Watching this reminded me of being a teenager in the mid-nineties, hunting down Jackie Chan movies on the shelves of Virgin Megastores. This is very much a throwback to JC's heyday; a ninety minute action flick with a cartoon villain, several big setpieces and bloopers playing over the end credits. It's not one of Chan's best, but it's not one of his worst either. It doesn't reach the highs of classics like Project A, Police Story or Drunken Master, but it doesn't plumb the depths of Rumble In Hong Kong either.
Set in a war-torn Middle East filled with mercenaries and burned out helicopters, Chan stars as a Chinese Special Forces operative. He and his squad are sent to rescue the civilian workers of an oil refinery who keep getting attacked by a militia group. They have to travel down the 'Highway of Death' to escape to safety, but needless to say, things go wrong.
So far, so very functional, but Hidden Strike has an ace up its sleeve. Roughly forty minutes into the film, Chan crosses paths with John Cena's retired mercenary and their destinies become intertwined. And if you had 'John Cena And Jackie Chan Having Impeccable Onscreen Chemistry' on your bingo card, prepare to cash in. The two stars gel instantly. Their bickering bromance turns an average action movie into an entertaining, light-hearted romp through the desert. Never in a million years would I have put these two together, but they're great as a duo.
There's a few other moments worth mentioning; the explosive finale is pretty impressive and Game Of Thrones' Pilou Asbaek is delightfully slimy as the villain, but this is the Chan/Cena show and everything else is just background noise. The CGI landscapes are off-putting (a literal uncanny valley) and Chan isn't as convincingly fleet-footed as he once was, but otherwise this is a fun, throwaway ninety minutes. It's also his best onscreen camaraderie since Rush Hour.
Set in a war-torn Middle East filled with mercenaries and burned out helicopters, Chan stars as a Chinese Special Forces operative. He and his squad are sent to rescue the civilian workers of an oil refinery who keep getting attacked by a militia group. They have to travel down the 'Highway of Death' to escape to safety, but needless to say, things go wrong.
So far, so very functional, but Hidden Strike has an ace up its sleeve. Roughly forty minutes into the film, Chan crosses paths with John Cena's retired mercenary and their destinies become intertwined. And if you had 'John Cena And Jackie Chan Having Impeccable Onscreen Chemistry' on your bingo card, prepare to cash in. The two stars gel instantly. Their bickering bromance turns an average action movie into an entertaining, light-hearted romp through the desert. Never in a million years would I have put these two together, but they're great as a duo.
There's a few other moments worth mentioning; the explosive finale is pretty impressive and Game Of Thrones' Pilou Asbaek is delightfully slimy as the villain, but this is the Chan/Cena show and everything else is just background noise. The CGI landscapes are off-putting (a literal uncanny valley) and Chan isn't as convincingly fleet-footed as he once was, but otherwise this is a fun, throwaway ninety minutes. It's also his best onscreen camaraderie since Rush Hour.