Dwayne Johnson’s jungle movies have come to define his career, but there is one entry in this subgenre that is unfairly overlooked. Johnson rose to fame as one of the most popular professional wrestlers of all time, and he successfully translated his in-ring charisma to the movie world, becoming one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Johnson has solidified his movie star status with big franchises liketheFast and Furiousmovies, as well as crowd-pleasing comedies. Fans will get a chance to see another side of him with theupcoming sports dramaThe Smashing Machine. However, it may beJohnson’s many jungle moviesthat really made his career in cinem.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Is A Surprisingly Fun Adventure Movie
Though certainly not the most popular of Dwayne Johnson’s jungle movies,Journey 2: The Mysterious Islandis an underrated adventure that deserves a second look. The film is a sequel toJourney to the Center of the Earth,with both movies based on novels by thelegendary sci-fi author Jules Verne.
Journey 2finds young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) joining his stepfather, Hank (Johnson), on an adventure to an isolated island filled with strange creatures. Along with being one of Johnson’s first jungle movies, it also helped establish his trend of coming into established franchises and stealing the show, as withFast and Furious, The Mummy,andG.I. Joe.
Johnson was still finding his place in Hollywood, but this performance helped establish it. He is likable and funny in the lead role while also making for the ideal action hero.Journey 2helped establish a tone for the other jungle movies that Johnson would work on, offering genuine thrills as well as family-friendly humor, making it accessible.
Among Johnson’s jungle movies,Journey 2scored the lowest critical score, with 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, and though it was a solid box office success, it seems smaller-scale compared to his later movies. However,Journey 2deserves more credit for helping to establish a formula that Johnson returned to many times and with great success.
Dwayne Johnson Has Made A Career Of Appearing In Jungle Movies
It may seem like a rather narrow subgenre, but Dwayne Johnson has managed to appear in a surprising number of jungle movies in his career thus far.Journey 2: The Mysterious Islandisn’t even his first movie of this kind, asJohnson’s breakout role inThe Rundownserved as more of an action introduction to this kind of film.
It wastheJumanjimoviesthat really helped to make this a noticeable trend in Johnson’s career, withJumanji: Welcome to the JungleandJumanji: The Next Levelbecoming huge hits. By the time he teamed with Emily Blunt for Disney’sJungle Cruise, it was hard not to notice how many of these films Johnson was making.
Johnson seems to be moving more toward dramatic roles lately, withThe Smashing Machineand aplanned gangster movie with Martin Scorsese. However, with all the success there has been in puttingDwayne Johnsonin a jungle setting, it is not hard to imagine that he could make another jungle movie before long.
