It ain't art, and it ain't necessarily good or original, but damn it was entertaining.
Despite the presence of The Rock and Sean William Scott, the movie isn't as bad as it could have been. The plot is predictable and it changes style at the drop of a hat. It starts out as a fast paced, MTV music video style action movie with quick cuts, loud annoying "music", strobe lights and all the usual hooplah that goes with it. Then, for a decent majority of the film it dips into a Romancing The Stone-type action film. For about five minutes it becomes Indiana Jones, and ends on a Robert Rodrigues "El Mariachi" note.
The story behind the movie is weak, but surprisingly The Rock and SWS are able to gather up enough charisma and acting chops that you really stop caring about it. The action scenes are some of the best I've seen recently in an action movie. While there is a good deal of flyin' people wire work, it's not overdone, and it's not like The Matrix, which most action movies seem to be heading toward. It was refreshing for a change.
From beginning to end, the humor is definetely out in the open, and it goes a long way toward making this film work. The Rock's character is actually extremely likeable and almost fascinating to watch. He's the trouble hero with a good sense of humor and lofty goals beyond his bruiser career.
Some of the cinematography is fantastic, with some good panoramic shots of the landscape. Whereever they shot the film is just beautiful (or least a reasonable fascimile thereof).
Christopher Walken's character is pretty much every other villianous character he's ever played.
Overall, despite all the flaws that accompany this, it was a hell of a fun and entertaining movie and blast if you got two hours with nothing better to do.
