Jungle Cruise shows how much better The Rock’s career is than the DCEU’s

Despite mixed reviews, Jungle Cruise better demonstrates The Rock’s career progression than his upcoming role as Black Adam in the DCEU.

The recent Amazon release of The Rock at Jungle cruise actually shows just how far his career has come – and it does so much better than his upcoming role in the DCEU could ever hope for. Based on the Disney theme park attraction of the same name, Jungle cruise stars Dwayne johnson alongside Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall and Jesse Plemons. Johnson plays Frank, a steamboat skipper hired by Dr Lily Houghton (Blunt) to help salvage the Tears of the Moon, the blossoms from a tree believed to be able to cure any disease.

Despite its popularity with the public, Jungle cruise received a mixed critical reception. Its plotline may seem like it derived from countless other adventure films, but the film was still successful enough for Disney as a sequel, Jungle Cruise 2, is already in progress. This adds yet another project to The Rock’s already busy schedule, as well as another successful franchise to its ever-evolving catalog, joining figures like Jumanji, Red Notice, and the DCEU.

Related: How Jungle Cruise’s Box Office Stacks Up To Other The Rock Franchises

Secure a Jungle cruise The franchise is a success for Johnson in more ways than one, however. The film may have had a lukewarm critical response and a confused box office with a simultaneous theatrical and home streaming release, but it also highlights how far The Rock’s career has come. He even does it much better than his other current franchise roles; in particular that of Black Adam in the upcoming DCEU movie of the same name.

While Black adam could fix The Rock’s first mistakes in his career, Jungle cruise does better and clearly shows how far the actor has come since their creation. The most obvious way to do this is to have his character, Frank, mirror his first movie role, but with a much better performance from Johnson. In the years 2001 The return of the mummy, Johnson appeared as the Scorpion King, a role he reprized in a 2002 character-centric spin-off. The Scorpion King, a bit like Jungle cruise‘s Frank, is the immortal victim of a magical curse, but he’s also two-dimensional, overly serious, and generally devoid of the on-screen presence that The Rock brings to. Jungle cruise.

However, Johnson’s growth is evident in more than the mere glow of a very specific character archetype. Given The Rock’s history in WWE, not to mention his impressive size and physique, Johnson naturally rose to Hollywood stardom as an action hero. Jungle cruise gives him a chance to be something more, and it’s a chance he grabs with his two giant hands. Earlier in his career he appeared in family films such as The little smile and Witch Mountain Race, none of which got much traction as family favorites. Jungle cruise proved otherwise, as The Rock has the ability to fill both dramatic and comedic roles, but he can do it in a family way. Black Adam could play a big role in the DCEU, but it’ll be another action-based role, and that hardly gives Johnson a chance to show his lineup.

Not only Jungle cruise proving that The Rock has a franchise future with Disney, but it shows exactly why he deserves his success. The former wrestler once seemed destined to star exclusively in critical action films, but he has managed to carve out a reputation for himself as one of Hollywood’s highest-grossing stars. His next Black adam role may seem like the best proof of the progress he has made, but Jungle cruise is the perfect example of the exact distance Dwayne The Rock Johnson has come to gain its success.

Next: Jungle Cruise Sets Up The Rock’s First True Movie Franchise

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