(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Central Intelligence had great comedic chemistry between Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart and had some thought provoking scenes, but in the end, the story was a predictable mess!!!

Rating: 3 Stars

Maybe the biggest reason why I was kind of excited for this movie is because it was filmed in Boston. When I was driving down the street and saw a big commotion, I immediately slowed down to see what is going on, and realized they were filming a movie called Central Intelligence with Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and Kevin Hart. During filming, there was a story that The Rock crashed his truck into somebody’s car. The cause of the accident – he was air drumming to a certain song. (We can only speculate what song it was.) I said this before, I enjoy movies being filmed in my city of Boston, and recognizing the well-known locations. Mainly because of that, I wanted to see what this movie had to offer.

What I Like: Probably the best thing about this movie was seeing Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart acting together. They had great comedic chemistry, and worked very well together. It may have started off weird at the beginning of the movie seeing The Rock acting too friendly, but once the movie got going, they were hilarious and fun to watch. For once Kevin Hart wasn’t annoying as an actor. Usually he really tries to force his comedy in his roles which makes you roll your eyes. However, playing a normal guy was actually fun to watch and his comedy just came out naturally. It bode well for him, and I wish I could see more of that in his future movie roles. There were many scenes with cool action, and funny scenes. Like the exchange between Kevin Hart and Kumail Nanjiani in a brief scene was just comedy gold. The cameos by Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy were a pleasant surprise as well, and added more depth to the movie. There was also some very thought provoking scenes that dealt with the theme of bullying. Seeing The Rock acting vulnerable when he reminisced on how he was bullied in high school, and how he tries not to be a bully himself even though he is a CIA agent. Those scenes really speak volumes on how not to judge people, because you don’t know how they will turn out, and may need your help in the near future or vice versa. This added to the great character development to the parts of The Rock and Kevin Hart.

The So So: It did show some cool scenes of my city of Boston, but they try to sell it as Baltimore until they actually go to Boston. I don’t like it when they do that, but this is probably the first movie that shows the beauty of the Boston Common that lead to the final action scene.

What I Didn’t Like: A movie that started off with a lot of potential, unfortunately was burned down with predictability. They try to make The Rock’s character look like the real villain, but I knew that it wouldn’t be the case. Especially the story of how he lost his partner which is played by Aaron Paul (who brought back his Jesse Pinkman persona in his role), you knew Paul wouldn’t be there just to show one minute of him dying. I knew he was going to come back, and I knew he would have been the true villain in this movie. Low and behold, I nailed it, but it really was that obvious. Despite all the second guessing and misdirection throughout the movie on the identity of the villain “The Black Badger” I just knew it, and it ruined the supposed twist pretty bad. Also that scene where The Rock’s character decides to go naked in his high school reunion to exorcise his demons of being bullied was just too weird and dumb. Completely not necessary, and yet I had a weird feeling that was going to happen.

Overall: You will see great comedic chemistry with The Rock and Kevin Hart, but the story will disappoint you. It’s a shame really, because it did start off with some potential. It is what it is when it comes to summer movies. You can almost expect the subpar movies, and this one is no exception!!!

Rating: 3 Stars

(Sidenote: Dirty Grandpa- When you talk about crude, this movie definitely had a lot of it. The comedy was very crude and weird. You do see another side of Robert DeNiro as he acts like a crude college student, but it just got creepy seeing him trying to mack on the beautiful Aubrey Plaza (this role really made her look sexy). Add Zac Efron to this mix, and you really get another Van Wilder wannabe that involves a grandpa with his grandson. Some of the crudeness did make me laugh a lot, but too much can be really too much!!!
Rating: 3 Stars)