Welcome to the Jungle – The Rundown (2003)

Directed by: Peter Berg | 98 minutes | action, comedy, adventure, thriller | Actors: Dwayne Johnson, Christopher Walken, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Ewen Bremner, Jon Gries, William Lucking, Ernie Reyes Jr., Stuart F. Wilson, Dennis Keiffer, Garrett Warren, Toby Holguin, Paul S. Power, Stephen Bishop

Welcome to the Jungle is directed by actor/director Peter Berg. His previous film was the black comedy ‘Very Bad Things’ (1998) starring Cameron Diaz and Christian Slater. With ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ Berg makes a mix of action, humor and adventure.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was already popular in America as a wrestler. After his acting debut in ‘The Mummy Returns’ (2001) and his starring role in ‘The Scorpion King’ (2002), he now lands his second leading role. He plays Beck, a man who hates guns and throws his body into battle time and time again. For example, in the beginning of the film we see that he is up against a number of football players. In Hollywood, The Rock is seen as the new action hero.

After seeing this film, you can certainly agree with them. The action scenes with him look good and he shows that he can act well. In his next film ‘Walking Tall’ (2004) we see him as Sheriff Chris Vaughn (based on the character Buford Pusser), who starts a one-man war against the criminals in his town. So for now we will see enough of The Rock.

The bad guy is played by Christopher Walken. This fantastic actor knows how to play a perfect role every time. Last year we saw him in Steven Spielberg’s film ‘Catch me If you can’ (2002), for which he received an Oscar nomination. Once again Walken is on a roll. This time as the tyrant Hatcher who controls the people with his army. He has a fun monologue in which he tries to explain the concept of the tooth fairy to a group of soldiers who don’t understand him anyway.

The female part in the film comes from the actress Rosario Dawson. She has starred in several films, including Spike Lee’s ’25th hour’ (2002) and ‘Men in Black II’ (2002). Dawson plays Mariana, a woman who is a bartender by day and a rebel leader by night. She has her own reasons for looking for the treasure with Beck and Travis. Seann William Scott better known as Stifler from the ‘American Pie’ series, plays Travis Walker.

Scott tries to make something fun out of his role but unfortunately fails. The humor in the film is very bland, but the action and the performances by The Rock and Walken make the film a bit worth watching.