The Riddler jams on THE RUN-DOWN aka HELLDORADO aka... well it'll never end...
May 21, 2003


Hey folks, Harry here with a second look at the Rock's upcoming film with Christopher Walken. Of all the titles, I've been fondest of HELLDORADO, and think that RUN DOWN is the worst of the lot so far.. but hey, whatever... The following review has fairly intense spoilers because the writer has very strong feelings about the choices they made in this film... So read, only if you want to know...


Hey Harry ~


Last night in Horton Plaza, San Diego (May 19th), I got to see a sneak preview of Christopher Walken's latest film, "The Run-Down" which I have learned after going to the IMDb is like the 3rd time it's title has been changed. "Helldorado and Welcome to the Jungle" were the others. The lady who introduced the film sid that this was the title now.


Basic plot:


The Rock, (oh yeah, the WWE produced this film...that got chuckles from all who watch wrestling) is a hired gun who always gets his man. He is hired for one last job before he can go free from his contract and that job is to find the son of his boss who (even though it's not explained) I assume has pissed off the wrong people. His son, played so-so by Seann William Scott is a college drop out who is looking for a long lost priceless treasure called the Gato. (Sp?)


Ok sounds simple right?


Well Christopher Walken is kinda like the lord of the town that Scott is hiding out in. When The Rock comes and politely pisses in Walken's pool by taking the kid (who Walken wants to find the treasure) all hell breaks loose and the two find themselves being chased throught the jungle by Walkens men.


Through Rosario Dawson into this as the leader of a band of rebels sworn to take down the evil Walken and you have yourself a pretty simple film right? WRONG!


Ok. They try to make way too much out of this by trying to build a romance with Scott and Dawson and then nix that by trying to make one with the Rock and Dawson. Just doesn't work.


For all the Rock haters out there. See it as it will probably give you more reason to loath the so-called Peoples Champion. You will most likely cheer though when the Rock is pretty much sodomized by...of all things....a MONKEY! I shit you not..A MONKEY! Funniest part of the film to me. You will see the WWE influence though in the first few minutes of the film when The Rock takes on the offensive line of an NFL team. Rock Bottom, People's Elbow and even though I didn't see it, several people who know me ran up to me afte the film and SWORE up and down they saw the People's Eyebrow..(is it even called that?)


I spoke to one of the producers after the show and he said the film was slated for a September release. I think it will be interesting to see how they market this. I wrote on my form, Deliverance meets Indiana Jones. But that's just me.


(Spoiler)


One thing I cannot end this review without saying is the following things.


1. To kill Christopher Walken in such a fashion is wrong. There should be a law in Hollywood. If your gonna kill Walken off for whatever reason, go the way of Caan in The Godfather and have him mercillessly taken out in a hail of glory. Walken deserves no less or just let him walk of into the sunset. You just don't shoot him once and be done with it. Just plain wrong. And to just let him die while the music from the scene in "The Green Mile" where John Coffey is electricuted didn't seem right.


2. The Irish Pilot played by Ewen Bremmer. I met this guy in Hawaii a few years ago when they were having the World Premiere of Pearl Harbor on the flight deck of the U.S.S. John C. Stennis. He was a cool guy. I never thought I would see him as this big of comic-relief. Also to see him quoting scripture during the big gun-fight at the end, added much needed depth to a heavilly lacking scene.


3. The fight scenes looked very staged and not very realistic. You could hear the audiences "oh" "ouch" and "ooohhh" with every blow but to the so-called People's Champion punch and shatter a brick wall with his fists? I call Bullshit on that one. The "Brazillian Nijitsu" though was very interesting.


4. Back to Walken again. Walken doesn't have mucht to work with here but I did enjoy the use of camera work with his eyes. Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Walken are so alike in the way they use their eyes to convey presence. I don't ever see an actor able to do that effectively. Walken, like Hopkins have eyes that just look right into you. Scary. He chews up the little screen time he does have though. As in "Catch me if You Can", he steals all the scenes from The Rock. In the two scenes they have together, you can tell that Walken truly SUCEEDS with his ability and skill in taking the camera AND the audiences attention away from The Rock. One of the true highlights of the film is when Walken is trying to motivate his Brazillian army into going after The Rock and Scott. The army speaks no English and yet Walken gets theological on them by using the twos attempt of finding the Gato as an excuse to break into a tale of how the Tooth Fairy works. Laughs all around from the audience and this is where the film (and the only place in the film I might add) where it finds heart.


So to cap it off, the film was in a rough cut format and I could tell some scratchy scenes needed some work. I tell you once thing though. There was, as usual, a temp score as well. In some scenes I caught music from, "The Green Mile" and for some reason, it seemed to fit the mood perfectly (excluding the final Walken Death Scene!). I do hope that who-ever they get to score the film takes note of this and trys to top or even better write something similar.