Dwayne Johnson doesn’t let the mobsters fool him in this thriller where his baseball bat almost has more dialogue than him!
Even if you are fans of The Rock, you have probably not seen – or forgotten – this film from his debut! He plays Chris Vaughn, a former special forces officer, returning to his hometown to discover that it is corrupted by the underworld led by Hamilton, the owner of the local casino. To fight against him, Vaughn becomes sheriff.
This is Zero Tolerance, a remake of Savage Justice, directed in 1973 by Phil Karlson, and which was based on the life of Buford Pusser, a former wrestler who became a sheriff. A wrestler himself, we understand why bringing this story to the screen could be close to Dwayne Johnson’s heart. Unfortunately, he completely gets his feet wrong.
Dwayne Johnson’s next film will also be a remake!
MGM The Rock does his abs
In question ? Perhaps the inexperience of director Kevin Bray, who came from the music video industry (for Whitney Houston or Jennifer Lopez), and who is making his second film after Bounty Hunters with Ice Cube. The image is not polished, the attempts at effects are not really successful and the rhythm is poorly worked.
Zero Tolerance has the merit of being quite short (1h15), but the big moment of violence is reserved for the very end. It is in particular this sequence of shootings and mandals distributed which caused the film to be banned for children under 12 upon its release.
MGM
The Rock repainted the carpet
For the rest, it’s a bit “move along, there’s nothing to see”: The Rock is making his acting debut and is not very comfortable, the script is inept, the dialogues worthy of the worst turnips and the viewer patiently waits for the hero’s rebellion, which comes at the very end. And in the meantime, he is patient as best he can.
MGM
The Rock tries his hand at beam throwing
The film, however, has the advantage of showing The Rock learning his profession as an actor. For the anecdote, stay for the duration of the credits and you will be surprised to see that as early as 2004, the actor-businessman already employed a sort of “entourage” with a hairdresser, an acting coach, two personal assistants, a silhouette, three security guards and a stunt double. Not bad is not it ?