Movies, Films & Flix

Make sure to listen to the companion MFF podcast episode after reading this insane data piece!

This is insane. It really is; however, after watching the Red One trailer and seeing the first image from The Smashing Machine, I became convinced that there was a correlation between the sweatiness of a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson performance and its impact (good or bad) on his career. Between The Rundown, Fast Five, Pain & Gain, and The Game Plan, his career heats up when his body is trying to cool down. This is why I’m optimistic about The Smashing Machine, as it seems like Johnson is going back to basics to escape his recent VFX-heavy run. The Smashing Machine will be a sweaty reset – which is what Johnson has relied on for 20+ years of success. 

Johnson has made a career out of talking/posting/writing about his sweat. The tagline for his Under Armour collaboration is “BLOOD, SWEAT, RESPECT,” and when talking about his career, he said, “You gotta get up in the morning, you gotta get after it, you gotta put in the work, you gotta sweat. There’s gonna be heavy iron, and there’s gonna be a lot of sweat, and it’s gonna be dirty.” His Instagram posts almost always make sure to include the word “Sweat.”. He’s basically worked sweat into his persona (Sweat Equity is his thing), so this data isn’t as random or dumb as you’d think.

The sweat levels should only go to 10, but after watching his movies again, I had to create an “11” category because there are a handful of movies in which Johnson’s sweat glands work overtime. To place each film in their respective categories, I rewatched his movies, looked for sweaty scenes/moments (Yes – it’s wild, but I had to follow the idea), and came up with a chart. It wasn’t too hard because, since 2017, I’ve been assigned a handful of Dwayne Johnson data posts and research assignments, so they’ve familiarized me with his filmography. 

Six films fall into the 11 category: The Rundown, The Game Plane, Fast Five, Pain & Gain, Skyscraper, and The Smashing Machine (it’s hypothetical). In their own way, these movies have proven important in The Rock’s  evolution as an actor and act as cornerstones of his filmography that have influenced his career.

Here’s a quick breakdown. I included longer explanations of their importance below, but these work as nice cliff notes if you are in a hurry or hate reading. 

• The Rundown (2003) – In an interview with The Boston Globe, Johnson said that when The Rundown was met with praise from critics, action fans, and general audiences, he went from “The Rock” to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – which to him meant that people were starting to take him seriously. 
• The Game Plan (2007) – After Walking Tall, Doom, Gridiron Gang, and Be Cool, Johnson needed a hit, which came in the form of the PG-Rated Disney film The Game Plan. Not only did it help him build a new fanbase, but it was his first non-action film to make more than $100 million worldwide. 
• Fast Five (2011)– Once again, after Southland Tales, Race to Witch Mountain, Tooth Fairy, and Faster, Johnson found new management and reset his career path. He shaved his head, gained 30 pounds, and got mean again for Fast Five. This propelled him into the action stratosphere.
• Pain & Gain (2013) – Not only does it feature his best performance, but it’s also his best R-rated film, and he will probably never play a character like this again. In 2013, both Pain & Gain and Snitch failed to clear $100 million at the worldwide box office – that hasn’t happened since. 
• Skyscraper (2018) – The movie underwhelmed at the box office and kicked off a new era of “immortal Superman” Johnson. It’s wild watching this film now and seeing a Dwayne Johnson character crying while cradling his daughter atop a burning skyscraper (don’t worry, Neve Campbell saves the day). 

Here are longer explanations of why these films are important (if you read the above section, you can skip to the numbers below)

The Rundown (2003) – Johnson’s first starring role in The Scorpion King was a success, and it did well theatrically. Still, Johnson wanted other roles to prove he could carry a dialogue-heavy action film that wasn’t part of an existing franchise. Johnson took The Rundown role to step up his acting game and credits director Peter Berg as his “personal acting coach on set every day.” After watching the film, Ebert gave it 3.5 stars and dropped this doozy of a compliment

• Ebert – “Early in “The Rundown,” The Rock enters a nightclub to confront some tough guys, and he passes Arnold Schwarzenegger on the way out. ‘Have a good time,’ Arnold says. It’s like he’s passing the torch. Whether The Rock will rival Schwarzenegger’s long run as an action hero is hard to say — but on the basis of “The Rundown,” he has a good chance.”

• I like this David Shoemaker paragraph from his Grantland days – “For the first time, Johnson feels like a legitimate star, but that’s mostly thanks to director Peter Berg, who understood that Johnson’s true talent was his humor. Rather than portray Johnson as a muscly automaton in some hard-boiled revenge tale, Berg made a grimy comedy and allowed Johnson to have fun. Even the fight scenes (of which there are many) are played for chuckles.”

Johnson went all out (he lost 20 pounds for the role to be more lean), and the positive reviews proved that he could headline a reasonably successful action film. It was a big step in his acting career, and in an interview with The Boston Globe, Johnson said that after acting in The Rundown, he went from “The Rock” to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – which to him meant that people were starting to take him seriously.

Importance of the Sweaty Role—He carried a critically appreciated action film and proved he could act alongside people like Christopher Walken. It was his first critically adored film and his only Fresh (60% or higher Tomatometer score) film for eight years (2003 – 2011). It’s still his highest-rated “Dwayne Johnson” film (Hobbs and Shaw, he’s a co-lead, and he’s part of an ensemble in Fast Five and the Jumanji films). 

Best Moment(s) – His character does wipe out an entire army, but it’s nice when he looks fallible. There are some good scenes when he has his butt kicked, gets harassed by baboons, and rolls down hills. 

The Game Plan (2007) – The Game Plan was Johnson’s first $100 million grossing film since The Scorpion King (2002), proving he could headline family-friendly comedies. Johnson said he wanted to make a movie that his daughter could watch, but it was mainly a smart pivot after Doom, Be Cool, and Walking Tall didn’t take off. It definitely boosted his box office marketability, and he went on to appear in Get Smart, Tooth Fairy, Race to Witch Mountain, and The Other Guys (which all grossed over $100 million). 

Importance of Sweaty Role – Johnson picked up a new fan base, and the role helped re-spark his career for a short time. 

Best Moments – He cries, dances, sings, sweats, reads, and sings more. You can legitimately feel the desperation and willingness to do anything to make the movie work.

Fast Five (2011) – Fast Five currently has his highest IMDb and Letterboxd scores of any Johnson film, and it legitimately propelled him into the big leagues. On the set of Fast Five, he told his makeup artist to leave him alone and let him be sweaty—this paid off. 

In an interview with Esquire, Johnson said he had a moment of clarity in 2010 when he realized he had to “stop, readjust, reassess, and change everything around me—and I gotta take one more shot.” He needed to take one more shot at superstardom after years of movies like Faster, Race to Witch Mountain, Tooth Fairy, and Planet 51 (Southland Tales didn’t help either), lowered his stock, and halted any growth as an actor. So, he changed up his management, and after years of talking to Vin Diesel about joining the Fast and Furious franchise, he shaved his head, grew an insane goatee, and put on 30 pounds of weight (after years of being encouraged to lose weight) to play Luke Hobbs in Fast Five. The film was a gigantic hit, propelling Johnson into the action stratosphere. It’s worth noting that this is easily his sweatiest film – and probably his best action movie. 

Importance of the Sweaty Role – He got mean again and kicked some ass. 

Best Moment – He loses a fight to Vin Diesel. This won’t happen again. 

Pain & Gain (2013) – Pain & Gain features Johnson’s best performance (he’s perfect in it), and it was nice seeing him back in R-rated territory after Faster, Southland Tales, and Doom didn’t click with the mainstream. Johnson accepted a massive pay cut (the main actors all did this for a cut of the backend) because he loved the complexity of the role, and it was a nice departure from his typical type of role. The film didn’t make much money, but it’s a beautifully sweaty (and nasty) piece of Micahel Bay R-rated Bayhem. What’s interesting is that since Pain & Gain, he’s veered away from performances like this and, in 2018, said, “No one’s going to see me play a borderline psychopath suffering from depression.” This is kind of a bummer because he’s given up on edgy performances that push him as an actor and instead dove into more safe comedies and action films. 

Quick Note – During a 2024 GQ article he backtracked on his 2018 comments and said “I don’t know who the f**k that guy is.”

Importance of the Sweaty Role – It proved he still had an edge and could push himself in non-blockbusters. Also, as Johnson said, “The biggest departure (for me) was the vulnerability, showing this type of vulnerability and playing a character who is easily influenced and who’s just out of prison and looking for salvation.”

Best Moments – The neighborhood watch scene is wonderful. He’s terrible at robbing banks, and I’m pretty sure we’ll never see him grill a hand again.

Overall, it’s easily his best R-rated film. 

Skyscraper (2018) – Skyscraper didn’t make globs of money or achieve critical praise, BUT it features a different type of Johnson performance. SPOILER – At the end of the film, he’s sitting atop a skyscraper and awaiting his death while he clings to his daughter (he’s also crying, which is rare). At the last second, Neve Campbell saves the day and resets the skyscraper’s fire extinguishers. The movie received a lot of pre-buzz because Johnson’s character lost a leg and had to save the day with a prosthesis. It’s an odd choice (I guess it takes away from his superhuman prowess), but he went on an all-out promotional campaign and seemed to genuinely care about normalizing disabilities. 

Interestingly, this is probably the last time we’ll see this kind of character from Johnson. He tried to play a “normal guy,” and it didn’t work. He followed it up with Hobbs and Shaw (Hobbs becomes a superhero in it), Jumanji: The Next Level (plays a dude named Smolder Bravestone), Jungle Cruise (no spoilers – you’ll see), Red Notice (barf) and Black Adam (wildly powerful). They are miles away from his Skyscraper character and more in line with his over-the-top persona. So, even though Skyscraper wasn’t a hit, his decisions were somewhat altered because of its lack of success. 

Importance of the Sweaty Role – His plan didn’t work, and he slowed his film output. He played a major role in seven films between 2016 and 2018, and has appeared in six films in the last five years. 

Best Moment – The finale of the film sees him cradling his daughter while they wait to be burnt alive (he’s also crying). He REALLY wanted to seem fallible. 

Why do I think The Smashing Machine will be a sweaty success?

Here’s a quote from a recent GQ article – “It was also an opportunity for me, I realized, to stretch myself in ways that I hadn’t been stretched yet, and also challenge myself in ways that I hadn’t been challenged.”

Between Red Notice, Black Adam, Jungle Cruise, and the upcoming Red One, Johnson has taken a lot of flak for reportedly being the alleged reason for the swelling budgets and less-than-stellar critical and box office results (there are other reasons, of course…). His Fast X appearance didn’t light the world on fire either. So, when it was announced that he was going to star in the Benny Safdie-directed The Smashing Machine, a film adaptation named after the excellent 2002 documentary about MMA fighter Mark Kerr (watch the doc – it’s awesome) – I knew it was Johnson pulling a hard reset on his VFX heavy blockbuster run. When I saw the sweaty first image, it became obvious that Johnson was up to his old tricks he’s used throughout his career (hard resets and sweaty pivots). What’s funny is that Safdie and Johnson had talked about making the film since 2019, when Johnson bought the rights to Kerr’s story. Johnson admittedly ghosted Safdie for several years (“Benny thought I ghosted him, and maybe I was just a f***in’ asshole”), but after years of not-so-great movies and a chat with Emily Blunt, Johnson called Safdie back, and now they’ve made the movie. Johnson says he hasn’t quit “four-quadrant blockbusters,” but he needed a career reset to explore films with more humanity. It’s a smart move – and it all points back to sweaty performances. 

The Numbers

Here’s a quick timeline from 2001’s The Mummy Returns to 2025’s The Smashing Machine. 

• Category 11 – Red – The distribution makes me happy
• Category 9 – 10 – Purple – on average, it’s the most lucrative category
• Category 5 – 8 – Green – Hasn’t made a category 5-8 movie since 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. 
• Category 0 – 4 – Orange – 6 of his last 10 movies fall in this category. 

What’s really interesting is that his incredibly sweaty films have a slightly higher critical/user average than his less-sweaty movies. The differences aren’t anything big, but they prove that a little extra sweat helps.  

11 – Wild Amounts of Sweat

• Tomatometer Average – 55.2
• Letterboxd Average – 2.9
• IMDb Average – 6.5
• Box Office Average  – $249 million
• Movies – The Rundown, The Game Plan, Fast Five, Pain & Gain, Skyscraper
• Fast Five has the highest IMDb score (7.3) and Letterboxd score (3.4)
• The Game Plan was his first non-action film to clear $100 million worldwide
• The Rundown was his first film with a Fresh Tomatometer Score

The biggest drawback to sweat-heavy movies is that they aren’t huge earners. However, when done right, they lead to bigger box office results. This is why Johnson is taking the role in the A24-produced The Smashing Machine. 

9-10 – Sweat City

• Tomatometer Average – 54%
• Letterboxd Average – 2.58
• IMDb Average – 6.2
• Box Office Average – $613 million
• Movies – Furious 7, Doom, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, Rampage,
• Furious 7 is his highest-grossing film and most critically lauded
• Hobbs and Shaw is his highest-grossing film, with only one co-lead (Statham)
• Rampage is the fourth highest-grossing video game adaptation

Aside from Doom, these movies make money. 

5-8 – Gonna Need a New Shirt

• Tomatometer Average – 40.9%
• Letterboxd Average – 2.48
• IMDb Average – 6
• Box Office Average – $268 million
• Movies – Hercules, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Walking Tall, The Scorpion King, Tooth Fairy, GI Joe Retaliation, The Fate of the Furious, The Gridiron Gang, Race to Witch Mountain, Faster
• Note – None of these films feature an overly excessive amount of sweat. 
• Only one of these films scores 60% or more on Rotten Tomatoes.

He hasn’t made a 5-8 category movie since 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. 

0 – 4 – Zero to Light Sweaters

• Tomatometer Average – 53.2
• Letterboxd Average – 2.72
• IMDb Average – 6.28
• Box Office Average – $356 million
• Movies – Southland Tales, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level, Jungle Cruise, San Andreas, The Mummy Returns, Baywatch, Fast & Furious 6, Snitch, Get Smart, Central Intelligence, Be Cool, The Other Guys, Empire State, Black Adam, Red Notice
• Red Notice, Black Adam, and Red One fall in this category, and they have a 38% Tomatometer average. Not great. 
• Notes – Race to Witch Mountain and San Andreas feature sweaty shirts but very little sweat. 
• Jumanji 2 & 3 and Central Intelligence are all wildly popular and prove the Hart/Johnson connection is strong. 

In conclusion – The Smashing Machine is a smart reset for Johnson.