The Best and Worst of Dwayne Johnson

Editor's Note: Starting this week, I'm going to profile the best and worst pieces of work of an actor starring in one of the week's new releases, starting with San Andreas star Dwayne Johnson. This series will run every week for the rest of the summer movie season and could be become a permanent weekly series if the reception is strong enough. Hope you all enjoy. 

Films Starring Dwayne Johnson I've Seen:
The Scorpion King
The Rundown
Walking Tall
Be Cool
Doom
Southland Tales
Gridiron Gang
Get Smart
The Other Guys
Faster
Fast Five
Snitch 
G.I. Joe: Retaliation 
Pain & Gain
Fast and Furious 6 
Hercules 
Furious 7

Best Performance: Pain & Gain (2013)
Michael Bay's pitch black comedy Pain & Gain featured a gifted cast including Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie and Ed Harris that were all on the top of their game. But it was Johnson's scene-stealing and consistently hilarious turn as Jesus-worshiping cokehead Paul Doyle that served as the crown jewel in a sea of standout performances.  

Worst Performance: The Scorpion King (2002)
The Scorpion King was Johnson's first starring role in Hollywood and it showed. He hadn't yet figured out how to channel the off-the-charts likability and charisma that made him one of the most popular superstars in the history of WWE onto the big screen and it makes his awkward performance here hard to watch. It also doesn't help that the movie itself is way too serious for its own good and doesn't makes use of the comedic chops that got Johnson noticed by Hollywood in the first place.  

Best Film He's Starred In: The Rundown (2003)
It didn't take Johnson long to recover after the underwhelming Scorpion King. Johnson's second starring role in Peter Berg's The Rundown not only showed that Johnson could be taken seriously as an actor, but that he had the potential to be Hollywood's next all-time great action star. Johnson and Seann William Scott make for a great Odd Couple-esque pairing, Christopher Walken is tremendous as the villain and the film is equally good at generating laughs and staging exhilarating action sequences. The Rundown is an enormously fun ride that played a huge role in helping Johnson become the superstar that he is today.  

Worst Film He's Starred In: Be Cool (2005)
The failure of Be Cool has nothing to do with Johnson, who was the sole highlight of the movie as a flamboyantly gay bodyguard to Vince Vaughn and Harvey Kietel's characters who aspires to be an actor (the scene where he does a monologue from Bring It On is brilliant.) Outside of Johnson's spirited work, Be Cool is a nothing short of a disaster. The characters are obnoxious, the writing is lazy and above all, it's painfully unfunny. Be Cool is one of the worst movies I've ever seen and is by far the largest blemish on Johnson's resume to-date.