Dwayne Johnson has taken exception to a fan’s Twitter criticism of his film Jumanji, and he let the nitpicker have it. The Rock’s latest big screen outing has turned out to be an unexpected smash hit at the box office, racking up an insane $772 million worldwide in just over a month. Perhaps the bigger surprise is how well the movie has done with critics, earning an eyebrow-raising 76% with reviewers over on Rotten Tomatoes.
By most accounts, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a profoundly fun, if undemanding, slice of pure Hollywood entertainment. Though it strays far from the original 1995 film starring Robin Williams, it’s just about the most harmless movie around.
In it, co-stars Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black join Johnson as teenagers trapped within the bodies of their avatars of the video game world of Jumanji. The group then looks to beat the game in the hopes that doing so will release them back into the real world. There’s plenty of video game humor packed into Welcome to the Jungle‘s two hour runtime, and a heavy focus is placed on the avatars’ various strengths and the need to work together as a team. The film has its share of nitpick-able moments, sure, but why anyone would decide to raise those complaints directly with the star of the show on social media is a bit of a headscratcher. When one Twitter user decided to tag Dwayne Johnson in his attack on the film’s logic, The Rock promptly laid the verbal smackdown.
24 Jan
james mcmahon
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@jamesjammcmahon
I went to see the new Jumanji. FUCK THE NEW JUMANJI. Here’s a spoiler. There is no way a character in a video game would lose a life, then be respawned still in possession of the item required to win. That’s some bullshit. What say you @TheRock? Otherwise it was quite good
Dwayne Johnson
✔
@TheRock
Actually my friend, in the JUMANJI Lore Handbook, it clearly states in article 72 of section 7, that “any character who loses a life, shall return to their original state with any item they possessed at the time of their demise”. So kindly go f*ck yourself James.
8:31 PM - Jan 24, 2018
1,580 1,580 Replies 10,880 10,880 Retweets 53,728 53,728 likes
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Johnson’s reaction is a solid mix of sarcasm and brutality, and Twitter went nuts over it, tweeting out gifs of the former professional wrestler delivering his iconic one-liners and finishing moves. To his credit, the Twitter user took the comeback in stride, later tweeting “THE ROCK IS THE GREATEST HUMAN <3” and “Dude. I haven’t loved you this much since WrestleMania 18”. Johnson also eased off a bit in a subsequent reply, saying “I mean thankfully we always have the trusted Jumanji handbook for the rules lol”.
Nitpicking a less-than-serious film like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle seems like a pretty pointless exercise by itself, but by tagging the star (who’s 6’5 and literally nicknamed The Rock) in the critique, this Twitter user was just asking for trouble. Overall, it was a very fun exchange between a fan and a star, but still, there’s a lesson worth remembering here: don’t mess with The People’s Champ.