WALKING TALL falls short

stars the rock, johnny knoxville
3/5

as most of you can guess, a film staring a WWE wrestler can never attract high expectations. but for those of you who have seen "welcome to the jungle", also starring 'the rock', my above statement may nto be valid (that is, if you liked the fillm).

so i went to see "walking tall". the film is about a guy who comes back to his hown town after serving in the army, but the town he returns to isn't the same as the one he left. the old lumberyard has been closed down and a casino has become the economic backbone for this old country town. of course, some dodgy shit is going on.

the rock returns home and meets up with a bunch of old mates. its kinda cool in a way that the film highlights how each of them has changed over the years using minimal screen time. anyways, one of the friends is the owner of the casino and turns out the be the bad guy in the film.

that's the basic storyline though i haven't left much out. the film moves in a very linear and restricted way, having a definite beginning, middle, and end. no side stories. no exposition. this makes the characters seem cliched and two-dimensional but as i said before, my expectations weren't high to this film - which is why i actually enjoyed it.

like i said, the film is very straightforward and seems to end aburptly. but overall i had an alright time watching it and there was a refreshing performance by johnny knoxville. usually i can't stand the guy but in "walking tall" he was pretty cool. the film offers nothing more than energised entertainment and action, but sometimes that's exactly what some audiences are looking for.