Walking Tall (DVD)

Walk tall, carry a big stick and try not to buy movies that are worse than they actually should have been.

Walking Tall had the esteemed privilege of being the successor to The Rock's surprise hit The Rundown, and if you have not seen that you should quit reading this review right now, click here and buy that movie and then come back here to read just how much of a disappointment this movie actually was.

I am ripping into it pretty hard here and I just want to make sure you know this movie isn't horrible it is just that it is a disappointment. I think The Rock is one of the most charismatic actors out there, while he is not an Oscar caliber actor he is an entertaining actor and Walking Tall didn't take advantage of The Rock's talent.

Based on true events and a remake of the 1973 film of the same name the filmmakers changed slight details to modernize the tale such as giving The Rock a new name, Chris Vaughn, based it in a new location with new circumstances. But with all the subtle changes the main story, of a man coming back to his hometown to find it corrupted and he simply won't stand for it as he wages his own little war on the town villain, stays the same.

Going into theaters I was really excited to see this film since I liked The Rundown so much and I think from my earlier comments you can wager I didn't exactly get what I was looking for as this movie certainly has its own mix of action and comedy it all just felt so unoriginal. The cast contains two relatively new actors in The Rock and Johnny Knoxville, which should mean for some amount of originality, but it all seemed as if it had been done before.

As for the DVD features you get your usual deleted scenes, bloopers, alternate ending and a stunt featurette along with a couple of audio commentaries, the first one featuring The Rock and the second one features the director and his crew. Now on The Rundown DVD The Rock has a commentary with the director Peter Berg and it was just about the funniest commentary I had ever heard, but on this one with The Rock going solo it just doesn't have the same effect.

Walking Tall is not a DVD to buy, it is a questionable Friday night rental and seeing how it only lasts for an hour and 26 minutes you won't have wasted much of your night watching it if it turns out you don't like it.