Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson idles through this Ric Roman Waugh–directed action thriller as John Matthews, a construction company owner who infiltrates a cartel to persuade the DEA to set free his wrongly imprisoned son. Johnson's character is more vulnerable than his usual brute — Matthews is mugged, held at gunpoint, forced to do drugs — but his flinty expressions and delivery don't show it. More versatile is Jon Bernthal as one of his employees, a tense two-striker who's trying to stay clean but can't resist introducing his boss to the back alleys when money's on the table. Though Waugh adeptly raises the stakes as the duo's schemes snowball, the tension dissipates like a plume of spilled cocaine during the too-brief final shootout. But hey, at least you get to see the Rock blast thugs with a shotgun and maneuver a semi with blown-out tires — at the same time.
