Dwayne Johnson Signs Up for 'Fast Five'

Man, I had higher hopes for Dwayne Johnson than this. I thought he really could have become a bigger factor in the action movie world, but two things conspired against him. 1) He made a bushel of average-to-bad family movies, and 2) The era of the musclebound monolithic action hero is dead. So The Rock will instead join a crew of guys stuck in the same boat, signing up for Fast Five, the fifth Fast and Furious movie from Universal. The word comes from Tyrese Gibson, who I guess Tweeted the news this week: “Major shouts to Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, & Dewayne [sic] “Rock” Johnson!! “Fast & Furious Five” Let’s get em again!!” That's a lot of brawn in one movie, and of the performers involved, I think Johnson has the most charisma and most natural screen presence. But what's he going to do? Collider says his character will be on the right side of the law, and that's hard to define in these movies since Diesel and Walker are technically on the right side of the law but their actions are normally not what we'd call lawful. Oh, and Ludacris is back, too, and I don't mind that. As for the production itself, it gets underway this summer in Brazil and Puerto Rico (meaning it's the third big production, and easily the largest, to use Puerto Rico in a couple years), so at least they're thinking a little bit about avoiding the same thing over and over. I actually enjoyed Fast & Furious for what it was, a dumb, fast-paced action flick. But I still wish Dwayne Johnson could find better things to do.

Comments

[Rob]

I think Vin and Dwayne short change themselves by focusing on action roles. Both of them show solid acting skills. It's too bad they don't do more dramatic roles.