"Walking Tall" review

Walking Tall (2004)

Directed by Kevin Bray
Writing credits Mort Briskin David Klass

The Rock.... Chris Vaughn
Johnny Knoxville.... Ray Templeton
Neal McDonough.... Jay Hamilton
Kristen Wilson.... Michelle Vaughn
Ashley Scott.... Deni

If the Rock wants to be the next big action hero, he's going to have to learn to embrace the R rating. If any movie needed excessive violence to make up for its complete lack of plot, intelligence, etc., it was "Walking Tall". I am a big fan of the original Joe Don Baker movie and was interested in seeing the Rock take a big stick and bash a new generation of bad guy's heads open.

"Walking Tall" is a very efficient, no frills PG-13 action flick. The Rock comes back home only to find filth everywhere he looks. Seems the new casino in town is run by a bunch of lowlifes that need to get a big stick slammed upside their heads. The Rock is happy to oblige. Soon the bad guys and The Rock will do battle. You could write the rest of the movie yourself. Actually, don't bother. A movie this brain-dead just keeps lumbering along on its own.

As a brainless action flick, "Walking Tall" was OK. Fair. I wanted to see the Rock bash people's heads in and "Walking Tall" delivered. I can't fault the movie for that. However, The Rock version has nothing on the mighty Joe Don Baker version. Baker's version was about being a man and Walking Tall. Joe Don needed to prove he could be a real man and clean up the town. The Rock's version is about bashing skulls. Period. Dot. The end. The Rock was already a man the second he walked into town. He had nothing to prove. He just wanted to attack somebody. There was no need to call this one "Walking Tall". They could have easily have called it "Rock Smash!".

SCORE: 2 out of 4 Rocks with a big stick