With Bruce Willis in his 40s, Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 50s and Harrison Ford past his 60th birthday, Hollywood is searching for a new action hero.

The way The Rock pulls off the jokes and macho stunts in Rundown, Hollywood may just have found its new action king. At 31, The Rock, the WWE superstar, has a youthful, imposing screen presence and a charming ease with the camera. He's a big man who has no problem delivering his character's over-the-top dialogue or bigger-than-life stunts.

Opening in town today, Rundown doesn't ask The Rock to take himself seriously, so neither should audiences.

It's just pure action adventure fun.

The Rock is Beck, a bounty hunter who'd rather be stirring a pot of gumbo than stirring up trouble deep in a Brazilian jungle. Beck just wants to open his own restaurant and start a new calmer life. Trouble is, he owes a favour to a Mob boss who insists he do one more rundown before the debt is cancelled.

Beck has to go to Brazil to fetch the gangster's son Travis (Seann William Scott) who has a few debts of his own back home. If Travis doesn't pay them, poor daddy will have to.

As with so many action comedies, Beck and Travis are oil and water.

The pairing of The Rock and Scott, best known as Stifler from the American Pie movies, pays off big time. Scott's mouth is a match for The Rock's brawn. Travis is a smarmy little weasel who keeps yapping and nipping at the big guy who has to keep knocking him down a couple of pegs each time Travis double-crosses him.

Add to this winning comic chemistry Christopher Walken's super nasty villain Hatcher and Rosario Dawson's sexy, mysterious barmaid and there's no stopping Rundown.

Screenwriters R.J. Stewart and James Vanderbilt have tailored their script for their stars. Scott gets to toss the jokes and The Rock the punches. Walken gets to ooze evil and Dawson, sex.

The duo's encounters with snarling monkeys, karate-chopping natives and hallucinogenic jungle fruit are as memorable as the final showdown in which Beck and Travis level an entire town.

Rundown works because director Peter Berg doesn't ask us to think but rather to join Beck and Travis in their life-threatening, life-altering jungle adventure.

It's pretty safe to say, audiences haven't seen the last of Beck and Travis.

They're the screen's new lethal weapons.

(This film is rated PG)

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