In 2018, Jackie Chan and John Cena shot an action comedy together, with the intention of it being a big summer blockbuster that could be sold to a studio for U.S. distribution. The original shooting title was Project X-traction, but it later went through other titles during post-production, such as Ex-Baghdad, Project X, and S.N.A.F.U. If things had gone according to plan, it would have seen release in late 2019 or early 2020.
Spoilers: Things did not go according to plan.
Between U.S./China relations changing (necessitating some reshoots to alter the plot), Cena ticking off the Chinese investors by publicly supporting Taiwan, and then COVID-19, the film ended up sitting on a shelf for 4 1/2 years. Like I said, a lot went sideways on it. Cut to July 2023 and now it has been unleashed upon the world by Netflix (who purchased it earlier this year) under the title Hidden Strike.
So how is it? Not bad!
The plot revolves around Chinese oil refinery workers who need to be extraction from a hot zone where their facility is constantly under attack by hostiles. The Chinese government sends in a special forces team, led by the legendary Dragon Luo (Jackie Chan). Said team loads 400 people onto around a dozen buses and sets out across the “Highway of Death” in an effort to reach the nearest safe zone as quickly as possible.
Along the way, one of the buses is hijacked by a group of mercenaries led by the Van Horne Brothers: Henry (Amadeus Serafini) and Chris (John Cena). Henry is in it to get rich, as he needs to pay off some local French gunrunners. Chris is doing it to help out a nearby desert village that he now calls his home. Unsurprisingly, it turns out they’ve both been duped by their employer, a ruthless criminal named Owen Paddock (Pilou Asbaeck). Naturally, things take a turn for the worse and adrenaline-fueled chaos ensues.
Obviously this is not the most original set-up in the world, but it is a good one and I’ll tell you why: because it allows us to have a Jackie Chan vs. John Cena fight before the two inevitably team-up to take down the bad guy and his cronies. That, my friends, makes it all worth it. It’s a pretty great fight too!
Before I dig further into the Hidden Strike‘s positive attributes, let’s first tackle its pitfalls. First things first, there’s entirely too much greenscreen on display here, especially in the first act. I don’t know if it is a product of reshoots or what, but it often makes the film look like it is about 15 years older than it actually is. Second, there are too prolonged vehicular chase sequences in this movie and they contain too much CGI. To be fair, there are some good practical stunts in these sequences, but at the end of the day it plays like someone wanting to riff on Mad Max: Fury Road without wanting to put in the work to make it look as good as it should.
Lastly, the first act is a solid 15 minutes too long. Possibly 20. If the big hook of your film is the teaming of John Cena and Jackie Chan, it should not take 35 minutes for the two to finally appear on screen together. That’s just way too long. In terms of tone and execution, this is a very 2008 or 2009 movie. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, but point it out mainly because a 2009 version of this would have cut that first act down.
All of that aside, once these gents finally meet up, beat up, and then team up, the entertainment level vastly improves. Chan and Cena have great chemistry with one another, particular in terms of comedic timing. Some of the jokes are a bit too sophomoric for my liking, but on the whole most of the comedy lands. As do the fights, nearly all of which recall the kinds of films Jackie was still making 20 years ago.
Hidden Strike probably isn’t going to land on your Top Films of 2023 list at the end of the year, but it’s still a pretty good time. As I said before, Chan & Cena are a great pairing, and they’re backed by capable supporting cast members like Zhenwei Wang, martial artist extraordinaire Tim Man, and the aforementioned Pilou Asbaeck, all of whom put in good work here. If you’re looking for something big and silly to just kick back and relax to, you could do a far lot worse.
Hidden Strike is an original action comedy. It was directed by Scott Waugh, from a screenplay by Arash Amel. The film was produced by Hans Canosa, Esmond Ren, Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, Chiu Wah Lee, Joe Tam, and Haicheng Zhao. It stars Jackie Chan, John Cena, Zhenwei Wang, Pilou Asbaeck, Tim Man, Amadeus Serafini, Li Ma, Minghao Hou, Rima Zeidan, Max Huang, Chunrui Ma, Rachael Holoway, Michael Koltes, and Wenli Jiang.
The Schlocketeer 