Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the biggest movie star in the world. And even on the off chance that’s not true anymore, he’s still pretty insistent that it is. But for all the ways that Johnson has turned himself into a Hollywood megastar, the truth is that none of the action blockbusters he’s made in the last 15 years have come close to the highs he hit in the first 15 minutes of the 2010 action comedy The Other Guys, which leaves Netflix this Friday.
The Other Guys is an action comedy mostly starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as two hapless cops thrown into the deep end of a dangerous case. But the best part of the movie — no matter how much you like the rest — is the first 15 minutes, which are more like a straightforward action movie featuring the badass cops who were supposed to take the case, played by Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson. It effectively communicates the reason our two heroes are the “other guys” — Jackson and Johnson play the platonic ideal of action heroes, superheroes without capes who can catch any bad guy and defy death seven days a week… until the moment they don’t. Then, the whole world is suddenly stuck with their bumbling idiot replacements. It’s a great setup for comedy.
The only problem is that it works a little too well. The whole sequence looks stylish and flashy; it’s tense and fun and has better action and comedy than most of the rest of the movie. It all feels like a Bad Boys short film, and in it, Johnson is smarter, funnier, and more knowing about his persona than he is in nearly any movie since. The whole performance is full of smarmy looks and haughty entrances that Johnson perfected as perhaps the WWE’s most widely embraced heel: He’s a showoff who can back up every brag. It’s Johnson’s entire essence and brand, distilled into 15 excellent minutes of a movie he isn’t even the star of.
But that too is part of the secret of Johnson’s movie career: He shines brightest when he isn’t the star. Outside of Michael Bay’s excellent Pain & Gain, which truly leverages everything that works (and doesn’t) about Johnson’s star power to turn him into equal parts movie star and punchline, all his best performances involve him as a supporting character. It’s true in Southland Tales, it’s true in Be Cool, and it’s true in The Other Guys — not coincidentally, all movies where he doesn’t take himself too seriously, either.
For his part in all this, Johnson has also said that he wants to get a little more serious about the craft of acting, not just being an action star, and it seems like he’s sticking to it. Over the last few months, Johnson has been tied to a few different projects from surprisingly accomplished directors. He’s set to star in The Smashing Machine, a new biopic from Benny Safdie (one half of the pair behind Uncut Gems), as UFC champion Mark Kerr, as well as in a new Hawaii gangster drama from Martin Scorsese — where it’s easy to expect he might get another chance at a supporting part, as Leonardo DiCaprio is also attached.
Looking back on his standout performances, it’s a nice reminder that the biggest parts aren’t necessarily the most interesting. Johnson is at his best when he’s able to shed his serious action star persona and work some of his very real comedy chops into his performances. Here’s hoping his new direction in project selection means more of that. And if not, maybe one day he’ll once again match the highs of The Other Guys.
The Other Guys leaves Netflix Friday, Feb. 28.
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