Hidden Strike

Engaging action, nice story, all brought down by less than ideal chemistry between the two lead players and poor direction.

The action has a Fast and Furious vibe, mixed with some Jackie Chan style sense of humor. It is a blast of fun if you enjoy either (or both) of those styles.

The storyline, while not totally innovative, is relatively fresh still. It is also quite convincing enough for this genre.

What brings the movie down is the lack of chemistry between the characters including the Cena and Chan. The pairing is brilliant; you just hope a little more time was invested in nurturing their relationship on and off screen.

While the story was good, and the action was engaging, the transitions from one stage to the next needed better coaxing and smoothing. Something better direction can fix.

Overall, I am left highly anticipating the teased sequel!

Now I am both a Jackie Chan fan and John Cena fan, so naturally I had to see it. The first thing that striked me was the sheer number of companies that were in association with making this movie. I mean it was no Lawrence of Arabia, or Avatar or anything huge like that, so why so many particpants? Were they that short of cash and resources?

Anyway both the leads in their own right are superb comedy/action movie stars. Senn both of them in many movies. But unfortunately in this movie I did not see the usual click or bonding that Jackie makes with other Hollywood names he has starred with.

In most part they both looked uncomfortable and just following the script. The action and stunt sequences were very good. And I disagree with one contributor saying the CGI was poor. I have seen a lot of movies where the CGi has been comically terrible, this was not one of them.

Anyway I still enjoyed the movie, and hats really off to Jackie for still doing what he loves and does best at his age! Let's see if Tom Cruise can keep it up when he's Jackie's age and do breathtaking stunts in the Mission Impossible movies.

80' style plot? Check. Schlocky dialog? Check. Bad CGI? Check. World's greatest martial artist showing he still has it? Check. Pro wrestler-slash-action star whipping up on the bad guys? Check. It was cheesy and campy and I liked it! Expecting a thought provoking thriller? Go see a Christopher Nolan film. Want a Friday night popcorn / check brain at door movie that's just fun to watch? Stop browsing what's new to stream and enjoy this guilty pleasure. Jackie Chan and John Cena have some surprisingly good and funny chemistry. Much better than I expected, but then I didn't have super high expectations. Glad I didn't, because this film delivered.

Fun, Not Good, But Fun. There is more wrong here than right, but it has a fun tone and a lot of action. Jackie Chan is Always fun to watch regardless of the vehicle. This is true even as he ages, and even as the project is not great. He is fun here. John Cena is larger than life. This is part of the charm and appeal of the pairing; however, it is also part of the problem. He is too animated for what should be a more serious tone to this action thriller. The special effects are good, although too much computer generation at times. The fights are decent. Always something interesting with Jackie Chan. There is a problem with the balance of violence here. There is a lot of violence but there is a real aversion to killing which doesn't really fit the otherwise violent tone. There is stuff here for young people, but many missed opportunities for sure.

Don't listen to everybody destroying this film, because its not that bad! Sure, the first 30 minutes may be slow and mid CGI, but once it gets going, it's great fun.

When John cena and Jackie Chan meet each other, I knew that they'd have great chemistry. The conversations they had would always make me laugh.

And the action was pretty good too! It's not your 'Rumble in the bronx' or your 'Police story' but Jackie is still holding up! The fight scenes in this film are your typical Jackie fights, and they are great. Even Cena gets in on the fights, with him being more of a brute sort of fighter.

So, is this movie terrible? No. Is it amazing and a 10/10? No. Is it good fun for 1 hour and 40? Yep. Is it worth watching? Yep.