The torch has been passed.

In the opening moments of “The Rundown,” The Rock walks into a nightclub and is passed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. We hear Arnold say, “Have fun.” The Rock looks back, curiously, then continues to walk into the club and encounters some goons. And then, the fun begins.

Those behind “The Rundown” see The Rock as the next action hero – and they may just have a point, but these thoughts won’t sit well with many Arnold fans. The Rock still seems a bit awkward on screen. It’s as if he doesn’t feel completely comfortable in front of a camera. So how can one even compare him to Schwarzeneeger, the god of action stars, the king of one-liners, and a future governor of California for crying out loud?

-Actually, it’s pretty simple. “The Rundown” is The Rock’s third film as a star, so it’s easy to say that he’s relatively new to the big screen, even though he’s made a name for himself in the WWE.

Think about where Arnold was around his first five onscreen appearances. You want to see awkward? Go rent “Conan, the Barbarian.” All that’s missing from The Rock is Arnold’s accent and a “fish out of water” mentality. The Rock has the charm, the charisma, the guns – he has all it takes to lead a testosterone filled, cheesy, popcorn movie.

The story: Beck (The Rock) is a “retrieval expert,” basically a bounty hunter — meaning that he makes a career out of tracking people down and making them pay back their debts to whomever they owe. He plans to leave the trade to open a little restaurant after his next big job.

But get this — Beck refuses to use guns. Even more shocking, he always gives his opposition “option A,” an option to resolve their conflicts with peace instead of violence. Of course, most choose “option B,” and trust him – they don’t want “option B.”

We start with Beck being summoned by a local boss to bring his son, Travis (Seann William Scott), back from the Amazon. Travis is a Princeton dropout who is in the Amazon looking for ancient treasure.

The only problem? Beck runs into Hatcher (Christopher Walken), a mad local mine owner who wants his hands on some treasure that only Travis knows the location of. Needless to say, Hatcher isn’t happy when Beck tries to take Travis back to L.A.

Christopher Walken makes one of the most lovable, watchable villains in action movie history. His aura is so engaging, that I found myself rooting for his disastrous character. If there were ever a movie about the Enron fiasco, Walken could play Ken Lay, and I’d still root for him.

The movie’s worst moments come in its climax. Throughout the film, Beck is questioned about his fear of guns. He tells others that they “do not want to see what happens” when he picks one up. The locals tell him, “I’ve never seen an American who’s afraid of guns,” and neither had I, in an action movie at least. So of course, we have to see what happens when Beck picks up a gun in the climactic moment of the film, something I would have rather imagined myself.

In the end, the gunfight is the film’s worst moment; it feels boring and predictable, feelings the rest of the film avoided.

Even though “The Rundown” is no more than “Romancing the Stone” meets “Lethal Weapon,” director Peter Berg and screenwriters R.J. Stewart and James Vanderbilt only steal the best parts of both movies, and they provide us with memorable characters, something that these types of movies demand.

Whether or not The Rock is the next Schwarzenegger remains to be seen, but if he keeps making films like “The Rundown,” I’d have to say he’s well on his way.