The Rundown - Television Tropes & Idioms

Temple of Doom called. They want their poster ba-

Beck (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) is a Bounty Hunter who wants to quit the business and open a restaurant, but his boss Billy sends him on one last assignment: Go down to The Amazon and bring his wayward son Travis (Seann William Scott) back to Los Angeles. So Beck heads down to the Amazon, where he meets eccentric Irish airplane pilot Declan (Ewen Bremner) and finds a totalitarian regime run by Hatcher (Christopher Walken), who double-crosses Beck shortly after he finds Travis.

Beck and Travis flee to the jungle where, after some obstacles (including a run-in with wild baboons), they join up with a rebellion led by Mariana (Rosario Dawson), an acquaintance of Travis', and go on a search for an ancient artifact Travis has been searching for.

This film contains examples of:

Abusive Parents: Billy.
Actor Allusion: When asked by one of his henchmen if Beck and Travis are dead, Hatcher retorts, "What am I, psychic?"
- Just before the opening Bar Brawl, Beck literally bumps into Arnold Schwarzenegger in his (not-so-) last film appearance; Ahnuld smirks at him and says, "Have fun!"
- "Ca-caw! Ca-caw!"
Adventure Towns
The Amazon
Autobots, Rock Out!: When Beck picks up dual shotguns to save Travis, the Rock soundtrack re-appears.
Badass: That would be Beck.
Big Damn Heroes
Bilingual Bonus: The Brazilian Portuguese spoken in the film.
Black Comedy Rape: "ESTABLISH DOMINANCE! ESTABLISH DOMINANCE!"
Blasting It Out of Their Hands: With a friggin' sniper rifle. No Scope. ONE HANDED. It's no wonder Hatcher says "Whoa!"
Bonnie Scotland: Declan
Bounty Hunter
The Capital Of Brazil Is Buenos Aires
Capoeira: Used by the natives to beat up on The Rock.
Chekhov's Gun: The bulls and the konlobos fruit.
Combat Pragmatist: Beck.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Travis.
- Would've Minored in Ass Kicking if he hadn't dropped out of Stanford to go treasure searching.
Doesn't Like Guns: Beck, until the climax.
The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Option A/Option B. Option A is that you shut up and do what Beck says. Option B is that he makes you. You really don't want Option B.
Embarrassing First Name / Embarrassing Middle Name: "Cornelius Bernard Hatcher, your time has come!"
Everything Is Better With Monkeys: Not.
Fanservice: Rosario Dawson, of course. Even moreso here as she's in jungle wear for much of the film
Faux Action Girl: Mariana. Made worse that her big action scene (where Hatcher's goons track her down, but she puts up a fight, machine gun ablazing) was deleted from the final cut of the film.
Firing One Handed
Groin Attack
Guns Akimbo
Hawaii Doubling: The crew wanted to film in Brazil...and had their stuff stolen by natives, leading to this. Though they try to be convincing, starting with crates and ads of local beer and shields of local soccer teams.
Hey, It's That Guy!: Uncle Rico as Hatcher's brother and right-hand man Harvey.
Improbable Weapon User: The guards who use whips, being able to restrain and maim with them rather accurately.
- Can be truth in television as whips in trained hands are accurate, dangerous weapons with excellent range and capacity for wicked injury. More info (at the other wiki.)
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Travis
Kick the Dog
La Résistance
Large Ham: Hatcher, all the way.
- It's worth watching the entire film to see his enraged monologue to his Brazilian henchmen which inexplicably centers on the tooth fairy (real life foreshadowing?). The realization that his henchmen are unfamiliar with the concept of the tooth fairy only further infuriates him.
Law of Inverse Recoil: In full effect, especially in the film's climax. Interestingly enough, the counterpart trope associated with receiving bullets with bizarre physical properties, Blown Across the Room, is mostly averted. Kicked Across The Room, on the other hand...
Misplaced Wildlife
Mister Danger: Hatcher
More Dakka
The Mountains of Illinois
Non-Action Guy: Declan
One-Scene Wonder: Arnold Schwarzenegger's five-second appearance as a nightclub patron, which earned mention from almost every critic who reviewed the movie, noting it as a pass-the-torch moment to The Rock.
Orifice Invasion: The candiru are said to be able to do this.
Rebel Leader: Mariana
Rousing Speech: Done by Declan. It even includes Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."
Scotireland: In spite of wearing a kilt and playing bagpipes near the film's finale, Declan also speaks with a terrible Irish accent, keeps a leprechaun bobblehead on the dashboard of his plane, and also has a shamrock on said plane's tail.
- It is most likely that the character is meant to be from Northern Ireland, where Scottish piping traditions (as well as accent features) have to some extent migrated, and the unintelligible accent is poking fun at the fact that nobody else can understand "Norn Iron." The actor, for the record, is Scottish.
Rule of Funny: Honestly, Travis could have just sat down and pulled his cuffed arms to the front so he could unzip himself and pee, but it was funnier to make Beck do it.
Stat-O-Vision: Called 'Beck Vision' in the commentary. Beck has a really good eye for detail, and sharp vision, taking in a multitude of details, both visual and audible. We see this as rapid zoom-ins, jump-cuts and one to two seconds of the detail in question up close, before jumping to the next, and the next, and the next. It's done very well, too.
Stock Quotes
Take a Third Option: Subverted. Hard. There is no third option with Beck.
Technical Pacifist: Beck
Temple of Doom
Title Drop: With the original ("Your kid was a tough rundown, Billy"), working (sign reading "El Dorado" vandalized to read "Helldorado"), and alternate titles ("Welcome to the Jungle, tough guy")!
Underestimating Badassery: Everyone to Beck. Seriously, should have gone with Option A.
Unflinching Walk: There's a big explosion halfway through the climax. Duh.
The Unintelligible: Declan. It's even lampshaded when The Rock is flying in.
Beck: Booze...on the grind? What?
Unorthodox Reload: And how! Flipping akimbo shotguns upside-down by the trigger guard and racking the action held between arm and ribcage. Holding both shotguns in one hand, pumping both slides at the same time with the other. You will never see a shotgun used like this anywhere else, nor look at them the same ever again after this movie.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Hatcher fully believes he's making a better place for the natives.
Warrior Chef: Beck.
What Could Have Been: That "Tooth Fairy" speech? It was supposed to be a Winnie the Pooh speech. "I WANT THAT BEAR'S ASS OUTTA MY WINDOW!!!"
- Also, a narrowly avoided What Could Have Been in the "Oompa Loompa" line. Walken originally refused to say it... because he hadn't read/seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and did not grasp the concept of the Oompa Loompa.
Whip It Good: Hatcher's three toughest goons, including The Dragon.
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Lampshaded. When Beck first storms the town and starts taking out mooks, The Dragon watching via camera feed says, "Why doesn't somebody just shoot him?" Three Elite Mooks later go after him with whips, all of whom are killed by the guns they have holstered on their waists.

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This film contains examples of:

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