The guy is periodically incredible in the right thing. The big one early on was Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty that was expected to be a major hit. The movie basically bombed, terrible reviews and mediocre box office. But Johnson got raves. It had been expected to be his big jump to “serious” movies, the first time he was billed as Dwayne Johnson and they made a big point of never uttering “The Rock” during early marketing. And then it just didn’t.
It just seemed like the better material and the comedy work he was getting attention for stopped coming his way after that. It’s sorta been Punch Fest 4: More Punching. He doesn’t seem to get a lot of work worth “rising beyond”. His filmography is not good.
There’s very little point in out acting the rest of Fast and The Furious’s cast, and apparently Vin Diesel will fire you if you do. That’s kind of where this guy lives for the most part. But I’ve heard good things about Jumanji and especially Jungle cruise, two things that wouldn’t much interest me if there wasn’t buzz about practically everyone being quite good in them.
