The Rock Cooks Hard in Hobbs & Shaw Trailer

The Fast & The Furious has gone from street-racing films to heist movies. In the process it has become one of the most successful franchises. The most recent effort is its first spin-off, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw—which focuses on two supporting characters played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham.

Why write about it? Simple. The Rock. Dwayne Johnson is a brand, from his WWE days to his current status as a box-office titan. In his honor, we decided to examine his best ads. The ad in focus here is the Hobbs & Shaw Official Trailer. What makes this a great Rock ad? It’s not that he is in almost every frame and when he’s not it suffers. It’s what he is doing in the ad. He’s doing what we expect: Rock stuff.

In the trailer, the action star fistfights baddies, drives cool cars, fires an assortment of guns, flies a jet, escapes a collapsing factory, leads an army of shirtless Maori warriors (armed with traditional weapons, i.e. no guns) and holds his own with Idris Elba, all the while making us smile. Oh, did I mention he lassoes a helicopter with a chain, hooks it to a truck, which is hooked to another truck, and, by the end of the trailer, he is holding the chain wrapped around the copter with one hand as he holds the truck with the other, dodging copter blades and somehow not being torn in two!

A trailer like Hobbs & Shaw induces an eye roll; however, it has The Rock. This is a film we expect from him. Not only was the trailer perfect for a Fast & Furious movie; it was perfect for a Rock movie. As he says in the film, “When it’s the fate of the world, it becomes my business.” There is no better hero.