Without saying anything else, it must be said that, like it or not, The Rock is the next Arnold Schwarzenegger. He may not have convinced you in The Mummy Returns or The Scorpion King, but he will in this fun, dazzling action fiasco. Directed by Peter Berg (Very Bad Things), The Rundown is easily the best action movie of the year surpassing other action extravaganzas; The Matrix Reloaded, Bad Boys II and Pirates of the Caribbean. Those films may have had a larger budget and bigger effects, but The Rundown beats each one in every department, from fighting, to car chases, to gun fights this film entertains and zips past you like a twelve part serial from the early ages of film.

      The Rundown follows bounty hunter, Beck (The Rock a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson) as he travels to Brazil in search of his bosses son, Travis (Seann William Scott), an explorer in search of an ancient artifact. When Beck gets there he discovers a city known as Helldorado (the films original title), a gold driven place of slavery and pain run by an unscrupulous gold dealer named Hatcher (the hilarious Christopher Walken). Beck finds himself in the middle of a war between Hatcher and the rebels, lead by Marianna (Rosario Dawson).

      What follows is a series of painful mishaps, cleverly timed pratfalls and comic slapstick that will have you smiling ear to ear. Theres some fantastic action set pieces (whip battles, tree fights, cow stampedes), some of which youve probably never seen on film. Theres even evil lust driven baboons! The only thing this film is missing is dinosaurs. If it had that, it would be the perfect action adventure film.       

      The Rundown is very much an Indiana Jones style adventure with the part of Indiana Jones split into two characters. You have William Scott playing the explorer and adventurer side of Indy and you have The Rock playing the witty, beat up and annoyed part of Indy we all grew to love in Raiders of the Lost Ark . In fact, the film is made in that same vein of Raiders, taking on a dark, often violent, moody element with dashes of comedic brilliance.

      This film is also a rebirth for several key players. Seann William Scott has had trouble breaking the Stifler character. In virtually every film since American Pie debuted, he has played Stifler. For the first time, hes allowed to do something rather different. Hes gets to show his action side (hes rather beefed up here) and he gets to play a relatively nice guy. Someone you like from the beginning. The Rock is also reborn. Before, he had a built in audience of Mummy and WWE fans with The Scorpion King . This is his first solo outing without that crutch and he does a fine job with it. The man has wonderful comedic timing, and he not only matches Scotts wit, he tops it. For a man so large, he moves like lightening. His fight scenes are some of the best out there today. Also, be on the look out for a clever torch passing cameo.

      As for Christopher Walken, he is one of the finest actors today, not because hes a good actor, in fact, hes not really that great, but because the guy is willing to do just about anything. Its great to see him in a film that will surely get him a few new fans. As for Peter Berg, this guy is really a directorial genius. Aside from shooting a tad too close when it comes to fight sequences, Bergs direction is really wonderful; capturing everything an action film needs to remain consistently entertaining. Let us hope that we see more of Berg in the future.

      Go see The Rundown, even if youre not interested in seeing it. It will be more than worth your time and money. Its the perfect blend of comedy and action, rivaling only Beverly Hills Cop, True Lies and the Indiana Jones Trilogy. See it for Christopher Walken. See it for Seann William Scott. See it for Peter Berg. See it for The Rock. Hell, see it for the evil lust driven baboons. Whatever the reason, catch The Rundown and help it become the hit it deserves to be.