WATCH NOW
I missed out on the classic “Walking Tall”. I was “out of town at the time,” I said in my review of “Part Two Walking Tall.” Unbelievable, right? However, I am certain the first movie was skewed more towards populism and less towards superhero violence than the contemporary “Walking Tall” which is “dedicated to the memory of Buford Pusser” but transforms the tale into one of vengeance and retribution caricature.
The Rock stars as a war veteran named Chris Vaughn who comes back to his Southern hometown only to discover that the mill is now closed, a casino has opened, and the children are drug addicts. It is possible that “Buford Pusser” was changed to “Chris Vaughn” because The Rock went through a huge amount of hassle to get a name that is both simple and authoritative and could not imagine bearing the name “Buford” or “Sheriff Pusser” for any price.
He is shocked to discover that an old high school rival named Jay Hamilton Jr. (Neal McDonough) is now the drug manufacturer who owns the casino and has also closed down the mill. Jay is the classic villain, his hair is short, his curls are peroxided and the style is the type that makes the name tag “Hi! I’m the Villain!” work perfectly. Vaughn, seeing how his town is being destroyed by all this disorder and corruption, picks up the famous Buford Pusser Model Oak Club, proceeds to smash the casino to pieces, and then shamelessly defends himself in court. To his surprise, the speech he makes is so moving that before long, he is elected sheriff
As ridiculous as these mock legal proceedings are, I will willingly confess to enjoying them precisely because the outcomes are settled not by innocence or contrived legal proceedings, but rather by the preposterously logical principle of who deserves to go free.
Sheriff Vaughn further steps up his game by employing a former high school classmate, Ray Templeton, as a deputy. This role is portrayed by Johnny Knoxville, the “Jackass” superstar, who astonishingly manages to convince us that he has a serious acting career ahead of him, meaning he will no longer have to stuff his pants with dead chickens and dangle OVER alligator swamps.
All of these events are connected and carefully executed, but the rest of the movie loses all semblance of plausibility and then we are served uninspiring fight sequences overloaded with stunts and special effects that make us consider whether we have begun watching a cartoon. It is clearly an action movie, and there is no point in speculating how the late Buford Pusser would have reacted to this. Perhaps he would have told Sheriff Vaughn that things are very different now and suggested he get rid of the oak club for an AK-47.
The Rock came through this movie practically unscathed. From the start, I believed that he had the potential of a movie star, and I still believe he does; there is a sense of serenity within him that enables him to possess ridiculous scenarios without being suffocated by them. His flat and unemphatic acting comes across as authoritative, which is perhaps his most admirable quality; he has a subtle way of being similar to John Wayne in that regard.
Like Wayne, he is a big, physically menacing man who has an air of softness around him. He is not heated, out of control, aggressive, or looking to attack people. He is peaceful and simply trying to correct injustices. I seriously doubt this is a man who would be able to play a convincing villain. Not even with a name tag.
To watch more movies like Walking Tall (2004) visit 123Movies.
Also Watch for more movies like:
