BEFORE: OK, the Mother's Day programming is over, and there are just 42 days until my next mile marker, Father's Day. So I kind of have to take a hard left turn here, back into action films, if I'm going to make it there on time. It's actually a very mixed set of offerings between here and there, the path leads through "Cruella" and some sci-fi films, a bunch of World War II stories and a couple of animated films. Also, THREE Marvel movies, none of which are "Morbius". Harold Perrineau carries over from "Dumplin'".
Quick COVID update, I'm still testing positive, so I don't know when I can go back to work. If I were symptom-free, which I'm not, I could try to watch the new Dr. Strange movie, they're playing it at the theater where I work tomorrow, but if I can't get in the door to work, I can't get in to watch a movie either. So I'll have to try and catch a matinee in a few weeks.
THE PLOT: A father goes undercover for the DEA in order to free his son, who was imprisoned after being set up in a drug deal.
AFTER: Well, maybe this isn't as much of a left turn from the previous programming than I thought - this is all about the lengths a parent will go to in order to protect his son, who got caught up in drugs, and isn't that what "Ben Is Back" was all about? Two very different movies, sure, but they have at least one thing in common.
Man, every time I think I'm done with "The Rock", I find out that he's not done with me. I went on a tear in September 2019, where I watched eight of his films in a week and a half, from "Central Intelligence", "The Rundown" and "Skyscraper" to "Baywatch", "San Andreas" and "Rampage". You'd think that would have been enough, but it sure wasn't. The next year I got to "Faster", "Fighting with My Family", and "Jumanji: The Next Level", then 2021 was Dwayne Johnson-free, so that means this year, a bunch of them built up again. He's made two cameo appearances already this year, plus one starring role, now here come four more, so suddenly he's a contender for third place this year, after Nic Cage and Bruce Willis. Ironically, he may finish fourth after his co-star tonight, Susan Sarandon, but we'll see - anything can happen during the upcoming documentary chain.
Here Dwayne plays John Matthews, the head of a trucking company, whose son gets mixed up with drugs, then framed as a dealer when a friend asks if he can have a package delivered to his house. PRO TIP: Never let a friend have a package delivered to your house, this could be followed by the DEA breaking down the door and swarming the place. He tries to get his son to flip on his friends to reduce his sentence, but the only dealer he knows is his friend who already framed him, so no deal is possible. But Mr. Matthews offers to go undercover in his son's place, to gather intel on the entire operation - the Federal prosecutor is very specific that this is NOT how these deals are supposed to work. BUT, she goes for it anyway, which is a bit like the referee checking the rulebook to determine that there's technically no rule AGAINST a dog playing basketball, or an octopus entering an arm-wrestling competition, or whatever.
Super-conveniently, as the head of a trucking company, Mr. Matthews has something that he can offer the drug dealers - trucks. WHY did they never think to transport large quantities of illegal drugs by trucks before? This could be the secret sauce that their organization needs, to really take off and leave their competition behind in the dust. Why, it's almost too perfect! It's nearly too good to be true! Almost like it's a set-up or something... The deal is set, as soon as Matthews and his nervous sidekick complete their delivery, there will be enough evidence to bring down the whole operation....
Only there isn't, and the head of the undercover squad decides to go after a "bigger fish", the head of the whole cartel. Why knock out the local chapter when he can bait the hook for the leader of the national organization? The top guy, El Topo, wants to use Matthews' crazy truck-delivery idea to transport something into Mexico, which seems all kinds of suspicious - don't the drugs usually come FROM Mexico, into the U.S.? Ah, but the MONEY needs to go back to Mexico, and the funny thing about that is, once the drivers see where the money goes, their ride usually turns into a one-way trip. There's no coming back from this delivery, unless Matthews can figure out a way to take out El Topo AND the cartel AND prevent the truck from crossing the border. Sure, it's a tall order, but this is "The Rock" we're talking about here, so chances are he can make this happen.
There's no question that it's The Rock's world, we all just live in it - and this is mid-career Rock, though there's no real turning point where he went from superstar to mega-superstar, because it's been such a steady climb. But this one was released between "Fast & Furious 5" and "Fast & Furious 6", if that's any help. After "Tooth Fairy" and "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island", but before "San Andreas" and "Baywatch". The year 2020 was oddly Rock-free in the cinema, but hey, it was a weird year, that could just be due to all the closed theaters. After "Red Notice" he's got "League of Super Pets" and "Black Adam" coming out, then "The King", "San Andreas 2", "Doc Savage" and the remake of "Big Trouble in Little China", so I think he'll be OK, even if I never get around to watching all those "Fast & Furious" movies.
Also starring Dwayne Johnson (last seen in "Red Notice"), Barry Pepper (last seen in "Running With the Devil"), Jon Bernthal (last seen in "The Peanut Butter Falcon"), Benjamin Bratt (last seen in "A Score to Settle"), Susan Sarandon (last seen in "Igby Goes Down"), Michael K. Williams (last seen in "The Gambler"), Melina Kanakaredes (last seen in "Rounders"), Nadine Velazquez (last seen in "Flight"), Rafi Gavron (last seen in "The Cold Light of Day"), David Harbour (last seen in "Hellboy" (2019)), Kyara Campos, Jason Douglas (last seen in "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back"), Richard Cabral (last seen in "Walk of Shame"), James Allen McCune, JD Pardo (last seen in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2"), Kym Jackson, Lela Loren, Ashlynn Ross, Spencer Miller, Jayson Floyd, Benjamin Blankenship, Darnell Trotter, Tim J. Smith, Kerry Cahill (last seen in "Mudbound"), Douglas M. Griffin (last seen in "Geostorm"), Joe Nemmers
RATING: 6 out of 10 blown-out tires
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