Walking Tall - The Payback
Not a sequel, per se, to the 2004 featureWalking Tallwith Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (which in itself was only loosely based on the real-life story of Southern lawman Buford Pusser), this by-the-books actioner stars Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys) as another taciturn tough guy who faces down small-town corruption with determination and a very big stick. Sorbo plays a former elite soldier who returns to his small Texas hometown to discover that his sheriff father has been murdered by a cadre of nefarious types (led by tattooed heel A.J. Buckley), and with the help of a comely FBI agent (Yvette Nipar), he takes up his father's badge and takes on the bad guy with a particularly large piece of hickory as his main weapon. Sorbo is a likely action star, though he lacks the charm of The Rock (or the downhome grit of Joe Don Baker and Bo Svenson, who played Pusser in the '70s feature and its sequels), and the story is doggedly formulaic in its march to a showdown conclusion. The action, however, is plentiful, and should provide a passing distraction for viewers seeking some testosterone-heavy thrills.-- Paul Gaita