History is doomed to repeat itself, and the movie industry is no exception.

In the 1973 version of “Walking Tall,” retired wrestler Buford Pussor (Joe Don Baker) rolls back into his hometown in Kentucky, sees that it is bad and picks up a stick. Pussor doesn’t stop swinging until his hometown is restored to the moral mecca he remembered.

-In the 2004 version of “Walking Tall,” Chris Vaughn (played by real-life wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) returns from a stint with the U.S. Army Special Forces to his hometown in Washington, sees that it is bad and picks up a stick. Vaughn doesn’t stop swinging until his hometown is restored to the moral mecca he remembered.

Do these plots sound similar? Do they sound simple? Makes it sound like an hour-and-a-half of hitting people with sticks doesn’t it? That’s all it claims to be. The movie opens with about 20 minutes of scenes that get the characters and the audience riled-up enough to enjoy the ensuing hour of Teddy Roosevelt-style skull cracking.

“Walking Tall” does not try to round out the characters with intense mental scrutiny; it stays within the boundaries of what the actors can do well. “The Rock” and Johnny Knoxville, as the fresh-out-of-rehab best friend Ray, give simple performances that don’t attempt to add unnecessary depth to shallow characters. The characters act on their emotions based on very basic ideas of what is right. Their frustrations with the corrupt police system aren’t raised up to the eternal struggle of man with the limitations he sets upon himself. No, the movie is simple decisions and their consequences.

“Walking Tall” is one of the shallowest, two-dimensional films I’ve seen in a long time — that’s the beauty of it. The movie delivers exactly what it promises — no more, no less. One side is obviously the good guys and the other the bad, and the two sides tussle until one side wins. Other action movies attempt to incorporate inner turmoil to match the chaotic action and then patronize the audience by holding its hand while the inner turmoil is resolved. “Walking Tall” doesn’t tell the audience how to relate to the characters; its ideas are so basic that anyone can relate to and understand them.

Is the plot recycled? Yes. Is the action lackluster? Yes. Do you normally have to pay someone for a pleasantly mindless afternoon? Well, technically no, but it may be worth it to see a flock of unemployed cops tirelessly try to blow up the new guy’s stick. “Walking Tall” may just be the reanimated corpse of the “Hixploitation” genre. Can we anticipate a remake of “Smokey and the Bandit” now?