Ever since he swapped the squared circle for the silver screen and evolved into one of the most popular, highest-paid, and bankable stars in Hollywood, one question has constantly followed Dwayne Johnson everywhere he goes: Is he a good actor?
While The Rock undoubtedly has charm, charisma, and screen presence for days, stretching his dramatic chops isn’t exactly something you see him do very often. In fact, he’s spent well over a decade doing nothing but rehashing his established persona over and over again, but the response to DC League of Super-Pets and Black Adam could indicate it’s growing stale.
That staunch refusal to come out of his comfort zone has pigeonholed Johnson in a box entirely of his own making, but a lot of his fans would love nothing more than to see him broaden his horizons and tackle a meaty dramatic role or play a villain. He was a riot as a coke-addicted ex-con in Michael Bay’s R-rated Pain & Gain, but Southland Tales might just be the most underrated and overlooked work of his entire career.
In the infamous box office flop that earned just $375,000 from theaters on a $17 million budget, Johnson technically pulls double duty as Boxer Santaros and Jericho Cane, an amnesiac action hero. It’s a complex, multi-layered turn in a film that fell through the cracks without anybody noticing, and it’s been dug up and refocused as the source of some serious praise online.
The law of diminishing returns may not have set in fully just yet, at 51 years of age, there’s only so much longer Johnson can keep doing the same thing in perpetuity without audiences tiring of his shtick. There’s undoubtedly a breakout and potentially even awards-worthy performance in there somewhere, but he’s frustratingly shown no signs of even entertaining the idea.