There's a new action hero in town and he goes by the moniker, The Rock. And, if there are any doubts that this former wrestler turned actor can step into the shoes once filled by the likes of Van Damme, Stallone, Seagal, and Schwarzenneger (who turns up in the opening minutes in a clever bit of torch passing), they are quickly put to rest as one Dwayne Johnson uses said shoes to stomp mud puddles into a club full of offensive linemen in the opening moments of The Rundown. But, The Rock isn't just another muscle head with a pretty face. What elevates him above the rest of the actors enshrined in the Action Hero Hall Of Fame is personality. This guy is genuinely funny, blessed with a gift of comic timing that is rare for a man of his stature. And, he's a pretty darn good actor to boot.

       Here he's Beck, a ‘retrieval expert' collecting on gambling debts owed to his employer, crime boss Billy Walker (William Lucking). Beck is ready to get out of the business and open a restaurant, but Billy sends him on one last mission to extract his no-good son Travis (Seann William Scott) from the jungles of Brazil and return him to L.A. He arrives, locates Travis, and promptly finds himself caught in the middle between a group of military rebels (led by Rosario Dawson) and a ruthless mine owner (Christopher Walken) searching for the ‘gato', a priceless artifact only Travis knows the location of. It's a classic set-up pitting the good guys against the bad guys (and Beck and Travis against one another) as our heroes fight for their lives.

       Scott turns in a hilarious performance, feeding off the wonderful chemistry he and The Rock seem to have. They poke a great deal of fun at one another in the bonus interviews and that comedic kinship shows up on screen in some very funny moments as they bounce quick-witted barbs (and a few well placed punches) off one another. Scott is much more likable here than the Stifler character he played in the American Pie series of films (yeah, I know, I've beaten it to death but I really disliked that character!), edgy but never over-the-top obnoxious. Walken, as you would expect, is excellent. The man could read the phone book and make it interesting. Fortunately, he has better material than that to work with here and he delivers each line with a mixture of sardonic humor and evil glee.

       The film itself is typical of the genre', mostly predictable and full of the standard contrivances and plot devices. However, there are some fun surprises such as a hilarious confrontation with some nasty monkeys and another comical scene resulting from the consumption of a paralysis-inducing fruit.

       The stunt work in this film is phenomenal, made even more so by the fact The Rock performed many of his stunts himself. It's not especially groundbreaking work, just impressive in its choreography, particularly in the sequence where Beck takes on a group of militant rebels in an astounding martial arts sequence that has The Rock doing his best impression of a pinball.

       The Rundown, recently released on DVD, is chock full of extras. Two different commentary tracks are featured: the first provided by director Peter Berg and The Rock, the second voiced by producers Kevin Misher and Marc Abraham. ‘Rumble In The Jungle' is a behind the scenes look at the stunt sequences, ‘The Amazon, Hawaii Style' features a look at shooting on location in Hawaii (which, we learn, became the location of choice when the crew was robbed shortly after arriving in first-choice Brazil), ‘Appetite For Destruction' examines the work that goes into blowing things up, ‘The Rundown Uncensored' blows the lid off the on-set relationship between The Rock and a hairy co-star, ‘Running Down The Town' interviews production designer Tom Duffy regarding the amazing set piece created in the desert outside L.A., and ‘Walken's World' features the cast pontificating on the greatness of Sir Christopher. The disc also features a handful of deleted scenes including a pretty good fight scene between Scott and one of Walken's henchmen.

The Rundown is pure testosterone-injected, balls-to-the-wall entertainment. Plan A involves seeing this film as soon as possible. Plan B involves missing out on this well-done actioner. I suggest going with Plan A.