What makes "Hidden Strike" so, er well, striking, is how it's actually from 2021, according to its Netflix page (where I watched it) and the internet (some even putting it earlier!), so what am I doing today reviewing it? For reasons probably more interesting than the film itself, it wasn't released stateside until now. And although it's not the sort of thing you'd line up to buy tickets for in July, it would make for a perfectly entertaining January matinee. Or like how I said I did, on Netflix.
Chan and Cena are both naturally charismatic in front of the camera, and remain easy on the eyes even with a subpar script from Arash Amel working against them; they're actually two old cinema favorites, being both an "odd couple" AND "reluctant partners," where due to plot good guy Luo Feng (Jackie Chan) teams up with antihero Chris Van Horne (John Cena) to take down Owen's (Pilou Asbæk) plot to steal oil in Baghdad. Owen's goals are refreshingly simple; he simply wants to "get what he's owned," which in other words means he wants money. I'm glad he didn't want to conquer the world like some would-be B-villain in an also-ran superhero movie, though it'd be at home during the few moments of especially grating CGI and unrealistic physics.
Aside from a few shots of unspecial special effects, I was surprised at how well the hand-to-hand combat was shot, Chan not exactly going above and beyond but easily giving his fans what they'd want in his latter-day career. A particular standout is a fight involving soap, something I'd never seen before; I liked it so much I forgave logic, I mean how could you be climbing pipes with slippery suds all on your digits?
The more I think about it, why would an oil refinery have a soap gun? Maybe it was a fire extinguisher? I don't know, but I also don't know if it matters, the fact I was thinking about this picture post-credits at all is noteworthy.
It doesn't matter, because it ultimately held my attention effortlessly. My hats off to the entire stunt team as well as to director and editor Scott Waugh, who in the trailers for "Hidden Strike" mention his career includes the not-yet-released fourth "Expendable," as there was nary a moment where my eyes could not decipher the onscreen mayhem. (However, the human drama is handled with all the grace of an equally antiquated soap opera.)
I also enjoyed a brawl where Luo fights atop pipes and Chris fights with a pipe, showcasing the star's two very different personas. Overall, it's a wonderful low-rent throwback to the kind of movies of the 80's and 90's, though one only wishes there was a better script because, you know, one-liners kinda come with the territory.
I could keep going over enjoyable individual scenes, and part of me wants to, but what about the plot? It can't just be a simple as I'm making it out to be. Well yes and no, but "Hidden Strike" doesn't aspire to be anything more than the sum of its parts. It doesn't try to be the best film staring either Chan or Cena, or even the best action film of 2023. Or was that 2021?
