The first Walking Tall was about a mountain of a man named Buford Pusser who took on local crime by himself and beat up anyone who got in his way. Walking Tall of 2004 is about a mountain of an actor named The Rock who plays a guy taking on local crime by himself and beating up anyone who gets in his way. The key difference between the two pictures, both based upon the life of late McNairy County, Tennessee sheriff Pusser, comes down to a matter of character.

Joe Don Baker disappeared into his role in the 1973 version, almost becoming the beefy, dedicated ex-wrestler who felt disgusted at the crime infesting his old hometown. However, while viewing the Walking Tall remake, I couldn't shake the feeling that all I was doing was watching The Rock beat up on people for an hour and a half. I saw no dramatic punch, no tension, and nothing truly at stake for the characters. The original Walking Tall may have been just an exploitation flick, but it had a lot more heart than its thin and virtually emotionless remake.

The Rock plays Chris Vaughn (re-named because The Rock would look ridiculous saying, "Hi, I'm Buford Pusser!") an ex-Special Forces soldier returning home after years in the service. Chris soon discovers that his old stomping grounds have changed quite a bit since he left. The lumber mill, once the town's primary source of income, has been shut down and replaced by a casino/strip club/drug palace, run by sleazeball extraordinaire Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough). Almost immediately, Chris is bothered by how much of a grip vice has on the town, and even after being left for dead following an outburst in the casino, he embarks on a one-man mission to change all that. With sheer determination in his soul and a 2 x 4 club in his hand, Chris works his way toward bringing down Jay's crime empire, beating the daylights out of henchman upon henchman in the process.

The Rock ticks off bad guys. Bad guys tick off The Rock. The Rock pummels bad guys. I wish Walking Tall were less simplistic than this, but it really does play out like the action genre's equivalent to a "See Spot Run" book. In about as much time as it took me to drive to the theatre, park, and
drive back home, Walking Tall accomplishes little aside from showing what a future The Rock has in action flicks and what an unnecessary project this was from the start. I tried to check my brain at the door and just have fun with the movie, and in an "I might watch a little of this on Spike TV
someday" kind of way, the film's goal to entertain with no complexities attached is fulfilled.

Nevertheless, my mind kept drifting back to Joe Don Baker and how gleefully unsubtle the original Walking Tall was. As exploitative and thin as that film appeared, it still had something to say and took its time saying it. The viewer saw step by step what made Buford Pusser stand up, the beatings he took while taking on the State Line Mob, and the tragedy that struck his family. In contrast, Walking Tall for the new millennium is the Cliff Notes version of the Buford Pusser story, borrowing the most basic of elements in order to justify the "Inspired by True Events" credit. We never get close to The Rock's Chris Vaughn, catching only faint glimpses of what inspires him to say enough is enough and react with such force. 

The Rock is a charismatic actor who tries his best to give an earnest performance here. But his character and all of the subplots that play a part in shaping him are ill-developed and quickly discarded; therefore, it's difficult to become attached to Chris Vaughn or to see him as anything except the hero in a video game where he knocks out one goon and another takes its place. All that's missing is an "Insert Coins Here" sign flashing periodically during the action sequences. Fortunately, The Rock rises above the material on a couple of occasions. He handles himself quite well in the action scenes, especially the one featuring a primal rampage on the casino -- which kicks off half an hour or so of nonstop action. 

While The Rock looks comfortable in his Walking Tall role, the other actors seem as thin and disposable as the film's subplots. In comparison to the State Line Mob, a ruthless, faceless organization that stopped at nothing to try and prevent Pusser from closing its operations, Neal McDonough's (a talented character actor from Minority Report) snobby rich guy comes across as a mediocre substitute, exuding little or no menace. Johnny Knoxville has fun playing Vaughn's childhood buddy and deputy, but his character soon gets relegated to one of the numerous rotating subplots. Kristen Wilson as Vaughn's sister, Ashley Scott as a childhood sweetheart-turned-stripper, and Khleo Thomas (Holes) as Vaughn's nephew have little to work with, mostly because Walking Tall gives its supporting characters the short end of the stick, opting to let The Rock swing around his own big stick (the infamous wooden club, that is) for most of the screen time.

Do I think this new Walking Tall is a bad movie? Not completely. Like last January's Torque, it's a brainless, beefy vehicle that's entertaining while it lasts. But disappointment sets in when you start thinking about how it could've been made so much better. Happily, that's already been done --thirty years ago. 

MY RATING: ** (out of ****)

(Released by MGM and rated "PG-13" for sequences of intense violence, sexual content, drug material and language.)

Review also posted on www.ajhakari.com.