By Jeff Powalisz

The Rock has returned to the big screen, and as one might expect, he plays a man in control.

In “Walking Tall,” a remake of the 1973 film by the same name, The Rock plays Chris Vaughn, a retired U.S. Special Forces soldier returning to his hometown in the hopes of making a new life for himself and visiting family and old friends.

However, the town he once loved and cherished as a boy and young man has been torn into a crime haven, where his former high school rival, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough) has transformed the town toward criminal gain.

Vaughn decides to take action into his own hands, taking over the local law enforcement after running for sheriff. With the law behind him, Vaughn sets out to bring back the town he knew of years past.

WWF superstar and star of such films as “The Mummy Returns,” “The Scorpion King,” and “The Rundown,” The Rock is used to showing off his brawn and authoritative presence on screen.

“Walking Tall” does just that and gives viewers plenty of entertaining fight scenes, but it is hurt by an almost too simple plot (that runs short of 80 minutes without credits), and offers nothing in the way of dialogue other than well-stated lines by McDonough.

Director Kevin Bray (“All About the Benjamins”) wanted to bring certain values to the film, such as dedication, virtue and realism, and may have done that with the nature of The Rock’s character. A story with more to it, and roles that asked for more from its actors and actresses, was the missing ingredient.

“Kevin Bray was great,” The Rock said. “We went through a list of directors, who you think would make sense for a movie like this. (Bray) came very prepared and knew how he wanted to shoot the movie. The most important thing was to keep the intensity and rawness of the theme of ‘Walking Tall’ and what the man went through.”

Keeping the fight scenes realistic was an important part of the film to The Rock as well.

“For me it was just a matter of getting together with the guys I was going to have action scenes with,” he said. “Neal McDonough, the guys in the casino, and making sure we went over everything, so by the time we got ready to shoot, it would be arm point, and everybody would be ready to go.”

McDonough (“Ravenous,” “Band of Brothers,” “Minority Report”), as crime boss and casino owner Jay Hamilton, Jr., is unfortunately the only acting performance in the film worthy of discussion. He acts as a strong antagonist to The Rock. With the film’s focus too simple, it revolves quite simply around The Rock’s fighting scenes.

Johnny Knoxville (“Jackass: The Movie”) also stars as Chris’ friend, who helps him on his pursuit of justice, while providing the comic relief in the film.

John Beasley, Barbara Tarbuck, Kristen Wilson, Ashley Scott, Khleo Thomas and Michael Bowen make up the rest of the cast.

“Everybody worked great together,” The Rock said. “It was one big, team effort. It was important to me, and that’s why I was a big part of the casting.”

For The Rock, Chris was the type of role he had been looking for in his acting career, he said

“I know what I always was attracted to,” he said. “I’ve always had a love for old-fashioned movies that told somewhat of a simple story. I’ve always been attracted to movies like that, like Clint Eastwood movies, like Paul Newman and ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ ‘Walking Tall’ (1973) was one of my favorite movies.”

The lack of special effects and the authenticity of the fighting was something The Rock thought was one of the main points of the film.

“It’s like how do you compete these days with ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ with these movies that have special effects that are mind-blowing,” he said. “Well, I think you compete with real guys, real situations, heart and soul.”

“Walking Tall” opens at Loews Boston Common and Fenway Theater on April 2.