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Walking Tall | 2004 | PG-13 | - 5.7.5
Remake of the 1973 film, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a man who returns home after 8 years in the army to find a town run by an unscrupulous casino owner who also distributes drugs. Not willing to accept the situation, he vows to become the sheriff and clean the town up using mostly a 2x4. Ostensibly inspired by true events. Also with Johnny Knoxville, Neal McDonough, Ashley Scott, Kristen Wilson, John Beasley and Khleo Thomas. Directed by Kevin Bray. [1:26]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - A man sits alone in a room, a window opens and he watches a woman on the other side of the window pane dancing seductively: she removes her jacket, and she is in a tiny bikini and thigh-high boots (revealing cleavage, buttocks, bare abdomen and thighs), and she makes suggestive moves, dancing around a pole while he admires her. A man and a woman kiss tenderly, remove each other's shirts (we see him bare-chested and her in a bra) and caress each other. A woman wears a mesh skirt that reveals her bare buttocks. Men talk about finding women in a casino, and a man offers a woman to a man in a casino. A man talks about men "groping the girls" in a casino, and two men talk about "frisking dudes' crotches." Two men make a few comments about a man being in jail and the potential for jail cell sex he may encounter. We see an adult video store with a mannequin wearing a lace teddy. Women in a casino wear very tiny bikini-type outfits, some women dance on bars, around poles, and others dance on pedestals where men have water poured over them to wet their T-shirts (cleavage, bare abdomens, bare thighs and buttocks are exposed). We see a bare-chested man, and a woman wears a low-cut, short top that reveals cleavage and her bare abdomen.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - A man lies unconscious on a table, he comes around and is surrounded by other men; one man grabs a utility knife, the others hold the man down and cut him with the knife -- we see the man struggling, and the man with the knife pressing down hard on his chest. A man with a 2x4 goes into a casino, he breaks a slot machine, he pounds on a man, then another man comes at him with a gun, he hits him and breaks his arm with the 2x4 (we see the arm bend and hear a crack), he fights with a man (with punches and shoving), hits him in the face with the 2x4, and throws the 2x4 through a large one-way mirror, shattering it (a man is on the other side). A man is shot in the leg, a boy is punched in the face, a man holds a gun to a woman's head, a man hits another man in the face with a gun, and two men shoot back and forth at each other. A man stabs a man in the chest with a vegetable peeler and then hits him in the head with a pan, two men fight, one is punched in the crotch, and then in the face repeatedly. A man holds two police officers at gunpoint, and he is shot and killed by another man. A man falls through a trap door, he hangs from a saw blade, another man hits him repeatedly with a stick, they both fall down a shaft, and one is shoved out of an opening and falls some distance to the ground and breaks his leg -- we see blood on his pants and hear a loud crack when he tries to put it back in place; the other man then charges toward him with a hatchet, they roll down a hill, they fight with the hatchet and a stick, hitting each other many times -- one is kneed in the nose (blood spurts), and one is slammed against a tree and hit hard on the knees (he ends up on the ground with blood on his face). Two men beat up many other men. A man shoves a man, security is called, they grab the man around the throat, he fights with them shoving the head of one into a table, another man joins the fight and is elbowed in the nose, people are thrown over tables, and a man is tasered and clubbed repeatedly in the head (he has a bloody nose). A battered and bloody man lies on a road and a truck nearly runs him over. People are held at gunpoint, the man with the gun is kicked down the stairs and fires his weapon into the ceiling. Several men surround a sheriff's office and shoot guns into the building (two men and a woman are inside); bullets fly everywhere, the men are eventually picked off one-by-one by the people inside, one is shot from below as he walks across a floor, two are shot through a wall, and a man shoots many bullets through a floor trying to hit the person under the floor. A man shows huge, jagged scars on his chest and abdomen. A man has bumps and stitches on his head and face. A boy with oxygen tubes on his nose lies on a stretcher after a reaction to taking Crystal Meth. We see a man in a hospital with stitches on his face and bandages on his torso. A man is surrounded by police officers with their guns drawn. People threaten each other in many scenes. We hear that a man died in a car accident. A sheriff and deputy completely destroy a man's truck, tearing it up with a chainsaw, a crow bar, etc. A truck blows up and we see it in flames. A sheriff breaks the tail lights of a car with a large piece of wood. A sheriff pretends to draw his pistol on a man. Men play football, shoving each other around, knocking each other down, one man is hit in the back with a football, one man is knocked hard in the leg (he has a bad knee), and one man is clotheslined.
LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 5 sexual references, 1 scatological term, 4 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities.
SUBSTANCE USE - People are shown smoking tobacco and marijuana, people are seen buying drugs, and we hear about a boy having taken Crystal Meth. A man drinks a beer while driving, and people are shown drinking alcohol.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Gambling, going home, failure, making a difference, economics, justice, corruption, revenge.
MESSAGE - It's hard to go home. Change can be made, but it is sometimes very difficult.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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