4.Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
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.
5.Moana
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.
6.Pain and Gain
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.
7.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.
