Before Rampage, 5 non-blockbuster Dwayne Johnson movies you haven’t seen

Like Robert Downey Jr, Dwayne Johnson’s growing popularity has made him less experimental with his roles. Now that he’s Forbes’ highest-paid movie star in the world, he has neither the need nor the inclination to work in smaller films. He has just two movies on the docket in 2018 and both are big-budget actioners - this week’s Rampage and the summer’s Skyscraper.

And after that it’s the controversial - because it hasn’t met with the approval of Vin Diesel - Fast & Furious spin-off and Jungle Cruise. But before he was Dwayne Johnson, he was The Rock - a wrestler-turned-actor who won over filmgoers with the same charm he brought to the ring. Perhaps as an indicator of things to come, his career began with him delivering a breakout performance in 2001’s The Mummy Returns and promptly being given a spin-off of his own.

But ahead of Rampage - a film in which The Rock socks a giant flying wolf in the face - take a look at some of his lesser-known films.

The Rundown

It was Johnson’s first major role after the lukewarm success of The Scorpion King. The Rundown was his first project with director Pete Berg, who would later co-produce and direct The Rock in his HBO show, Ballers. But there are several similarities between his sports agent character in Ballers and his bounty hunter from The Rundown - and most importantly, this was the world’s first brush with Johnson’s movie star screen presence.

Faster

Modelled on the brutal action films of the ‘70s, Johnson plays a nameless character called the Driver, who avenges the murder of his brother. It’s a great example of how towering The Rock can seem even when he’s robbed of arguably his most winning attribute - his personality.

Snitch

By the time this movie came out, The Rock was already a superstar, so its marketing - faced with the task of selling a slow-burn drug thriller - sold it as an action-packed adventure. It wasn’t. It’s a fascinating movie that is sandwiched between Fast Five, Journey 2 and GI Joe: Retaliation - more in line with The Rock’s output.

Empire State

More baffling than even Snitch, Empire State couldn’t even manage a theatrical release - and it came even deeper into The Rock’s world dominance, between Fast & Furious 6 and Hercules. It features The Rock as a detective hot on the trail of a bank robber, played by Liam Hemsworth.

Southland Tales

But perhaps the strangest movie in The Rock’s filmography has to be director Richard Kelly’s follow-up to his breakout cult hit, Donnie Darko - and it arrived right at the beginning of his movie career. Its box office failure is possibly the reason why Johnson made the decision to switch back to the mainstream.

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