Here is an interesting read comparing The Rock and Vin Diesel’s acting career’s as of late. The article is from Guardian Unlimited Film:

Speaking of rocks getting schooled, things are not working out terribly well for Dwayne Johnson, the world’s most famous wrestler turned actor. When dwindling box office returns indicated that Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris were getting too old or paunchy to be credible as last action heroes, the path seemed clear for either Vin Diesel or The Rock to scoop up their fallen laurels. Alas, that vacancy has not yet been filled. After a series of shockingly inept gore-fests, fatally wounded by poor scripts, poor direction and the fact that he was in them, Vin Diesel, the world’s most famous multicultural ex-bouncer, retreated into the relative safety of connect-the-dot family comedy, surfacing in a dreary little pile of hokum called The Pacifier. Though awful, it at least it made money, a nice change for Diesel, the worst actor on a planet that has no shortage of people who cannot act. But in snapping up the role of the lovable buffoon, the star seemed, in effect, to be ceding the action-hero genre to the more charismatic, gifted Mr Johnson.

For those of us who always preferred The Rock to The Diesel, this was very good news indeed, as Mr Johnson now seemed perfectly situated to seize the throne vacated by the muscle-bound oxen of yore. But this has not happened. The Rundown did nothing at the box office. Standing Tall tanked. And despite the Rock’s delicious turn as a gay bodyguard in Be Cool, no one of consequence saw that film and his career continued to go nowhere. Now in Doom he is back to his old Scorpion King tricks, glaring into the camera, barking commands, expressing knee-jerk displeasure with uncooperative mutants. Doom, which focuses on monsters possessing one too many chromosomes, thereby explaining why they are utterly lacking in the social graces, was rejected out of hand by the market it was pitched to - teenage boys who are utterly lacking in the social graces, and may have a few too many chromosomes. Personally, I fear for The Rock: if he doesn’t get this acting thing together soon, he risks joining Next Big Things like Chris O’Donnell and Julia Ormond on the sidelines. A year ago, he looked like the next Arnie. Today, he’s looking more like the last Hulk Hogan.

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