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Is the Rock as respected as Stallone or Schwarzenegger in their hay day?

posted 4 years ago by [deleted]
16 replies | jump to latest

He is currently the highest paid actor in the world. He is the go to guy for action movies.

But I can’t help feeling that he doesn’t even have a tenth of their respect.

Stallone had the Rocky and Rambo franchises that were both critically acclaimed and box office smashes (well some of them.)

Schwarzenegger had Conan and Terminator, plus a few gems along the way.

But if we look at the Rocks movies, it started with a lot of critically panned movies that weren’t huge successes. Over 15 years, he worked his way up to being a box office smash, thanks mostly to The Fast and the Furious and Jumanji.

I think for him to get even close to Stallone and Schwarzenegger, he’s going to need an iconic character to get him there and so far, he doesn’t have one.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 4 years ago

Stallone was an (unexpected) very talented writer. And Schwarzenegger was the most awarded body builder alive before he became an actor.

The Rock has a lot of charisma and he's quite good with comedy, but that's it.

[–] samoanjoes (51073) 4 years ago

No. I can't think of a single classic that The Rock has been in.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Yup, he’s yet to really do an iconic movie. Jumanji isn’t Rambo lol.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 4 years ago

And people remember Fast & Furious mainly for Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

The Scorpion King is probably his most iconic role.

[–] samoanjoes (51073) 4 years ago

Most people probably don't even know which of the sequels he appeared in for the first time.

[–] ODB82 (2055) 4 years ago

This. Where’s his Terminator or Commando? Hell, how about his Running Man even?

[–] samoanjoes (51073) 4 years ago

And True Lies. And Predator.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 4 years ago

And Mr.Freeze. And a pregnant man.

[–] ODB82 (2055) 4 years ago

lel. Yes to all of this.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 4 years ago

He's not even as iconic as Van Damme.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

I think he's close. He's probably been the top action movie guy for a number of years now.

I do agree with the others that the one thing he's lacking from his resume is an iconic character, like Rocky or the Terminator. I think a lot people would have a hard time remembering the name of one his characters.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

No. I still think of him as a wrestler. It also doesn't help that his movies suck.

[–] L1 (1316) 4 years ago

Are you really serious about this?!

[–] rocklyn80 (658) 4 years ago

I would say only with the preteen set, I think his his roles are geared towards adolescents

[–] MaximRecoil (4084) 4 years ago

There will never be another Stallone or Schwarzenegger IMO. Those guys were beyond iconic, and had characters that were also beyond iconic. Rocky, Rambo, and the Terminator are three of the most iconic characters in movie history, not just within their respective genres.

When's the last time a movie created an iconic character anyway? I'm not counting e.g., Marvel and DC movies, because those characters were iconic due to comic books long before the movies were made.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Neo from Matrix?