The true Buford Pusser story which supplied plot for a trio off films in the 70s now has Dwayne Johnson in the lead role. The sheriff character is now named Chris Vaughn and the locale is now the Pacific northwest. Besides for a black man who would believe he had a good ole boy name like Buford Pusser?

Otherwise things are about the same and if you saw the original film with Joe Don Baker in the title role you can expect much the same here.

Gambling elements have now come to his home town and these people also sell narcotics out of a gambling casino now there since Johnson left to join the army.

The real Buford Pusser story was quite the inspiring one. This one is a good action/adventure saga, nothing more.

Chris Vaughn (Dwayne Johnson) returns home after serving in the Special Forces. He finds that the mill is closed, and the only game in town is the casino owned by an old classmate Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough). His best friend Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville) is a recovering addict. When he's confronted with drug infested systemic corruption, he decides to fight back. And he's bringing a 2 by 4.

The story is a pretty simple lone guy fights back. This is purported to be based on a real guy. Neal McDonough is great at the creepy bad guy. He doesn't overplay it. And he's a good foil to The Rock. The actors really make this movie function. If it wasn't for the likable Rock, there isn't that much to watch for in this movie.

I hate wrestling, but when I saw "The Rundown" last year I had to admit, The Rock is one cool guy, and a perfect action star. He's big and tough, but most importantly he's charismatic and has a sense of humor and a certain softness that actually makes him seem somewhat vulnerable. This is what sets him apart from someone like Vin Diesel, who was all set to be the next big action star but never was because he has no personality or sense of humor.

"Walking Tall" is a remake of a 1973 based-on-fact film about a man who fights back against corruption in his town by becoming sheriff and waging war on the bad guys. I haven't seen the original, but I'm willing to bet it's closer to the truth than the 2004 "Walking Tall", which is packed with more machine guns, axes, exploding trucks, and gunfighting strippers than anything that's "based on fact" could possibly be.

Here, Vaughn returns home after years of being away to find his hometown in shambles and dependent on a corrupt casino run by drug-dealing, knife-wielding thugs. After he receives a brutal beating and his nephew (Khleo Thomas, from "Holes") nearly overdoses on crystal meth bought there, the war is on. My inner 12 year-old says "Woohoo!".

Yes, this film is ridiculously over the top. It's also completely predictable. But it's FUN. A lot of fun, in fact. It's extremely fast paced, well-acted, the action scenes are excellent, and at just under 80 minutes, it's exceptionally lean too. Not one unnecessary or drawn-out scene.

"Walking Tall" doesn't aim to be anything except old-fashioned popcorn entertainment, and it succeeds, yet it has been made with surprising artistry as well. The cinematography is very good, and there are some interesting things done with sound and unexpected fade-outs. Also, Vaughn is an interestingly complex hero (complex as far as these movie go, anyway). At one point, when he clearly wants to bring a loaded shotgun into a fight with him, he hesitates, and brings a less-deadly 2x4 instead. It's a neat moment.

So it's not going to be winning any awards any time soon. But I had a really good time, plain and simple, and the audience I saw it with did too.