The comedy Central Intelligence certainly wasn’t made to win Oscars. Dwayne Johnson shows in the agent fun but still rarely seen facets of his acting skills. This is also due to the unusual role he gets to play alongside Kevin Hart. Don’t let the standard tank top fool you, Central Intelligence is one of The Rock’s best performances to date.
Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson play old school friends in Central Intelligence
Meeting old classmates at a high school reunion can sometimes be a surprise at what the former cheerleaders, class clowns, jocks, and nerds have become after a few years have passed. So does Calvin (Kevin Hart), who now works as a boring office worker. The former sports ace is contacted via Facebook shortly before the planned reunion by Bob (Dwayne Johnson), the former loser of his year. The classmate, who was so often bullied at the time, has now become a mountain of muscle and works for the CIA.
Central Intelligence – Trailer 3 (German) HD
As a CIA contract killer, however, Bob needs the help of the former athlete Calvin and is therefore drawn into a world of deception as a spy. Together, the two must prevent a plot to sell heavily protected military secrets on the black market.
What distinguishes The Rock’s performance in the film
I’ve raved about Dwayne Johnson’s play in Central Intelligence elsewhere, but his performance can be summed up as follows: It’s not uncommon for Dwayne Johnson to play “losers” or heroes whose families are breaking up. But mostly only at first glance. A good example of this is Jungle Cruise, in which The Rock plays a seedy ship’s captain who desperately needs a job from scientist Emily Blunt. In the end, however, a background story is set up for him, which explains his worn-out state, heroizes it and thus basically gets rid of it. The muscular man of steel also remains the personified Teflon emotionally and morally.
It’s different in a few roles from The Rock, like Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain – and Central Intelligence. In the comedy’s prologue, we see the vulnerable, bullied boy looking up to Kevin Hart’s character. And although years later Bob looks like an ex-wrestler and sought-after Hollywood star flashes through The Rock’s performance that tormented boy. The insecurity, the inferiority complex and vulnerability made the child into a muscular man, but never left him. If you look closely, you can see that in Dwayne Johnson’s fine play. It’s just a pity that he shows these facets so rarely.
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