Ranking Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s 5 Best Movies

MIAMI, FL – APRIL 11: (L-R) Dwayne Johnson, Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie attend the Miami Premiere of ‘Pain and Gain’

4. Pain and Gain

In 2013, big-budget director Michael Bay went back to his Bad Boys-style roots and gave us Pain and Gain, a “based on true events” film about criminal bodybuilders in Miami. Whenever you see the phrase, “based on true events”, don’t confuse this with “based on a true story” because the “true events” phrase gives screenwriters and directors much more leeway to skew from the source material. Such was the case with Pain and Gain, which took a very unfunny and tragic story of kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder and turned it into a light-hearted crime dramedy about gym-rat lunkheads whose criminal plans go awry.

Johnson had made a drastic change to his physical appearance for his role as Agent Hobbs in Fast Five a few years earlier and he continued this process to play bodybuilder Paul Doyle (a fictional amalgamation of real-life criminals Carl Weekes, Stevenson Pierre, and Jorge Delgado). Johnson starred alongside Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie who also bulked up for their roles as Doyle’s gym companions but were both dwarfed any time they shared screen time with Johnson. The film was loosely based on Pete Collins’ Miami New Times articles and book Pain & Gain: This is a True Story about the Sun Gym Gang. It grossed nearly $90 million worldwide on a modest $26 million budget and reaffirmed that Bay can still turn a profit without the help from killer robots.

Because of the deviation from the source material, the film was mired in controversy and bad press from the families of the actual victims as well as investigators within the Miami Police Department who had been involved with the case.

Putting any factual inaccuracies aside, Pain & Gain was a strong performance from Johnson and proved he was more than just an action star. As Paul Doyle, Johnson goes from a man seeking salvation to one corrupted by money, strippers, and cocaine, albeit with a very Three Stooges vibe. As the film progresses, Doyle’s confidence crumbles and his paranoia increases, with Johnson giving a believable and solid portrayal of a man who knows his freedom is slipping through his fingers like fine white powder. So long as you aren’t looking to know the facts and details surrounding the Sun Gym Gang, Pain and Gain does more than enough to keep you entertained for 129 minutes.