The Scorpion King (2002)

The Scorpion King (2002)
Rating: ★★
Apr 23, 2002Sword and Sorcery
Back when Dwayne Johnson was still a wrestler and billing himself as The Rock, this was a forgettable sword and sorcery effort spun off from his appearance in The Mummy Returns. For the lightweight effort it is, it has surprisingly enough spun off multiple sequels

Doom (2005)

Doom (2005)
Rating:
Oct 31, 2005Videogame Adaptation/Labyrinth of Monsters
Heavily disappointing film version of the videogame that defined the term First Person Shooter. The film version seems to either miss or water down the principal appeals of the game, although you do get Dwayne Johnson (still billed as The Rock) as the bad guy

Planet 51 (2009)

Planet 51 (2009)
Rating: ★★½
Nov 30, 2009Animation/Human Astronaut Seen as an Invader on an Alien Planet
A one-gag animated film that essentially reverses the plot of E.T, and has a human astronaut stranded on a planet of aliens and adopted by one boy. More likeable than it has a right to be.

Tooth Fairy (2010)

Tooth Fairy (2010)
Rating:
Jan 27, 2010Tough Guy Becomes a Tooth Fairy
From the top wrestling superstar in the world in the early 00s to movie action hero to being dressed in a pink tutu with fairy wings, it is hard to believe that Dwayne Johnson’s box-office star would have ever recovered from this family film embarrassment that sees him cast as a fairy

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
Rating:
Feb 8, 2012Jules Verne Adaptation/Island of Giant Fauna
Supposed adaptation of Jules Verne's Mysterious Island that gives the impression that none of the screenwriters have read the book … a consistently silly and nonsensical film that operates at the level of a children's cartoon

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
Rating: ★★
Mar 27, 2013Futuristic Military Action Team
You can't complain that this is not exactly what you expect it to be – two hours of cartoonish action during which the brain singularly fails to engage. This is less unapologetic about being a military fantasy than the first film

Hercules (2014)

Hercules (2014)
Rating: ★½
Jul 26, 2014Greek Mythological Hero's Ordinary Exploits
Dwayne Johnson starring Hercules film that just wants to be a big dumb cartoon without a brain cell in its body. The script takes the interesting approach that Hercules was an ordinary man whose exploits were all down to PR

San Andreas (2015)

San Andreas (2015)
Rating:
May 31, 2015Disaster Movie/California Hit by Super-Earthquake
As the spectacle of mass destruction goes, you could hardly get more epic in scale than this. On the other hand, as someone whose hometown was obliterated by an earthquake in 2011, I find it offensive that such devastation is arranged for our enjoyment while the suffering and even the idea that anybody has been killed has been edited out

Moana (2016)

Moana (2016)
Rating: ★★
Feb 11, 2017Disney Animation/Pacific Island Mythology
Despite being a huge box-office and critical success and being nominated for an Academy Award, I am in a minority in disliking this. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that it appropriates the culture from my neck of the woods and only spins it out as a series of glib jokes and one-liners

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Rating: ★★
Mar 25, 2018Trapped Inside a Jungle-Themed Videogame
You are not sure if this is a sequel or a remake of Jumanji. The original's boardgame has been far less interestingly turned into a videogame that sucks the players inside. The adventure elements are routine but the film's unexpected strengths are its comedic bodyswapped characters

Rampage (2018)

Rampage (2018)
Rating: ★★½
Oct 27, 2018Videogame Adaptation/Giant Animals Amok
The idea of Dwayne Johnson facing a giant gorilla in an adaptation of a 1980s arcade game doesn’t exactly shout out Academy Award material; on the other hand, appreciated as a zero expectation cartoon of a film and the mindless mass destruction spectacle it is, this works in a goofily entertaining way

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
Rating: ★★
Mar 7, 2020Trapped Inside a Videogame
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the reboot of the 90s Jumanji, was a box-office success. That mandated a sequel. The central problem is where exactly does a film about characters sucked inside a videogame go with its premise?