Saw this movie not too long ago for the first time, and it astounds me that it came out in 2003. Makes me feel real old, and it also was strange to see The Rock not quite as big in this film as he is now. The film had a rather large budget, which is also very questionable as this is the first film that I know of that has The Rock as the lead and seeing it only made 80 million worldwide and cost 85 it did not even manage to break even. Granted, I am sure with DVD sales and such it has made a profit over the years, just not as quickly as a studio would like.
The story has The Rock as some sort of retrieval and enforcer kind of guy, but he is tiring of this lifestyle and wants out so he can be a chef. Well, he is given an opportunity to get out, because if he can get his boss's son and bring him back, he will be allowed out of the business. The problem is that his son is in South America. So he proceeds down and proceeds to have a hard time with his target as he is a smart mouthed guy who has no intentions of going back before finding a treasure. They also run afoul of a guy who pretty much runs things in this town and soon they will be pursued as they make their way through the jungles in search of the treasure.
The Rock does a pretty good job in his first leading role not associated with The Scorpion King and shows glimpses of the star he will become as he is able to do the action thing good and do well in the humor department too. Sean William Scott is also good as the guy The Rock is trying to retrieve and gives the Rock all kinds of problems. Christopher Walken is also in this one and of course he is good!
So, it was a pretty good film when it is all said and done, not sure why it did not do better when it initially released. I have seen far worse films make lots of money over the years, but then, they are sequels and that is why one tends never to see anything original these days. This one had some good action, some good humor and it was a nice distraction while it was on.
The story has The Rock as some sort of retrieval and enforcer kind of guy, but he is tiring of this lifestyle and wants out so he can be a chef. Well, he is given an opportunity to get out, because if he can get his boss's son and bring him back, he will be allowed out of the business. The problem is that his son is in South America. So he proceeds down and proceeds to have a hard time with his target as he is a smart mouthed guy who has no intentions of going back before finding a treasure. They also run afoul of a guy who pretty much runs things in this town and soon they will be pursued as they make their way through the jungles in search of the treasure.
The Rock does a pretty good job in his first leading role not associated with The Scorpion King and shows glimpses of the star he will become as he is able to do the action thing good and do well in the humor department too. Sean William Scott is also good as the guy The Rock is trying to retrieve and gives the Rock all kinds of problems. Christopher Walken is also in this one and of course he is good!
So, it was a pretty good film when it is all said and done, not sure why it did not do better when it initially released. I have seen far worse films make lots of money over the years, but then, they are sequels and that is why one tends never to see anything original these days. This one had some good action, some good humor and it was a nice distraction while it was on.