Wednesday 15 September, 2004

Welcome to the Jungle

On Friday we watched Welcome to the Jungle (released as Rundown in Europe). This was a movie I really, really wanted to like - I was expecting lighthearted action romp with silly gags and cool action scenes and yes, I expected to spend a brainless but entertaining hour and a half. Unfortunately it came too soon pretty obvious that it was not going to happen - first thing that bothered me was the fact that The Rock, who had been decent enough actor in the Scorpion King didn't really connect with the character Beck, a nice bad guy that he was playing, and his acting just wasn't too convincing. The plot was very silly, Seann William Scott wasn't funny either although he was meant to be (he was playing a good guy that was bad), and even Christopher Walken didn't manage to achieve his usual level of coolness.

It wasn't all bad - there were some good things about this movie, mainly that it looked really good, cinematography and directing were good and at places innovative, and action scenes worked really well. However, it was not even close to being enough to carry the stupid story. At first I hoped they would have taken more advantage of Rock's comic abilities - but then they did and I immediately regretted wishing it... despite what some people may claim, the best scene of the film was not a baboon (in Amazon? Hello!) humping the Rock. (Even the fangirl me wasn't satisfied as Rock only took his shirt off once, briefly, and didn't have a love interest...)

So if you're searching for something fun and light to watch next time you're at Blockbusters, leave this one on the shelf.

Posted by kolibri at 15 September 11:26, 2004
Comments
# 1 - Marnie (on September 16, 2004 02:15 AM):

Ack! Are you serious? ... Is it sad that I loved The Rundown? Are we even talking about the same movie?

Hehe, yes, the plot is stupid. I found the character interaction quite hilarious, though, which made up for it.


# 2 - kolibri (on September 16, 2004 08:10 AM):

Yes, it's sad Marnie ;) And no, I didn't really find it funny - I thought Scott wasn't funny at all (but I don't generally find him funny anyway), and The Rock just wasn't at his best... this guy can be charismatic as hell, but just didn't hit the sweet spot this time.


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