2004’s Walking Tall says it’s inspired by a true story.
And it is. A man named Buford Pusser apparently did sort of “take back and clean up” his town back in the day. Then came the 70’s movie starring the great Joe Don Baker. Nuff said.
But nowadays a small town like that has to get a more modern approach, so in comes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Chris Vaughn (in an interview, The Rock himself admitted that “Buford” just wouldn’t fit him, or the current mainstream), a military hero who returns to his small town and hates what he sees. His pleasant little town has been overrun with greed and corruption, and The Rock says, “oh Hell no!”. Sorry, couldn’t help myself…this flick is in part a WWE Production, after all.

I wanted to see Walking Tall because I was very impressed with The Rock in THE RUNDOWN. While he is pretty good here, and it’s obvious he IS the next big action hero (for now), Walking Tall is just another movie to add to his resume. It’s not gonna be his breakout flick. It’s not really his fault though. It’s just not a good movie. It’s not terrible…it’s just very much rental. An action flick with no surprises what so ever. Well, maybe seeing Ashley Scott with long blond hair was kind of a surprise. Damn, she looked hot! I’m used to her with short dark hair from her very short lived show Birds Of Prey where she played The Huntress, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. Damn but they dropped the ball with that show, but I digress.

Anyway, yeah, Walking Tall is formula all the way, and it’s PG-13 to let in all of The Rock's young fans. This lessens a movie about corruption and violence and all the sexy dancers have tops on. Boring! Having Johnny Knoxville as “The Sidekick” was a mistake too, at least in my opinion, and damn it, it’s my website, so my opinion is law! Seriously though, he’s not bad, but he’s kind of annoying, you know? As the villain, Neil McDonough is effective, but clichéd up the wazoo. Also playing the sleazy cliché card is Michael Bowen, as “the corrupt sheriff”. He does what he has to, but you see it coming a mile away…

So to The Rock I say pick and choose a little wiser. No more SCORPION KINGS , no more Walking Talls and more of The Rundown and hopefully bigger and better projects in the fututre.