Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot have worked together a few times over the years, but how do their collaborations rank? While Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had appeared in some successful movies before the 2010s, his acting career took off in a major way when he joined The Fast Saga. The same is true for Gal Gadot, who had few acting credits before joining the series with 2009’s Fast & Furious. In the years since the careers of both performers have gone from strength to strength.
Gadot’s Wonder Woman became the most successful female-fronted superhero movie of all time when it arrived in 2017, and she reprised the role in Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984. Johnson had a string of hits in the last decade, including comedies like Central Intelligence and action blockbusters like the Jumanji sequels. The duo are set to work together again in a sequel to their Netflix hit Red Notice, but how do their various pairings rank?
Red Notice is a throwback to a bygone era where movies were essentially sold on the sheer star power of their casts. Red Notice paired Johnson, Gadot and Ryan Reynolds, and while it was a success for Netflix, it’s a lackluster potpourri of better movies like Raiders Of The Lost Ark or Ocean’s Eleven. Johnson and Reynolds do re-heated versions of their usual shtick, the comedy is bone tired and the action is undermined by constant green screen and CGI. Red Notice is undemanding Wednesday night fare, but for 200 million dollars, there’s a disappointing sense nobody involved was trying that hard.
After the previous outing took the franchise to new heights, Fast & Furious 6 repeated the same formula and added more carnage. Johnson returns as Hobbs – who works with Dom’s crew this time – while Gadot’s Gisele continues her romance with Sung Kang’s Han. Fast & Furious 6 basically delivers more of the same – but there’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it’s cheesy and overly earnest, but the ensemble is great fun and it excels with setpieces, including Fast & Furious 6’s infamous “endless runway” chase. With Gisele’s supposed demise, the sequel also marked Gadot’s final appearance in the saga – at least for now.
Fast Five is the film that reinvented the series, moving it away from the street racing action of the first four into pure blockbuster territory. It also introduced Johnson’s borderline Terminator Hobbs and added a heist element to the formula. For many, Fast Five represents the series at its best. It refined what worked in previous entries while ramping up the silliness and action. It almost looks tame compared to where the series has gone since – including outer space in F9 – but the setpieces stay just the right side of ludicrous.
It was a major turning point for both Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot’s careers too. In Hobbs, Johnson finally found the perfect role for his screen persona, while Gadot got a better showcase as Gisele than in the previous outing. The two actors didn’t really get to work together much in either of their shared Fast sequels, and fans of both had to wait for Red Notice for a proper collaboration. Regardless, Fast Five remains both a highlight of its franchise and a defining film for Johnson and Gadot too.
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