Ranked from Worst to Best

Dwayne Johnson has been a lot of movies over the course of his career, and these are the ones that stand out. After establishing himself in the world of wrestling as the Rock, Dwayne Johnson transitioned into film by relying on his charm, good looks, and muscular frame. However, he’s also steadily revealed himself to be a compelling action star and surprisingly funny.

Those traits helped shape him into one of the world’s biggest movie stars. It also means that it’s exciting to see him tackle more dramatic films like The Smashing Machine. In honor of his projected Oscar contender hitting theaters, here is every major Dwayne Johnson film ranked from worst to best.

41

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy is the worst film Dwayne Johnson has ever starred in, highlighting how the actor’s natural talents as a performer have their limits in elevating weak material. Johnson is the undeniable highlight of the family film, finding small moments of charm amid an otherwise flat and trope-heavy movie that only scored a 19% Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.

Despite a cast that also includes Ashley Judd, Brandon T. Jackson, Stephen Merchant, Seth MacFarlane, and Julie Andrews, The Tooth Fairy doesn’t have any of the heart or humor needed to make the fantastical premise work. The Tooth Fairy works at all largely due to Johnson’s charisma, but even that can’t salvage the film.

40

Gridiron Gang

Similar to The Tooth Fairy (albeit in a different style of film), The Gridiron Gang drops Johnson in the middle of a cliché plot and relies on him to elevate the material — and there’s only so much he can do. Loosely inspired by a football team composed of teenagers at a juvenile detention center, Johnson plays Coach Sean Porter.

The movie simplifies real-life events and characters to create a painfully clichéd “inspirational sports movie” that is just a bore to get through. The film at least offers a better look at a dramatic Johnson performance, but even that is weighed down by the predictable elements and the forced gang drama forced onto the one-note teenage characters.

39

Jumanji: The Next Level

Dwayne Johnson has been in worse movies than Jumanji: The Next Level, but this film remains one of his most frustrating. A retread of the (significantly better) Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the sequel tries to reinvigorate the concept for some more laughs. It doesn’t really find them, despite Awkwafina playing Danny DeVito, seeming a solid comedic concept.

Jumanji: The Next Level follows the same general trajectory of the previous film, but without any of the surprise and little of the charm that made Welcome to the Jungle so much fun. It even repeats gags. This is one of the most unnecessary sequels to a perfectly self-contained film in recent years, and it’s better forgotten than revisited.

38

The Game Plan

The most notable part of The Game Plan, a family-friendly comedy about a football player finding out he has an 8-year-old daughter, is that it’s the final film where Johnson is credited as “the Rock.” Similar to The Tooth Fairy and Gridiron Gang, the clichéd tropes and run-of-the-mill storytelling leave The Game Plan a painfully forgettable movie.

However, it’s another reminder that Johnson’s charisma and on-screen charm can make almost anything watchable, at least for a bit. The few bright spots in the movie focus on his relationship with Peyton, which is at least well-acted if not all that memorable. The Game Plan has a touch of charm to elevate it beyond his other weaker films.

37

Southland Tales

Dwayne Johnson delivers one of his best-ever performances in Southland Tales, and it’s a shame the rest of the movie can’t match. In a dystopian version of the United States, the film incorporates amnesiac movie stars, neo-Marxist splinter groups, and lots of time travel. If that sounds odd, it’s because the film is unapologetically weird and bombastic to a fault.

There’s simply too much going on in Southland Tales without enough emotional core to keep it all grounded emotionally. The result is a chaotic and often confusing movie that has found a cult-following in recent years. The highlight of the film is the cast, with Johnson showcasing the kind of vulnerability many of his subsequent characters wouldn’t get to showcase.

36

Red Notice

Johnson moved into the streaming realm with Netflix’s Red Notice, which did get a limited theatrical release, though it became a huge hit, one of Netflix’s biggest original films. The move paid off for Netflix, especially considering the $200 million price tag, though fans and critics (37% on RT) weren’t too impressed.

While it’s intriguing to wonder how the film may have fared if it was given a traditional wide release in theaters, with Johnson teaming up with Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, we’ll never truly know for sure how it may have fared.

35

Hercules

Given his massive frame, a Hercules movie seemed a logical production for Johnson to undertake, though fans and critics weren’t entirely on board. The film pulled in $244.8 million worldwide from a $100 million budget, plus critics were split rather evenly with 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film was based on Steve Moore’s graphic novel series The Thracian Wars, and while fans and critics seemed to enjoy the action set pieces, the story seemed to fall short for many of them, leading to an underwhelming critical and commercial performance, though a historian did call it “admirable.”

34

Planet 51

There’s a good concept baked into Planet 51, even if the movie never realizes that full potential. Flipping the traditional “first contact” narrative by having Johnson’s human astronaut Chuck be the “alien” on a deep-space planet, the star-studded cast of Planet 51 can’t do much to elevate the standard tropes and unsurprising plot twists of the narrative.

The film stands out for some clever gags here and there, but for the most part, it all comes across as a perfectly predictable family film that never reaches its true potential as an inverted E.T. Johnson is also still clearly finding his rhythm as a voice-over actor in this film, something he would adapt better to in later films.

33

Doom

With video game adaptations surging in popularity now, perhaps this adaptation of Doom would have been more successful now, than it was 20 years earlier. The film flopped hard with $58.7 million worldwide from a $60 million budget, with just an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Johnson played Sarge, part of a rescue team sent to Mars on a rescue mission, where they encounter all sorts of ghastly creatures. Since the Doom video game franchise is still going strong, perhaps some day Johnson will get a chance to return as Sarge and avenge one of his biggest flops.

32

Race to Witch Mountain

The Rock delved into family fare with Race to Witch Mountain, a reboot of Disney’s beloved Witch Mountain franchise that ultimately didn’t spawn another series of films. The film only took in $106.4 million worldwide from a $50 million budget, which clearly wasn’t enough for Disney to keep making more, despite Johnson’s rising star power.

The story follows Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas cab driver who encounters two young aliens with amazing abilities, played by young rising stars AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig. They race through the desert, avoiding government agents along the way in this adventure. While critics and fans didn’t seem to connect with the film, others still believe it’s worth another look.