The Rock: His Life at Home and in the Movies

Hiram Garcia, decades-long friend of Duane “The Rock” Johnson, offers a cursory overview of the superstar’s life in this star-studded but unsurprising collection of photos. Separated into three parts (“in his life,” “in the movies,” and “in the world”), the photos range from family snapshots of the early days of Garcia and Johnson’s friendship to candid images on the set of films including Hobbs & Shaw and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and alongside a who’s-who list of celebrities, among them Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Oprah Winfrey, Danny DeVito, and Emily Blunt. The Johnson that emerges is a loving and gentle giant whose bulging muscles are matched by his sincere kindness and generosity toward fans (“You may not know that he’s a real softie,” Garcia writes). Short captions written by Garcia accompany the images, but tend to be simplistic (“As versatile as he is, I think DJ prefers warm weather to cold”). Some of the more striking portraits, such as a sharp black-and-white shot of Johnson doing his signature one-eyebrow-raise while holding a kitten, show Garcia’s skill as a photographer, but too often he captures Johnson gazing down at his cellphone. It’s a solid piece of memorabilia, even if it doesn’t reveal a side of the Rock fans haven’t seen before. (Oct.)