JC plus JC! Nope, not talking about Jesus Christ here. I’m talking about John Cena and Jackie Chan, two masters of action and comedy who come together in the action-adventure Hidden Strike (2023). But is this talented duo a peanut butter and chocolate match made in heaven, or peanut butter and pickles match made in hell?
Ex-special forces soldier, Dragon Lou (Jackie Chan) leads a team of private security officers on a mission to evacuate the civilian employees/scientists from an oil refinery in Iraq. They have endured multiple attacks from mercenaries led by Paddock (Pilou Asbaek) and now it’s time to get the fuck out to the green safety zone. The only way out is via a road called the Highway of Death. Chris (John Cena), a former U.S. Marine, is tricked by his brother into helping the mercenaries under the guise of getting revenge on the people who killed their father.
Then betrayals happen, Chris switches sides, the greedy asshole mercenaries try to steal the oil so they can have more money at the expense of regular civilians just trying to live life. Really the plot doesn’t matter a whole lot because it’s a pile of action cliches on action cliches. Dragon and Chris end up teaming up to take down the mercenaries- that’s all that matters.
Hidden Strike was filmed in 2018 and was originally supposed to pair Sylvester Stallone and Jackie Chan on screen; however, Stallone probably looked into a crystal ball (also known as reading the script) and decided against it. John Cena, being the younger, funnier muscleman, stepped up to fill the role. Jackie’s had a great career built around teaming up in powerhouse two-hander films, so you might think that the Cena/Chan dream team would crush the comedy and the action. Unfortunately, Hidden Strike is so poorly done it has as much impact as a fart in a tornado. It comes and goes with no excitement, no joy, not even an acknowledgement that the fart ever happened.
or thought I did, ’til I watched this movie
What’s the problem you ask? Everything! The CGI looks like something from a CW show circa 2006. When the movie’s not over-relying on CGI (which it does quite often because, let’s face it, Jackie Chan’s not exactly young anymore) the action scenes lack a general inventiveness of wow factor. You get some run-of-the-mill explosions, a vehicular chase scene, and some punch-punch, bang-bang to tease you along for the first half of the film. It’s not until the halfway point that our two stars actually share a scene and start quipping and fighting! Once the Cena/Chan dream team happens, they’re great together, but not even stars as charismatic as they can overcome the terrible writing in Hidden Strike. The finale does have some pretty great moments- a few good explosions, car chases, and Jackie Chan improvisational fights- but there’s just not enough of the good stuff to make up for the bad.
Hidden Strike looks like a million other washed-out, CGI-heavy action movies featuring aging stars, and its script plays out as generic and by-the-numbers as they get. Once the credits roll, you’re probably going to have forgotten what you just watched. Even though Hidden Strike possesses the power of double JC, don’t expect to see Jesus, except during the time you question your existence while trying to survive this snoozer.
Time until Action: 15 minutes
Action Rating: 2 Farts in a Tornado, out of 5
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
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