Combination action, adventure, broad comedy, and buddy movie
NickCoIn
Combination action, adventure, broad comedy, and buddy movie has The Rock well-cast as a "retrieval expert" fed up with his occupation and looking for a way…
Combination action, adventure, broad comedy, and buddy movie has The Rock well-cast as a "retrieval expert" fed up with his occupation and looking for a way out. He agrees to one last job in which he travels to a remote village in South America to find his employer's delinquent son, but in the midst of his search he tangles with the town's greedy, megalomaniacal boss, embittered citizens, and gets caught up in a search to find a rare and priceless artifact. Engaging, high-energy action scenes, enthusiastic performances, and moments of genuine humor make this a blast from start to finish. Formulaic to be sure, but lots of fun with Walken adding a hilarious presence as Hatcher. ***
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★ 7 / 10
Although Being a Complete Mess, It Is Also a Funny and Full of Action Entertainment
claudio_carvalho
In Los Angeles, the "retrieval expert" Beck (The Rock) is assigned by his boss Billy, a powerful mobster, to bring his son Travis (Seann William Scott) back…
In Los Angeles, the "retrieval expert" Beck (The Rock) is assigned by his boss Billy, a powerful mobster, to bring his son Travis (Seann William Scott) back from Amazonas. Beck wants to get free from Billy, and buy and be a chef of an Italian restaurant. Once in the Brazilian jungle, Beck faces Hatcher (Christopher Walken), a powerful landlord of a city who explores the locals in the extraction of gold, and a group of rebels, leaded by Mariana (Rosaria Dawson), to retrieve Travis, who found a priceless treasure called "O Gato do Diabo" (which means "The Cat of the Devil"). "Welcome to the Jungle" is a funny and full of action entertainment. There are excellent action scenes and the chemistry between The Rock and Seann William Scott works perfectly. The DVD has many extras, most of them very interesting. In accordance with the interview with Peter Berg in the DVD, he had the intention of filming in Brazil, but unfortunately he was robbed and threatened in the jungle, so he decided to make the movie in Hawaii. Maybe because of this reason, there is a total lack of accuracy in many parts of the story. For example, the unique dialog in Portuguese is when Beck and Travis are captured by the rebels. However, the accent is not from Brazil. The other dialogs are in Spanish. Nuts, usually consumed in Christmas, are imported and very expensive, and they are not common in Brazil. Manito (small brother in Spanish, I guess) is not a Brazilian name or nickname (it would be "Maninho"). The biotype of the "Brazilian" rebels is ridiculous. Mariana makes a reference of the a wage of US$ 0,65 per hour as a reference to the exploitation of Hatcher to the locals. However, the minimum wage in Brazil is less than US$ 100,00 per month. Therefore, US$ 0,65 per hour would be much more than the minimum wage in Brazil, specially in a poor and isolated region like that one. There are no rebels in Brazilian jungles, only in Colombia. The IBAMA (Brazilian Environmental Agency) would never allow that sort of exploration without an special authorization, including a study of the impact of the environment. There also some correct references, like our Flag, the reference to Flamengo, the most popular soccer team of Brazil, the advertisements of beer etc., and the names in Portuguese of the buildings. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Bem Vindo a Selva" ("Welcome to the Jungle")
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The 720p version here is actually just 1h42m43s. The uncut version that I already had is 1h44m15s.