Walking Tall (PG-13) ★

Professional wrestler-turned-action star Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson stars as a sheriff on a mission to free his county from corruption, but not even The Rock's irrefutable on-screen charm and charisma can redeem this film, which is 75 minutes of nonstop WWE-style fighting, with guns and clubs thrown in for your entertainment pleasure.

Story

When retired U.S. Special Forces Soldier Chris Vaughn (Johnson) returns to Kipsat County, Wash., it's only to find his hometown overrun with crime, drugs and violence. The old mill where Chris's father (John Beasley) worked for most of his life is closed, and the town's only thriving industry is the Wild Cherry casino. Even Chris' high school sweetie, Deni (Ashley Scott), couldn't resist the Wild Cherry's lure; she's become a peepshow dancer to ''pay the bills.'' But Chris really loses it when he discovers the casino's dealers are using loaded dice--and he starts a brawl that ends with the security team carving up his chest and abdomen with a rusty Exacto knife. Chris also learns that that his old high school rival, the casino's owner, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough), has transformed the mill into a crystal meth lab and is using the casino's menacing security staff to sell the drugs to innocent kids. Chris strikes back by running for sheriff, firing the entire police department on his first day and, with the help of a cedar two-by-four and his deputy and buddy Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville), restores peace to the Pacific Northwest.

Acting

Johnson, looking buffer than ever, is well cast in the role of Chris: He's a fearless and determined soldier with beyond-human fighting skills. But while the film takes advantage of Johnson's brawn, it fails to take advantage of his brain. In last year's comedy The Rundown, Johnson proved he was more than a muscle-bound action star; he oozed charm and was surprisingly witty. With Walking Tall, he never gets a chance to flex his acting muscles; if anything, they atrophy. The only skills Johnson gets to show off are his ability to swing a plank at someone's shins and his unique way of bashing skulls against slot machines. Johnson's sidekick Ray, played by Knoxville of MTV's Jackass fame, is an ex-junkie who, after spending a couple of years in the slammer, is content with living in a camper and doing odd jobs around town. With his scraggly appearance and klutzy demeanor, Knoxville supplies the film with brief interludes of humor amid the slam fest, including a scene in which he stabs a bad guy with a potato peeler. Johnson and Knoxville would have made a first-rate action team had they had more screen time together.

Direction

A WWE production with Vince McMahon serving as executive producer, Walking Tall has none of the subtlety of director Kevin Bray's last film, All About the Benjamins, and all the elements of a wrestling match. As with wrestling, the film begins by melodramatically establishing the story (Chris and his family's lives are devastated by the mill's closure) and, just like rival pugilists who publicly taunt the favored wrestler, Chris challenges Jay--not for the world title, but at least for control of Kipsat County--in a never-ending battle between good and evil that mimics wrestling to a T. But what's entertaining in the ring doesn't translate to film, especially when the good guy running the town is a maniacal meathead. Chris is supposed to be the protagonist who single-handedly saves the town, but who's responding to the citizens' domestic violence calls, for example, when the sheriff fires the entire precinct and spends 24 hours a day casing the casino? Never mind the fact that he has sex with his girlfriend in his office while he's on the clock.

Bottom Line

Walking Tall could have used more intelligent storytelling and less wrestlemania; it reeks of SmackDown!, but it never fully exploits its champ, The Rock.