prior to the Special Forces, and although dancing in Jay’s casino to make ends meet, she soon resigns after realising Chris is back and reverts to the other side! Some mild sex scenes in here but nothing embarrassing to watch with our 13 year old so it’s really not very intimate. For her it’s mostly kissing whilst wearing a bra and for him it’s being bare chested so nothing major.

Kevin Bray the director seems to have done a pretty good job with this film in my opinion. Having done rather a lot of music videos in the past and mostly TV programmes rather than films he has proved he is versatile and experienced in getting the story across as it is intended. There are definite streaks of good versus bad in here and the originality of the film is not really anything to look forward to, but overall it is an enjoyable film with great action scenes and a fair enough story and script.

What more can you ask for?

Available from Amazon for £6.97 on DVD this is maybe a bit too much really. Either rent it or wait for it to come on offer, but if you get the opportunity give it a go. Enter without too much in the way of expectations and you should enjoy it.

Certificate 15 for the violence and mild sex scenes, but there is also mention of drugs although no scenes of using them thank goodness.

xx

Summary: Another non brainer - good entertainment.