Summary

• Dwayne Johnson’s portrayal of Luke Hobbs in Fast Five stood out as a memorable and unique villain.
• Two years before Hobbs, Johnson played another villain: he was Agent 23 in Get Smart, a film starring several other notable actors.
• Johnson’s character in Fast & Furious Five was still a better villain than Agent 23 because Hobbs was much more unique.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has played villains a few times in his acting career, and he played one just two years before he took on the role of Luke Hobbs in Fast Five. Dwayne Johnson usually plays heroes in his various film roles, but he has also tried his hand at the other side. Dwayne Johnson has played nine villains in his career, from the Scorpion King in The mummy returns to the eponymous supervillain in Black Adam. While these films range from fantasy horror to superheroes, Johnson played a villain very similar to his character Luke Hobbs in Fast Five.

Johnson joined the Fast & Furious Franchise in 2011 Fast FiveThis film also changed the focus of the franchise from a primarily racing series to a more action and heist-oriented series, for which Johnson was perfectly suited. Fast Five has now become one of Dwayne Johnson’s best action films, but it was not the first time he played a villain in an action film. Johnson portrayed another antagonist just two years earlier Fast Fiveand he did so together with an incredibly impressive cast.

Dwayne Johnson’s Agent 23 was the secret villain in Get Smart

In the 2008 action comedy Get smarta film remake of the 1960s comedy series, Dwayne Johnson played Agent 23. Although he was an agent of the US government agency CONTROL in the film, Get smartJohnson’s Agent 23 turned out to be a double agent who helped the terrorist organization KAOS plant a nuclear bomb as part of an assassination attempt on the president.Just two years later, Johnson played Luke Hobbs in Fast Fiveanother government agent tasked with hunting down Dom Toretto and his crew.

Get smart
is available to stream on Max.

Why the reviews for “Get Smart” weren’t so great (despite the great cast)

Dwayne Johnson was able to work with a fantastic cast in Get smartbut that wasn’t enough to save the reviews. Get smart Stars such as Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Terrence Stamp and The Rock as well as other well-known comedians such as Terry Crews, David Koechner, James Caan, Bill Murray and Patrick Warburton all played smaller roles. Despite this star cast Get smart received only a critics’ score of 51% and an audience score of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Get smart was poorly received in part because of its extremely talented cast. Critics often mentioned that while Carell was hilarious as Maxwell Smart, the rest of the cast was much less funny than heHowever, the cast itself is not solely responsible for this criticism, because Get smart was conceived as a serious parody of spy thrillers, and as such most of the cast play typical and serious spy characters. Instead, they gave Carell the basis to poke fun at the genre, which unfortunately was not enough to Get smart doesn’t feel like a typical early 2000s action comedy.

Dwayne Johnson played an even better villain in Fast Five

Like many other actors in Get smartDwayne Johnson played Agent 23 in a fairly traditional manner. Aside from a few visual gags – like running into a wall while trying to impress a woman and the dramatic kiss with Carell’s Max – Agent 23 wasn’t the most compelling villain Johnson has ever played. Agent 23 was the typical strong, charismatic and effective secret agent until his betrayal, when he essentially just served as a backup villain. Johnson’s interpretation of Luke Hobbs in Fast Five was much better than his portrayal of Agent 23 in Get smart.

Hobbs was almost the exact opposite of Agent 23: he was rude, determined and very hostile towards the crew. Essentially Hobbs simply had much more personality and many more memorable character traits than Agent 23. Agent 23 was a living symbol, while Hobbs was a reinterpretation of the government agent archetype. Hobbs was more of an obsessive bounty hunter willing to fight with his hands than the typical aloof and business-minded agent audiences would have expected. Dwayne Johnson and his unique interpretation of Hobbs may have been a big reason Fast Five is the best film of the Fast & Furious Franchise.

Luke Hobbs finally became a hero in the
Fast & Furious
Franchise, and his character is in every movie except
F9
since
Fast Five
.

One thing that both Get smart And Fast Five really convey what seems to have been lost over the years is how well Dwayne Johnson can play a real villain. Apart from 2022 Black AdamJohnson hasn’t played a villain since 2013 pain and GainInstead, he has opted for more heroic or morally complex characters, which is a shame considering how much talent he has shown in those villainous roles. If Dwayne Johnson If he ever decides to play the villain again, he will draw on his experiences from both Get smart And Fast Five that you can rely on.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes