Walking Tall (2004) Synopsis:
Chris Vaughn is a retired soldier who returns to his hometown to make a new life for himself, only to discover his wealthy high school rival, Jay Hamilton, has closed the once-prosperous lumber mill to turn the town's resources towards his own criminal gains. The town is now overrun with crime, drugs and violence. Enlisting the help of his old pal Ray Templeton, Chris gets elected sheriff and vows to shut down Hamilton's operations. His actions endanger his family and threaten his own life, but Chris refuses to back down until his hometown once again feels like home.
Walking Tall (2004) Movie Review:
A remake of the 1973 controversial film, Walking Tall is a wobbly another action picture that exploits The Rock’s personality on his way too becoming Hollywood’s next action hero. This remake will probably not stir up as much controversy as the original film, but this is The Rock’s first “Dirty Harry” type of role.
Taking place in a small county in Washington, Chris Vaughn (The Rock) is a retired member of the military’s Special Forces that has finally returned home. His dreams of going to work at the local mill are shattered, after learning that the mill has closed due to the booming economy of the small town’s new casino. Running the casino along with most of the city’s other sleazy businesses is Vaughn’s old high-school friend Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough). After his first few hours as a guest of Hamilton’s casino, Vaughn catches a dealer scamming the players, and starts a big uproar with the casino employees. The security team then takes painfully wounds Vaughn and literally leaves him for dead. After incredibly recovering, the drug operations from Hamilton’s casino hits too close to home, and Vaughn takes his anger out on the casino again this time touting a 2x4 as his weapon of choice. Next, he runs for sheriff of the county and promises to clean up the community of all the crime to where the citizens can once again walk tall.
A story of this nature has been played out over and over again, with a hometown boy returning home to save the town from corruption with his own brand of justice. This film and the 1973 version are both inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, who single handily clean up his corrupted county. The true story and the 1973 film were far more brutal than this new version. Vaughn is actually the replacement of Pusser and the setting is altered. The 1973 film garnered controversy do to notions of vigilante-ism and violence. Pusser in fact killed the bad guys, in this version The Rock just beats them to a pulp. However, though Chris Vaughn is standing up for a town and his beliefs, his way about doing it is not the most politically correct or ethical, ala “Dirty Harry.”
The script for the film is short and sweet, but still has many inconsistencies and absolute hilarity in some moments. All of the characters are underdeveloped and even Vaughn’s background is not totally defined. There are also quick resolutions to the character’s relationships. An example is after Vaughn harps on his nephew about drug use among other things; a tension is built between the two. However, half way through the film, it is like the two are happy family members with no explanation as to how they got to that point. The preposterous moments also really bring the film down. Examples include Vaughn’s dunce representation of himself during his trial, in which he fires his lawyer, represents himself, gives a closing monologue, gets off, and then becomes sheriff in about 8 minutes of screen time. Director Kevin Bray could have played the sequence out a little more and revamped it to be at least somewhat believable. It is also obvious that Vince McMahon was pulling strings as executive producer, with focus revolving around male audiences. The truly pointless choice in this film by Bray and McMahon is during a bullet frenzy action sequence, the character of Deni (Ashley Scott), who is Vaughn’s stripper love interest, runs around screaming while in a pink bra. The obvious sex appeal notion is downright embarrassing.
The film itself is not unwatchable though. In fact, it is fun at times to see The Rock get furious with the bad guys and more amusing to watch him destroy targets with his 2x4. Bray does not shy away from letting The Rock drive this movie, which works in the film’s favor. Though he still has a way to come, The Rock has the persona and likeability to be a huge action star; he just needs to garner better projects. Jackass’s Johnny Knoxville plays Vaughn’s best friend and deputy Ray. Knoxville really just plays himself, but with that devilish grin and unbalanced notions, he steals an ample amount of the film with his humor. Band of Brothers’ Neal McDonough plays the villain rich boy Jay, and does what he can with the role, though it is nothing memorable.
Walking Tall is a good vehicle film for The Rock and it is entertaining to watch him become irritated and eventually revengeful. However, this film is something that we have all seen before, and it is thrown together very disorderly and promptly. In reference to the notions of the original film, this version does not have the merit to be held as controversial; it is just an outlet of exposure to build The Rock’s future.
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Walking Tall (2004) review written by: Bailey Henderson
12th October, 2008 
