I have long argued that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one of Hollywood’s most under-utilized talents. The man-mountain oozes charisma, making ridiculous, brain-melting lines such as "They hit like thunder and disappear like smoke" sound not only logical but also inspiring.* His recent string of triumphs at the box office have made him a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood.
The Rock isn’t exactly the second coming of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but there will be no more Arnold Schwarzenegger-like figures: The Age of the Indispensable Action Star is dead and gone. We are now in the Age of the Franchise. And there are few actors better suited for the Age of the Franchise than multi-tooled workhorses like The Rock.
In less than three months, The Rock has starred in three films that debuted at number one at the box office. Fast and Furious 6 dominated the box office this weekend with its $120 million four-day opening frame. One month ago, his body-builder action-comedy flick Pain and Gain debuted atop the charts with a solid $20 million weekend. And a month before that, G.I. Joe: Retaliation opened at number one with a $40 million weekend. (He barely missed having four number one movies in three months when Snitch missed the top slot by less than a million bucks in February.)
It’s been obvious since The Rundown, a criminally underrated buddy-comedy/action flick, that Hollywood had a real talent on its hands, someone who could deftly combine humor with machismo and possessed a facial dexterity that many action stars lack. True, it took audiences a while to warm to The Rock’s charms—The Rundown, Doom, Walking Tall all underperformed, in some cases badly.
However, he’s carved out a nice little niche for himself in recent years and has surprising versatility. He’s still at his best in actioners that give him a chance to deliver a funny line or two (Pain and Gain, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), but he can also play the lead in family-friendly pap (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, The Tooth Fairy) or a hard-nosed badass (Snitch, Faster).
In the Age of the Franchise, the man with many skills will be king. I can think of few better rulers than The Rock.
*That line is in Fast and Furious 6. I defy you to explain what it means. "Thunder" doesn’t "hit." And thunder certainly disappears faster than smoke, which kind of lingers. But out of the mouth of The Rock it makes total sense. The whole thing is actually a kind of perfect metaphor for the film at large, which is both incredibly stupid and remarkably entertaining.