Synopsis: Two ex-special forces soldiers must escort a group of civilians along Baghdad's “Highway of Death” to the safety of the Green Zone. (103 Mins)

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Views: During the extraction of scientists and civilians along Baghdad's ominous 'Highway of Death', a team of ex-special forces soldiers find themselves attacked by a gang of deadly mercenaries amidst a huge sandstorm. But when one of their most important passengers is kidnapped, Luo Feng sets out to rescue her – eventually running into Chris Van Horne; an ex-mercenary who had been hired for one last mission in what is, essentially, a get-rich-quick-scheme. That same mission saw his brother killed and his teammates turn on him, which sends Chris on his own mission of vengeance with the two ex-soldiers joining forces to bring down an even bigger threat; putting both their lives on the line in a fight to the death!

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It's crazy to think that an action-comedy this big, with two of the world's most popular action stars leading the way, started production in 2018 and is only just hitting our screens now! Saying that, I literally mean our television screens, because clearly Hidden Strike starring Jackie Chan and John Cena was not big enough to gain a cinematic release. Mind you, neither was Jackie Chan's incredible film The Foreigner, which was just criminal. As it stands, Hidden Strike has had a plethora of problems since it's production completed, from the Covid-19 pandemic to John Cena pissing off the Chinese government with his innocent comments on Taiwan, and more potentially political issues highlighting the fact that an American soldier is the hero of a Middle Eastern country – especially when the U.S. Army had pulled out of Afghanistan not long before. So, almost five years later and after a host of title changes, Netflix opted to release Hidden Strike to the world and I have to say; this has proven to be one hell of a marmite movie for most. The film holds many similarities to Wu Jing's Wolf Warrior 2 – a movie that was made only a year prior to this, and one that had gained huge global success for many reasons. Of course, it's only natural that Chinese producers would want to try and replicate that, and I guess that Hidden Strike was their answer – although it's a film I'd say is definitely more Hollywood in its approach than Chinese. Without getting too down about things, let me just get the negative points of Hidden Strike quickly out of the way. The first of these has to be the script which was written by Arash Amel; a writer and producer behind small studio productions such as Erased, Grace Of Monaco, The Titan, A Private War, and Rise – a Disney Plus show about a basketball family. While he has seen moderate success with many of those titles, I just feel that had the script for Hidden Strike been in the hands of someone a bit more talented (and quite a bit funnier) it would have been much stronger. But what we get instead, feels like the production was working off a first-draft making me wish that they had actually cut a number of questionable moments from the final edit; ultimately putting together a tighter, more polished 90 minute movie. At the same time, it's fair to say that Amel's attempts at comedy fall flat for the most part, even those that seemed to be ad-libbed by the stars – although I can't deny that there was definitely some genuinely funny moments here-and-there. My second gripe has to be the over-use of green-screen backgrounds and set pieces, something that, when done right, can look pretty damn awesome. But in Hidden Strike, it just looks so bloody obvious and a little rough around the edges at times. I totally understand that certain moments in a film like this call for CGI, and yes, there are plenty of moments throughout where it does work, but given the fact that the film itself was delayed for years, would it have killed the producers and director to just take a moment to fix things?

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Obviously not. And then there's director Scott Waugh, your typical LA-born Hollywood director who made his feature debut with Act Of Valor in 2012; a similarly themed action flick that could actually be his best work. Waugh followed up with the well received Need For Speed, a film experience that he obviously put to use with the vehicle action here in Hidden Strike, and 6 Below – a tense drama about a snow-boarder trapped in the mountains. While it's clear the man knows his stuff as a director, I can't help but feel that his work here is far from his best with Hidden Strike often coming across like a direct-to-video Steven Segal movie at times. I found it interesting that the promotional trailer created by Netflix, oozed the style of The Expendables films when Scott's next feature as a director is actually The Expendables 4 – but I'm not getting my hopes up. Equally interesting is the fact that this was supposed to finally be the big team-up between Jackie Chan and Sylvester Stallone, with the latter playing the role of Chris Van Horne that eventually went to John Cena. Apparently, Stallone couldn't commit due to scheduling conflicts for Creed 2, but I think the wrestler-turned-actor was a good choice in replacing him. Since entering the film world almost 2 decades ago, Cena quickly gained a following and found his calling in more comedy based roles in films such as Trainwreck, Daddy's Home 1 & 2, and Blockers. Bigger roles would soon follow with Bumblebee, Fighting With My Family, F9: The Fast Saga, and The Suicide Squad really elevating his status; with his role as Peacemaker in the latter quickly getting its own successful spin-off series. Although Hidden Strike was made before a number of those productions, I couldn't help but feel that Cena was channelling his inner Peacemaker for a lot of his comedy scenes here – although maybe that's just him. I must admit that I quit enjoyed him here as Chris Van Horne, and even though it took some time for the chemistry between him and Jackie to feel natural (although I blame the direction for that), I still really enjoyed the pairing of both stars.

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Of course, the biggest draw for me here (and no doubt many others) is that Hidden Strike is really a Jackie Chan movie and one that was released here in the UK the same week as his wonderful action-comedy, Ride On. I really loved Jackie in this role and although his character's direction came on a little strong and serious in the beginning – almost mirroring that of his similar role in Vanguard – we eventually start to see the Jackie Chan we all love and want breaking-through as the movie rolls along. On topof that, I feel this offers us some of the strongest Jackie Chan fight-action we have seen in a long time, and we mustn't forget that since its original production began the superstar had went onto make The Knight Of Shadows: Between Ying & Yang, Iron Mask, the aforementioned Stanley Tong flick Vanguard, as well as Ride On – all of which have been very underrated in my opinion. As Dragon Luo, Jackie does a great job with his performance marred by the films poor script and Scott Waugh's direction choices. Once again, Jackie is shown to be a bad father who crosses paths with his estranged daughter of whom he hasn't seen for sometime due to a a broken relationship. As expected, the bigger part of the story helps bring them closer together, although not without its challenges, and is a theme I've seen in Chan's movies a number of times over the last decade. While it taunts a more emotional storyline in the beginning, it's clear that the director and producers soon realised that having Jackie crying wasn't going to work in an action-comedy, and quickly changed their approach. The pair are joined by Danish actor Pilou Asbaek, known for his work in Game Of Thrones, The Great Wall, and Ghost In The Shell, who plays the main villain of the piece. While I thought they were going to do something big with his character, I was slightly disappointed to see him come across as just another generic 90s-style bad guy. The gorgeous Amadeus Serafini, who made a great impression in the Scream TV Series, stars as the younger brother to John Cena – although doesn't really last for long – and the cast of mercenaries and soldiers are filled out with martial-arts actors such as Tim Man, Lee Huang, Rachael Holoway, Rima Zeidan, Wang Zhen Wei from Jackie Chan's Karate Kid, and Mortal Kombat star Max Huang – one of the latest members of the JC Stunt Team who also helps with the action. Chinese television actress, Ma Chun Rui, stars as Jackie's daughter Mei and while she is certainly no Maggie Cheung or Anita Mui, she does a fine job in the role.

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While fans may be excited to see JC versus JC in Hidden Strike, they will have to wait at least 40 minutes before the two stars actually cross paths and face-off against each other. Thankfully though, from there they hardly leave each others sides for the rest of the movie. That said, Waugh keeps things moving up to then by delivering an exciting car chase – clearly inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road – that allows for some quick scuffles on buses while they race through a giant man-made sandstorm. It's a fun action sequence (if you can see past the moments of dodgy CGI) but I just felt that it was missing something; some kind of 'oompf' that was really needed to ramp things up. But it's certainly not boring mind you, and does warm things up for the first major fight scene that puts Jackie and John up against each other. This is hugely entertaining and makes the fight between Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren, in the first Expendables movie, pale in comparison. Thankfully, the action team behind it all involves the Jackie Chan Stunt Team – which includes Paul Andreovski; the second non-Asian member of the team after the late Brad Allen, who has been with Jackie since the late 90s starting with Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I?, The Accidental Spy, and many more. While he hasn't worked on anything with the team since 2010's Hollywood comedy, The Spy Next Door, it was great to know he was onboard with Hidden Strike. Team members Lee and Max Huang, who also co-star throughout, double-up in the action department as does the hugely talented Tim Man who stands out as the tattooed mercenary that gets one of my favourite one-on-one showdowns with Jackie! For the last 20 years, Man has climbed the ranks as one of the most sought after fight-directors and stunt performers working on Thai action flicks like Fighting Beat, Ong Bak 2, and Raging Phoenix. He became the go-to guy for Scott Adkins who brought him in for films such as Ninja 2: Shadow Of A Tear, Boyka: Undisputed, Eliminators, Accident Man 1 & 2, Triple Threat, and many more. Throughout Hidden Strike, Tim proves himself as a menacing and ruthless character, with his fight against Jackie being one of the highlights for me. Taking place in an oil refinery, the pair go toe-to-toe in and around a hardened control room before an industrial fire extinguisher breaks and fills the room with thick suds. Jackie and Tim continue to fight as the foam party grows, eventually using strengthened bungee-cords to take their battle to new heights in true Jackie Chan fashion. I also mustn't forget the attack on the desert village before that though – another highlight of the film for me, and a brilliantly choreographed piece that allows both Chan and Cena to make great use of their surroundings and kick some ass. They bring the same energy later to a fight that sees them infiltrate the aforementioned oil refinery, which is so much fun and packed full of exciting moves and stunt-work.

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The grand finale of the film enters Rumble In The Bronx territory, with Waugh opting for a massive vehicle stunt rather than a physical showdown. I'm not complaining mind you, as it does prove to be wildly entertaining with both JC's and Mei driving a rocket-truck that manages to cause multiple oil-trucks flying through the air, sends Cena through the windscreen, and practically forces everyone off the edge of a cliff. It's equally as funny as it is impressive and, apart from it's tacky cliched closing joke, is a great action-packed ending to Hidden Strike. With that, it's worth noting what a great job Bruce Law does with the vehicle stunts and action – but you wouldn't expect less from a man that has over 200 credits to his name, and has worked with Jackie many times over the years on films such as Operation Condor, City Hunter, Drunken Master 2, Thunderbolt, Chinese Zodiac, Vanguard, and many more. While many fans and critics have been quick to complain about many of the same negatives as myself, I feel it's only fair to say that it's not all bad and that Hidden Strike definitely gets better. I'd still love to have seen it get its big-screen release worldwide, and wouldn't say no to seeing a sequel or two featuring the leading characters together again. The film also benefits from plenty of crisp camerawork and a decent supporting cast and I hope, in time, that it gains much more of a positive following from the fans of all involved. In fact, I actually enjoyed it much more the second time around in knowing what was coming, and having gotten over any disappointments from the first time, and to be honest, I think I enjoyed it a little more than Skiptrace...

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But I must also praise my hero, Jackie Chan, for delivering some of his finest action in years and highlight the fact that he was around 64 years of age while doing so. Once again, this incredible man proves that age is just a number and is absolutely the highlight of the film for me, with a run of bloopers over the end credits confirming this as we see Jackie's physicality put to the test over and over again, take after take. I only hope that I'm as fit as he is at that age. I think it's fair to say that, given the power of the internet and freedom everyone has to criticise the film world, people expect far too much from movies nowadays! Hidden Strike wasn't made for award season or to be taken seriously – in fact, these kind of movies ruled the late 80s and early 90s; so switch off your brain, get yourself comfy, and enjoy the ride!

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Overall: While it absolutely lacks a bit of wit and relies far too much on its CGI, Hidden Strike still proves to be highly enjoyable – and mostly thanks to Jackie Chan!