What a combination we have here. The director of Need For Speed and the writer of Grace Of Monaco, working together to deliver an action comedy that pairs Jackie Chan with John Cena. What could possibly go wrong?
If you're assuming that my opening paragraph is dripping with sarcasm then you'd be right. Not that I want you to think that Hidden Strike is a complete waste of time. It's just that, knowing the people behind the camera, I can see why it feels like such an odd feature.
If I summarised the plot of Hidden Strike then I suspect it would make the whole thing sound either too complicated or too dull. Basically, John Cena plays someone who ends up working alongside Jackie Chan to take on an oil-thieving villain (Pilou Asbæk) in the desert environments of Iraq. Obvioiusly, Cena and Chan don't immediately trust one another, but their friendship grows as they work together against increasingly growing odds of mission success.
The second half of Hidden Strike is quite good. There are some enjoyable fights, although nothing comes close to the prime Jackie Chan work of yesteryear, and occasional moments in which the leads work well together. You have to get through the first half though, and that's a bit of a slog. There's a big action set-piece that takes place in an artificially-created sandstorm that isn't as thrilling or impressive as it should be, and the script isn't witty enough to help viewers warm naturally to Cena's character from the beginning. The lack of wit, or lack of great wit, remains a problem throughout the whole film, but it's easier to overlook when Cena and Chan are complementing one another in the busier fight sequences of the second half.
Aside from our leads, Asbæk is good value as the baddie. That's a relief, especially with nobody else making much of an impression. Chunrui Ma and Wenli Jiang are the two main females, both there to serve a script that wastes their presence, and everyone else is onscreen to be a generic fighter or placed in jeopardy. Okay, you get one other "boss level" opponent, but that is it.
Arash Amel's script seems to think that viewers will want time spent alongside Cena trying to be funny (emphasis on the word "trying" there). This isn't the right approach, but nobody figured out how to improve the material. Scott Waugh's direction is competent enough, even when making use of some wildly varying CGI, but nobody here is at their best.
Fans of Jackie Chan will already have a dozen films they know they can rewatch ahead of this, but it's worth noting that this IS a film boosted by his presence. He may not get to deliver the kind of hijinks he used to, due to a flat script, as well as his advanced age (the man is one year away from turning 70), but he is still an undeniable star when given even the briefest opportunity to shine. It's because of Chan that I didn't hate this, but almost everything else here ensured that I didn't love it either.
5/10
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