You don’t often see a star join a franchise unless he or she is in desperate need of a hit, so it’s a bit of a surprise that Deadline is reporting that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is close to signing on to join G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes. He’s being courted for the role of Roadblock, perhaps the most notable African-American character in the original series. I was surprised that Roadblock, a heavy weapons specialist who is similar to Heavy Duty (who was played by Nigerian actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in the first film), wasn’t part of the original cast as he played a major role in the original cartoon series. Then again, so did a dozen other characters who didn’t make it into the film, but that will happen when the series literally has over a hundred characters to choose from.
The Rock last jumped into a franchise for April’s Fast Five, which made sense because Johnson needed to star in a successful action film or he’d probably be doing Disney family comedies for the rest of his acting life. Since that film was such a huge hit, I’m a bit surprised that Johnson isn’t trying to springboard his success into his own big action film, but perhaps he doesn’t have the cred just yet. Although I imagine G.I. Joe 2 WITH The Rock will be better than G.I. Joe 2 WITHOUT The Rock, let’s not forget that one of the last times we saw Johnson in a military uniform was Doom. Yikes!
Only Channing Tatum (Duke), Ray Park (Snake Eyes), and Lee Byung-hun (Storm Shadow) are expected to return for the sequel, along with Stephen Martines (TV’s The Closer) as Cross-Country. The film will be directed by Jon Chu (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never) for reasons only Paramount knows. The script was written by Zombieland duo Paul Wenick and Rhett Reese and is set for an August 10, 2012 3D release.
Do you think this is a smart career move for The Rock? Let us know your thoughts on that in the comments!
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