Jackie Chan And John Cena’s New Buddy Action Movie Just Hit Netflix
If you’re an action film junkie, you’re probably very familiar with the work of Jackie Chan, one of the fiercest and fastest cinematic action stars of all time. It’s always a treat watching this action legend team up with other big names in the film industry, and that’s probably why Netflix decided to pair him up with John Cena in Hidden Strike.
The movie dropped on July 28, and you can check out the trailer below to get a better idea of just how much action this film manages to pull off.
Like all great action films, this movie is short on story but long on fights and cool set pieces.
In Hidden Strike Jackie Chan and John Cena both play former ex-Special Forces soldiers who are given a mission that brings them back to the last place either of them would want to be. Together, these two must help escort civilians through Baghdad’s infamous “Highway of Death” to the Green Zone, where they will finally be out of reach of the nefarious enemies around them that are caught up in what the trailer calls an “oil war.”
While the movie isn’t afraid to use CGI as needed to make its “near future” setting seem realistic, most of the action looks grounded in reality thanks to the choice of film locations.
In addition to starring Jackie Chan and John Cena, another sure sign this movie will rock is the fact that it was directed by Scott Waugh. His resume is small but chock full of action and military adventures, including the movie Need For Speed (starring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul) and Act of Valor, a movie about Navy SEALs rescuing a CIA agent. If that’s not enough of a convincing resume, Waugh is also directing the fourth Expendables movie, so he knows quite a bit about getting the most from his famous leading men.
As you can see from the trailer, Jackie Chan and John Cena’s latest onscreen adventure is beautifully shot. Despite a major part of the plot involving Baghdad, most of the film was shot in places like Beijing and Inner Mongolia, and these scenic and exotic locations always look better than something created on a Hollywood soundstage.
While the movie isn’t afraid to use CGI as needed to make its “near future” setting seem realistic, most of the action looks grounded in reality thanks to the choice of film locations.
Aside from the beautiful cinematography and killer action scenes, the best reason to watch Hidden Strike is that it’s a buddy comedy starring two very different characters.
Jackie Chan helped perfect the buddy comedy/action movie formula back in the day with Rush Hour, and he’s in fine form here as a kind of straight man to John Cena’s comedic action hero. As for Cena, he seems very comfortable with the broad comedy of the film, which isn’t surprising after he turned in a career-best acting performance on the comedic superhero show Peacemaker.
It’s taken Hidden Strike a long time to make it here, and the film even received some much-needed name changes along the way (at one point, it had much goofier names, including S.N.A.F.U. and Project X-traction).
Now that the action movie has finally dropped on Netflix, we recommend you check it out. And if you want to do your best Jackie Chan stunt impression with the remote before you hit the play button, we won’t judge you.
