10 Worst Dwayne Johnson Films, Ranked

Dwayne Johnson has confirmed to be one of the vital charming and recognizable Hollywood stars of current reminiscence, from his memorable beginnings as WWE Famous person icon ‘The Rock’ to his array of recent blockbuster franchises, he has grown to be one of many greatest working actors at this time. Starting from light-hearted and comedic roles akin to in Moana and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to extra grounded and severe performances in Pain & Gain and the upcoming The Smashing Machine, Johnson has had a largely versatile profession through the years.

Nonetheless, for each huge worldwide success that Johnson’s movies have had through the years, there have additionally been a choose few essential misfires which have both pale into obscurity or grow to be notorious darkish spots in his profession. Starting from movies throughout the messy early years of performing when Johnson was nonetheless discovering his footing as a Hollywood star to newer failures that performed into too many generic tropes and clichés, even the plain, typically screen-commanding allure of Johnson could not save these disasters.

10 ‘Empire State’ (2013)

Directed by Dito Montiel

One of many greatest strengths that Johnson has had as an motion star was his electrifying presence that nearly by no means made his motion films boring to look at, but one of many few examples of the opposite is Empire State. The straight-to-DVD crime drama follows failed cop Chris Potamitis (Liam Hemsworth) settling for a task as a safety guard for an armored truck firm. Nonetheless, after mentioning his firm’s underwhelming safety specs to his greatest good friend, Chris finally ends up on the heart of an elaborate scheme to rob his personal firm, leading to one of many largest money heists in U.S. Historical past.

Whereas Empire State‘s premise of a thriller thriller with a likable felony going up in opposition to a top-notch detective looks like it might make for an immediately thrilling time, the movie is just too by-the-numbers and generic to actually get pleasure from. Johnson does his greatest so as to add some pleasure and drama to the movie via his efficiency as Detective James Ransome, but it wasn’t sufficient to make Empire State extra than simply one other run-of-the-mill thriller.

9 ‘Planet 51’ (2009)

Directed by Jorge Blanco

When it comes to voice-acting performances, Johnson is mostly acknowledged and beloved for his position of Maui in Disney’s Moana, however many overlook that he lent his voice-acting skills to the co-lead of one other animated movie 7 years prior. Planet 51 sees Johnson voicing Captain Chuck Baker, an astronaut who plans on a mysterious alien planet brimming with life and tradition that parallels Nineteen Fifties American suburbia. With the residents of this world believing Chuck to be a mind-controlling alien, it turns into as much as him and a teenage alien that he befriended to discover a manner again house to Earth.

Even other than the tradition shock of listening to Johnson’s voice come out of a Caucasian man with ginger hair, Planet 51‘s greatest flaws come from its lack of memorability and failure to capitalize on the potential of its setting and aesthetic. The idea of an alien world residing via their equal of the 50s is a enjoyable and unique idea with numerous potential for topical themes and hindsight-based humor, but the movie is extra targeted on underwhelming slapstick and popular culture reference humor. Whereas it is from being one of many worst animated films of the 2000s, it would not maintain a candle to the array of masterful animated films from 2009.

8 ‘Doom’ (2005)

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak

Whereas online game diversifications have been a supply for a lot of widely successful and beloved movies and collection within the modern-day, there was an extended time frame the place almost each tried adaptation was a largely maligned failure, with one of the vital outstanding examples being Doom. Based mostly on the collection of massively influential sci-fi shooters, Doom sees a bunch of area marines being despatched to a Mars science facility after stories of a safety breach. Nonetheless, upon investigation, they quickly understand {that a} mass assassin injected with alien DNA has been killing folks and mutating them into monsters.

One of many biggest points that plagued early online game films was their insistence on fully altering and abandoning elements of the unique sport collection, with Doom fully eradicating the demonic hell elements of its story in alternate for going all in on science fiction. Whereas the movie is not fully devoid of positives, because it includes a single nice first-person motion sequence and Dwayne himself performs a enjoyable villainous position, the movie pales compared to something the online game franchise has to supply.

Watch on Amazon Prime

7 ‘Purple Discover’ (2021)

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

Probably the most fascinating and defining dynamics of modern-day filmmaking is the growing prevalence of blockbuster-budgeted movies on streaming providers, with one of the vital profitable but low-quality of those being Red Notice. The movie sees Johnson as John Hartley, an FBI profiler who’s compelled to staff up with a infamous felony (Ryan Reynolds) to take down a shared enemy, one other felony planning to steal one of the vital coveted artifacts on the earth. Their quest sees them always clashing with each other and touring internationally to take down the mysterious “The Bishop”.

Whereas Purple Discover could also be the most watched movie in Netflix history, the movie’s high quality would not come near holding as much as its reputation, being about as generic and formulaic as motion comedy blockbusters get. Whereas each Reynolds and Johnson are efficient and charismatic leads in numerous different initiatives, the duo has minimal chemistry with each other and it shortly transforms the film into a contest of who can get in essentially the most quips. The movie merely fails to go away any discernable influence, as many audiences will probably be fast to overlook that the movie even exists quickly after watching it.

6 ‘Be Cool’ (2005)

Directed by F. Gary Grey

Earlier than Johnson had totally been adopted as an enormous main star and when his movie appearances had been rather more scattered and different, his supporting efficiency in Be Cool is brief but leaves an undeniably bitter influence. Appearing as a sequel to 1995’s Get Shorty, Be Cool sees Chili Palmer (John Travolta) drained with the state of the film trade, deciding to fully change issues up and take a shot on the equally chaotic music trade. Within the course of, he finally ends up assembly and getting swept up by the widow of a music govt as he makes an attempt to make his identify on this completely different trade.

Johnson performs the position of Elliot within the movie, a homosexual Samoan bodyguard for a duo of crooked producers who typically finds himself the butt of their fixed homophobic jokes. For what looks like they’d be a one-off gag character, Elliot finds himself constantly recurring all through the movie, largely performing because the bodily embodiment of energy that these producers maintain over Chili. Dwayne’s position and efficiency is emblematic of the movie as a complete, being a largely outdated and underwhelming gag that hasn’t simply aged poorly, however was barely even humorous within the first place.

5 ‘Baywatch’ (2017)

Directed by Seth Gordon

Certainly one of many traditional franchises that sought an enormous enhance in success and recognition within the trendy period by utilizing the star energy of Dwayne Johnson, Baywatch has little to supply outdoors the visible attraction of its actors. The movie sees Johnson as Mitch Buchannon, a faithful lifeguard who’s tasked with coaching a hotheaded new recruit (Zac Efron), but the duo unintentionally uncover a neighborhood felony plot that threatens the way forward for the seaside.

The unique attraction of the Baywatch tv collection was at all times centered across the intercourse attraction of getting engaging younger Hollywood stars getting moist and carrying swimsuits, with this cinematic outing solely amplifying this issue. Nonetheless, there was an inherent allure and campiness to the unique collection that’s severely missing on this cinematic reboot, exchanged for some by-the-numbers motion and unfunny comedy. The movie proves that there must be rather more than simply muscular actors wanting good to really make a considerable movie expertise.

4 ‘Black Adam’ (2022)

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

Probably the most notorious and closely divided blockbuster makes an attempt from Johnson in current reminiscence, Black Adam was largely touted because the movie that will lastly change the DC Prolonged Universe for the higher. In actuality, the movie managed to fall into quite a lot of the identical pitfalls and problems with the franchise’s worst outings, mixed with an array of inventive variations and a movie’s insistence of not being linked to different DC movies. The movie sees Johnson because the titular Black Adam, a person graced with the facility of the gods who’s awoken in trendy occasions after being imprisoned for five,000 years.

Certainly one of Johnson’s biggest property as a blockbuster star is his inherent likability and allure, having the ability to exude a likable vitality that merely can not help however get others having fun with his presence on display. Black Adam manages to fully take away Johnson’s greatest power as an actor in an try to make him a brooding, deeply severe character that, satirically, comes throughout as much less efficient in consequence. It would not assist that the story is consistently tiptoeing across the character of Shazam, regardless that Black Adam is meant to be Shazam’s arch-nemesis, one in all many causes that the movie was destined to be a box office flop.

3 ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

Directed by Jon M. Chu

There have been numerous failed makes an attempt through the years to rework the G.I. Joe toy line into an enormous blockbuster franchise in the identical vein as Transformers, with none of them managing to discover a devoted viewers. Probably the most notable failures on this underwhelming franchise is G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which tried to make use of the likability issue of Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis to deliver extra pleasure to their motion franchise. The movie sees the G.I. Joe staff being framed for crimes in opposition to the nation and terminated through a presidential order. This forces the staff right into a battle in opposition to threats inside the authorities on prime of their continued battle in opposition to Cobra.

Whereas Retaliation featured sufficient high-budget motion and setpieces to be an efficient blockbuster for the period, time has not been variety to the movie, because it’s simply one of the vital forgettable and underwhelming blockbusters of the 2010s. The movie is about as generic and formulaic as motion blockbusters get, with cookie-cutter characters and little to really entice viewers to care concerning the story, characters, or something within the movie that is not an motion scene. The movie proved to be so ineffective that one other G.I Joe movie would not be made for almost a decade.

2 ‘The Scorpion King’ (2002)

Directed by Stephen Sommers

Certainly one of Dwayne Johnson’s first huge roles in blockbuster movies was because the infamous Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, a task that coincided with its personal titular spinoff movie concerning the character. The Scorpion King sees Johnson because the Egyptian peasant Mathayus, employed to enact revenge upon the highly effective Memnon and the sorceress Cassandra to cease them from overtaking the village. Amidst all of the bloodshed, betrayal, and thievery current on the earth, Mathayus and his core values have him combating to deliver justice to the traditional world.

Whereas interval films concerning the struggles and infighting of historic civilizations have been a constant avenue for excellent storytelling and distinctive motion, The Scorpion King manages to be one of the vital insulting and worst period movies of all time. It is to not say that creating a derivative story a couple of villain with minimal display time was an excellent concept within the first place, however The Scorpion King fails to ship on the potential of its premise and world-building. Whereas it proved to many who Dwayne had what it takes to be the main star in an motion movie, it is also an obvious showcase of the rising pains he took earlier than becoming into his position as a charismatic main star.

1 ‘Tooth Fairy’ (2010)

Directed by Michael Lembeck

It has nearly grow to be a proper of passage for any notable superstar that received huge in a medium aside from movie to be part of essentially the most painfully unfunny household films whereas on the journey to being a Hollywood star. Relating to Johnson, he was part of a number of half-decent household films like The Game Plan and Race to Witch Mountain, however Tooth Fairy goes above and past as essentially the most egregious movie in his total filmography. The movie sees Johnson as a minor league hockey participant who’s compelled to work as a tooth fairy as a punishment for always crushing folks’s goals.

“Dwayne Johnson performs the Tooth Fairy” is an idea which will appear enjoyable within the context of a comedy sketch or a parody movie, however this gag merely would not have sufficient weight or advantage to hold a 100-minute household movie. Johnson tries his greatest to take advantage of out of this absurd premise, however the precise story, comedy and execution of the movie flounders round him and makes the whole expertise largely boring and uninteresting. There is definitely a world the place this premise may have labored as an excellent self-aware comedy, however Tooth Fairy is solely all bark with none chew.

NEXT: The 10 Worst Family Movies, Ranked