The Rundown

The Rundown
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Peter Berg
Produced by	Vince McMahon Marc Abraham Bill Corless Karen Glasser Kevin Misher
Written by	Screenplay: R.J. Stewart James Vanderbilt Story: R.J. Stewart
Starring	The Rock Seann William Scott Christopher Walken Rosario Dawson Ewen Bremner Jon Gries
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography	Tobias A. Schliessler
Editing by	Richard Pearson
Studio	Strike Entertainment, WWE Films
Distributed by	North America/Japan: Universal Pictures International: Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	September 26, 2003
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English Portuguese
Budget	$85 million
Box office	$80,916,492

The Rundown (also known as Welcome to the Jungle) is a 2003 American action comedy film starring The Rock and Seann William Scott about a bounty hunter who must head for Brazil to retrieve his employer's renegade son. It was directed by Peter Berg. The 2006 Bollywood film Naksha borrows the plot of this film.

Plot

Beck is a professional bounty hunter, or "retrieval expert," who chooses not to use guns in his work due to a previous bad experience. He is hired by his boss, Billy Walker, to go to get Walker's son, Travis, from the Amazon jungle. Beck wants out of the business, and Walker agrees to make this his last job before Beck retires and opens his own restaurant. He heads down to the small South American town of "El Dorado" (also called Helldorado) to find Travis and retrieve him from the mess he is in. The town is essentially owned by Hatcher, and people there have no choice but to work for him due to his monopoly of virtually all commerce.

Beck quickly captures Travis, but Travis escapes with the help of Hatcher. Travis is looking for an ancient golden artifact known as the Gato (Cat in Spanish and Portugese) that, if the townspeople acquired it, would allow them to buy their freedom from Hatcher, which is why Hatcher wants the Gato and wants Travis free to find it for him. Travis flees into the jungle but is again captured by Beck, and after Travis fails to talk his way out of capture, they in turn run afoul of a group of rebels led by Mariana, a town clerk with whom Travis is infatuated. Beck agrees to let Travis find the Gato for Mariana before he takes him home, and with the assistance of the rebels, the three find the location of the Gato and retrieve it. That night Hatcher and his men find the rebel camp and kill all the rebels save for Travis, Beck, and Mariana. Travis is eager to donate the artifact to a museum despite his greedy tendencies, but Mariana incapacitates Travis and Beck with a toxic, hallucinogenic fruit called Konlobos and takes it, unwilling to allow Travis to keep it.

In the morning, Beck returns to the airstrip to take Travis home, but finds out that Mariana has been captured by Hatcher. Reluctant to leave after his agreement with Mariana, Beck returns to town with Travis. After learning of Beck's return, Hatcher locks down the town and sends his men out to kill him. After being bested by Hatcher's gunmen, Beck reluctantly takes up guns and reveals himself as a skilled marksman, effortlessly dispatching Hatcher's men and freeing Mariana. Hatcher confronts Beck amidst the townspeople and is shot when he attempts to attack Mariana. Agreeing to leave the town, Hatcher attempts to walk away but collapses dead. Beck and Travis return to Walker while Mariana and the townspeople are left the Gato. With Walker, Beck watches as he is paid and Travis is hit and ridiculed by his father. As a sort of toast to his last job, Beck feeds Walker and his men the same toxic fruit that Mariana fed to him (on the basis that Walker requested that Beck "walk Travis through his front door"), and they collapse in paralysis as an overjoyed Travis leaves with Beck, grateful but still slightly irritating him.

Cast

• Dwayne Johnson as Beck
• Seann William Scott as Travis Alfred Walker
• Rosario Dawson as Mariana
• Christopher Walken as Cornelius Bernard Hatcher
• Ewen Bremner as Declan
• Jon Gries as Harvey
• Ernie Reyes, Jr. as Manito
• William Lucking as Walker
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Bar Patron (Uncredited Cameo)

Reception

The Rundown was warmly received by both critics and moviegoers. The film holds a "fresh" 71% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roger Ebert gave the film 3¹⁄₂ stars out of 4, saying "The jungle locations give the film a texture and beauty that underlines the out-sized characters."

Despite the positive acclaim, the modest box office take for the film makes a sequel possible but not entirely likely. Director Peter Berg has expressed interest in making a sequel to the film but notes that "no one can ever get motivated and focused enough to do it."

External links

• The Rundown at the Internet Movie Database
• The Rundown at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Rundown at Box Office Mojo