Review of Walking Tall

Introduction

Walking Tall is inspired by the true life story of Sheriff Buford Pusser, and his story was originally told in the 1973 film of the same name. Walking Tall (2004) updates this story and is the latest film where WWE wrestler The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) gets to play a lead part, following on from 2003`s The Rundown.

The Rock plays Chris Vaughan, an ex-Special Forces soldier (what else?) who returns to his hometown after eight years away in the military. It would appear that Vaughan and his family don`t communicate that well or often as Chris finds out on his first day back that all has changed in his hometown and things aren`t quite what they were. The mill where his father worked has shut down, and in it`s place is now a flash casino ran by his old high school rival Jay Hamilton (played by Neil McDonough, from the impressive Band Of Brothers and The Minority Report amongst others).

Meeting with old sidekick Ray (Johnny Knoxville) and some friends, Vaughan is invited to the casino by Hamilton. What starts as a good night out on the town turns nasty when Vaughan witnesses some cheating at the gambling tables, at which point all hell breaks loose and Vaughan is left for dead. Attempting to bring charges against those responsible, Vaughan is not only dismissed by the local Sheriff but finds himself firmly on the wrong side of the law after he smashes up the casino when he finds his nephew hurt after dabbling with some drugs supplied by the casino security staff. Dispensing with his lawyer, Vaughan defends himself in the local court, promising to run for election as Sheriff and clean up the town if they let him off what he thinks was doing the right thing…

Video

This film was only released earlier this year, so the visuals are spot on and presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Audio

Soundtracks and subtitles available in a number of languages. The sound is suitably loud where it needs to be, and some interesting songs populate the soundtrack including a piano version of Blue Monday that I thought initially was by Bjork but turned out to be a group called Flunk. If you think of Gary Jules version of Mad World and then substitute the words and add in a slightly weird female vocal, then you`ve pretty much nailed it.

Features

Fight The Good Fight - an 8 minute featurette on how all the fight sequences were put together. I`d rather have seen a behind the scenes that explored the story, but this is fairly interesting as an insight into one aspect of the production, albeit on the short side.

Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and Alternative Ending - separate features but so short it would have been easier to just combine them all. I can see no reason why the deleted scenes were cut from an already short film, and they would have added perhaps a minute and a half to the film length.

Theatrical Trailer

Photo Gallery - an automated slideshow of promo and behind the scenes shots from the film.

Audio Commentary from The Rock, who thinks everyone did a `great job`; so much so that I actually was able to nail the phrase before him whenever he spoke about anyone who was involved on the film.

Audio Commentary from Kevin Bray (director), Glen McPherson (Director Of Photography) and Robert Ivision (Editor), some interesting facts and anecdotes about the film but a little dry to my ears.

Conclusion

I knew nothing of this film when I got it and didn`t come into it with high expectations. I obviously know of The Rock, but only really as a wrestler (although I never watch any of that stuff…) and his role in The Mummy Returns where he didn`t exactly do that much. I also remember some of the awful roles that Hulk Hogan portrayed a lot earlier and just hoped that this film wouldn`t descend into a farcical mess of bad acting.

I emerged from the other end of this film pleasantly surprised. It would appear that The Rock, whilst unlikely to receive a call from the RSC, can act and turns in a decent performance as a man on a mission. Not only that, but Johnny Knoxville is surprisingly good as the obligatory comedic sidekick. Neil McDonough also shines and has a very strong screen presence - I just wish someone would allow him to shine in his own right and cast him is a major role of his own one day.

This is simply a revenge movie in Hicksville, USA. It could be any small town in that country and it would probably play the same. Prodigal son returns and finds that everything he held dear has gone and been replaced by something that is flash but ultimately bad. The nice touch about this film is that all the fight sequences are dirty and down in the dirt. No wires or CGI, no heroes or villains with an all-conquering knowledge of ju-jitsu or karate or some other oriental fighting style. Just fists, guns and a big bit of four by two, what else do you need? This film is a bit of a throwback to films from the 70`s where you just went to the flicks to see a bit of a dust-up. Walking Tall presses those buttons well, and delivers a solid piece of action.

My only real complaint is that at around 85 minutes, it`s way too short and there was more than enough room for some character development. This is worth watching though, if only to compare The Rocks acting with his bit of Cedar. A nice surprise.