20th Anniversary TLDR: Walking Tall (2004)
You're all fired.
Plot: A former U.S. soldier returns to his hometown to find it overrun by crime and corruption, which prompts him to clean house.
Fun fact: It's based on real-life one-man-police-force Buford Pusser. My only question: Why did they change the character's name? I understand it's supposed to be early '00s upstate Washington and not '70s Tennessee, but if we can suspend belief for everything else...
Direction: Kevin Bray has primarily directed television, but who cares about his resume when IMDB trivia has this fun fact: Director Kevin Bray wanted to update the "Pusser stick" by making it a baseball bat instead of a piece of wood but there were objections, so the compromise was to just add a handle. Try and sleep tonight knowing that there were many conversations about a "Pusser stick."
Screenplay: Four credited screenwriters (David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman) and the best line by far is: "You stabbed me with a potato peeler!"
Performances: This flick features both The Rock and Johnny Knoxville in some of their earliest roles. There's something really special about two people who can't act sharing the screen with each other, especially when those people are trying desperately to shake personas developed elsewhere, especially when those two people are as likable as The Rock and Johnny Knoxville.
Music: The soundtrack consists of the most obvious choices I've ever heard, from ZZ Top's La Grange to a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover of “Higher Ground” to Johnny Cash (who was probably the most used artist in the early '00s...seriously, think about it.)
Best moment: It's a tie between The Rock kicking ass in the casino and when he pulls the guy over and smashes his tail-lights.
Imaginary accolade: Best Chekov’s 2x4 in Film History
Everything is too long. Is it too long? The credits roll before the 80-minute mark.
Rating: Go watch this dumb movie.
Credit: Plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.
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