Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been keeping as busy as ever lately, starring in epic blockbusters like The Fate of the Furious, comedies like Baywatch and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the video game adaptation Rampage, and his latest DC film Black Adam.
With Johnson’s resume growing bigger than his massive biceps, we figured it was time we ran our countdown of his 10 best films again. From The Scorpion King to the Fast & Furious franchise to Moana, these are the best films with which to get your Rock on.
10. The Scorpion King (2002)
Much of the marketing surrounding The Mummy Returns centered on The Rock’s big screen turn as a villain even an immortal mummy fears – the Scorpion King. Johnson wasn’t actually in the movie for more than five minutes or so, most of which involved a poorly crafted CG monster with his face plastered on top.
But Johnson quickly made up for that letdown by appearing in the spinoff movie The Scorpion King. This prequel aims to explore how a simple Akkadian mercenary rose to become a king of men, a conqueror of kingdoms and a doomed soul. That was the original intent, anyway. The Scorpion King is largely disinterested in connecting to the larger Mummy mythology, instead focusing on that franchise’s comedic aspects and offering Johnson and his comely sidekick (Kelly Hu) one big action scene after another. In other words, it plays directly to Johnson’s strengths as an entertainer.
The Scorpion King isn’t ambitious or story-driven or even very original, but it is plenty of fun. And it spawned a franchise of direct-to-video sequels where several of Johnson’s WWE colleagues have continued the saga in his place.
9. G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2009)
We doubt many people were expecting G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra to be a critical success. That said, did it really have to take so many liberties with the property and the colorful, ongoing battle between the Joes and Cobra? Luckily, the sequel did a much better job of satisfying hardcore Joe fans and tapping into what made the old cartoon and comics so great, even if it still didn’t win over many critics.
Though clearly a direct sequel, Retaliation ditched many of the characters from Rise of Cobra in favor of a smaller, revamped cast. Leading the charge is Johnson as Roadblock, the tough-as-nails soldier who speaks loudly and carries a big gun. Johnson’s chemistry with the rest of the cast, including Channing Tatum’s Duke and Bruce Willis’ Joe Colton, is enough to wipe away the bad taste of Rise of Cobra’s lousy dynamics. If anything, it’s disappointing that the brotherly rivalry between Roadblock and Duke doesn’t play a bigger part in the movie.
The future of the Joe franchise on the big screen is very much up in the air right now, and we can only hope Paramount continues to rest the franchise firmly on Johnson’s burly shoulders.
8. Central Intelligence (2016)
You can’t throw a rock (no pun intended) these days without hitting a film starring either Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart. It was inevitable that the two would eventually share the screen in an action comedy. We’re just fortunate that the two have such great chemistry together.
On paper, Central Intelligence is nothing terribly unique. It’s a pretty textbook buddy cop movie about two high school friends who reconnect as adults to take down a wanted criminal. Fortunately, Johnson and Hart elevate the film into something more. Their energetic performances and the nonstop physical comedy that comes with their extreme size difference go a long way. Central Intelligence may not reinvent the genre, but it’s a real crowd-pleaser.
7. The Gridiron Gang (2006)
Perhaps no Hollywood genre is as familiar and formulaic as the sports movie, especially football movies. And like the superhero genre, no action star’s resume is truly complete until they appear in at least one tale of an underdog team rising to the challenge and finding glory on the field.
Gridiron Gang was a pleasant surprise in 2006 because it succeeded better than most in rising above the usual tropes. As with most of these films, it’s based on true events, in this case the story of Sean Porter (played by Johnson, of course). The movie follows Porter as he creates a football league at his youth detention center, offering at-risk teens the chance to learn a little discipline and rise above their troubled upbringing.
Gridiron Gang works because it avoids many of the obvious beats. It doesn’t present a white-washed, melodramatic view of race relations in the vein of Remember the Titans. It doesn’t Hollywood-ize the struggle of the teen characters. Johnson himself enjoys one of his first purely dramatic turns in the movie. While it made strong use of his natural charisma, Johnson also delivers a nuanced performance that emphasizes humor and honesty as much as it does football-fueled intensity.
6. The Other Guys (2010)
The Rock doesn’t star in this send-up of various ’80s and ’90s buddy cop movies, but his supporting role (as well as the movie itself) is so memorable that it’s worth an inclusion anyway. The Other Guys stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as two dorky, inept cops jealous of the high-octane antics of the resident super-cops on the squad (played by Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson). The Johnson/Jackson partnership proves to be a winning one from the opening credits, as they pursue criminals through crowded city streets and cause a mountain of collateral damage before bringing them down.
Ultimately, Johnson is just one small part of an ensemble cast that included everyone from Michael Keaton to Steve Coogan. Even so, The Other Guys stands as one of the strongest of his many action/comedies.
5. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Among other things, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle proved that there’s still plenty of mileage in the Dwayne Johnson/Kevin Hart pairing. The two star alongside Karen Gillan and Jack Black in this wacky follow-up to 1995’s Jumanji. This time, instead of dealing with an enchanted board game, the film’s teen protagonists find themselves sucked into an archaic video game world and transformed into full-fledged, adult action heroes.
That premise alone is enough to spice up what might otherwise have been a standard action/adventure film. But the real fun in Welcome to the Jungle is seeing the four stars play teens trapped in adult bodies. Johnson isn’t playing his usual confident, musclebound hero, but an awkward nerd coming to grips with being a hulking Adonis for the first time in his life. It’s a great subversion on the usual formula that makes this one of Johnson’s more memorable films in recent years.
4. Moana (2016)
No one will ever accuse Johnson of being a world-class singer (least of all himself), but that didn’t stop Disney from casting him in this 2016 animated princess musical. And despite his lack of vocal range (or perhaps even because of it), Johnson showed us that he can be just as entertaining in animated form.
Moana chronicles the journey of the titular character (voiced by Auli’i Cravalho), the daughter of a Polynesian chieftain who yearns to explore the ocean and save her village from destruction. Johnson plays her foil and reluctant partner, a self-centered demigod named Maui. It’s a role that caters to his usual cinematic strengths while also giving Johnson a strong character arc to explore. Over the course of Moana’s runtime, Maui learns some valuable lessons about how with godlike power must also come godlike responsibility.
Couple all that with some terrific songs courtesy of Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, and you have one of Disney’s best non-Pixar animated movies in a long time.
3. Pain and Gain (2013)
Critics are so accustomed to trashing Michael Bay’s spectacle-fueled blockbusters that they weren’t quite sure how to react when Bay dropped this surprisingly thoughtful dark comedy in 2013. Based on a true story, Pain and Gain stars Johnson alongside Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie as a trio of Miami bodybuilders who resort to kidnapping and extortion to achieve the wealth they so badly crave.
Pain and Gain offered Johnson the opportunity to play a different sort of character. Apart from The Mummy Returns, this might be the closest he’s ever come to playing the outright villain in a film. Pain and Gain offers a very energetic and stylish take on this real-world heist tale, but it works because of its very sobering look at three men whose obsession with achieving the American Dream led them down a dark path.
2. The Fast and the Furious series
Johnson now has four Fast & Furious movies under his belt, with more on the way. We figured it’s best to group them all together, lest this list become completely dominated by this massively popular franchise.
We really don’t think it’s any coincidence that the series caught its second wind just as Johnson entered the picture as DSS Agent Luke Hobbs. Johnson helped reinvigorate these movies, shifting the franchise away from street races and family drama to completely off-the-wall action movies crammed with impossible stunts and larger-than-life characters. Johnson himself has been a reliable player since his debut in 2011’s Fast Five. His Agent Hobbs has evolved from stern-faced antagonist to loyal ally and honorary member of the Toretto family.
2017’s The Fate of the Furious wasn’t a high point for the franchise, but it did at least pave the way for a spinoff starring Johnson’s Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw. We’re eagerly looking forward to that, as those two have become the best thing this series has to offer.
See our guide to watching the Fast and the Furious Movies in order.
1. The Rundown (2003)
The Rundown is one of Johnson’s earliest efforts after The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King jump-started his Hollywood career. And even more than a decade later, it remains the definitive action/comedy romp by which all his subsequent movies are judged.
On paper, there’s nothing terribly unique about The Rundown, as it could just as easily have been the basis of a Schwarzenegger or Stallone vehicle 10 years prior. The movie casts Johnson as a fixer named Beck who is dispatched to Brazil to rein in his employer’s son (Seann William Scott). The Rundown’s appeal is all in its execution. Johnson himself shows a knack for playing a more intelligent, nuanced hero even as he blazes through the jungle and jumps from one set-piece to the next. The movie also thrives on the hilarious dynamic between Johnson and Scott, as well as Christopher Walken’s typically kooky and entertaining villain.
Clearly, The Rock’s star power has only grown in the years since The Rundown. But no amount of Fast and Furious sequels can outdo the one movie that cemented him as one of Hollywood’s top action heros.