What makes The Rock such an endearing action hero is that he's a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger...he picks his projects wisely, ones that are generally tailor-made to fit his persona. One such film is Walking Tall , a remake of the 1973 film inspired by the real-life career of Sheriff Buford Pussor. While this version essentially borrows the initial premise of the original to make a high-concept action flick of its own, it still retains that film's take-no-prisoners spirit. I can't believe I'm giving this movie an A, because it is dumb, loud, illogical, violent and simplistic. But what can I say? The bottom line is Walking Tall is a damn fun movie, better than the movie that inspired it.

The Rock plays Chris Vaughn, a military veteran returning to his hometown after eight years, only to find it under the control of former childhood friend Jay Hamilton (Neil McDonough), who runs the local casino, all the drug traffic, and has the local sheriff in his pocket. When his nephew ends up in the hospital after taking crystal-meth bought from one of Hamilton's bodyguards, Vaughn takes the law into his own hands, wielding a huge 2x4 to mess up the casino and a few of its shady employees. Vaughn is arrested and put on trial. He chooses to represent himself, and promises that if he's acquitted, he'll run for sheriff and clean up this town. Sure enough, as soon as he shows the scars of a beating he survived by Hamilton's thugs, he's found not guilty, a verdict that would realistically be as laughable as the one from the O.J. Simpson trial. In the very next scene, he's the elected sheriff, even though he's never so much as ridden in a police car his whole life, much less have any experience as a cop. After deputizing his best friend Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville...yeah, the same guy from Jackass ), the two proceed to usestrong-arm tactics, which would have a real cop thrown in jail, in order to bring Hamilton down. But we're not talking Serpico here. Walking Tall doesn't even try for plausibility, but we accept that because this is a film with no pretensions of what it is...it's simply a vehicle for The Rock to kick ass, which he does. Stallone's traveled this road before, of course, as have many other action stars, but The Rock is just a naturally likable guy, and a pretty decent actor. Of course, he's never really played anyone but himself, but he's really good at it (you might say he's his own special effect). He's also surrounded by a decent supporting cast; McDonough makes a good villain, and Knoxville provides a lot of the movie's comic relief (he could have a nice little post- Jackass career as a character actor). The fight scenes - there's a lot of 'em - are well-choreographed, and a refreshing throwback to the days before special effects allowed actors to leap 20 feet and throw punches which landed the recipient into another time zone.

The movie is presented in its original 2:35:1 aspect ratio, enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs, and looks really good. The colors are sharp and black tones are accurate. The soundtrack is rendered in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, and is suitable clear and loud, with good balance.

This disc has quite a few entertaining extras. There's an all-too-short blooper reel, an alternate ending which, in my opinion, is better than the one they went with, some deleted scenes, and a short featurette titled "Fight the Good Fight," which covers the movie's numerous action scenes. Two full-length commentaries are included as well. One is by director Kevin Bray and some of the crew; it's pretty interesting and informative, but not nearly as fun as the second commentary by The Rock himself, who demonstrates a great sense of humor and depreciating wit, while still offering value insight of his own. His enormous self-confidence is part of his persona, but he's also fun to listen to, and this commentary is as enjoyable as the film itself. Similar Films: Walking Tall; Death Wish; High Plains Drifter; Roadhouse Useless Trivia: The Rock's real name is Duane Johnson.

Walking Tall won't win any awards, and won't go down in film history as an action classic, but it's extremely enjoyable, mindless fun, which is why a lot of people go to the movies in the first place. This disc is a definite keeper for fans of The Rock, or action movies in general, and will probably stand up to repeated viewings more than the average action flick.