Hidden Strike (2023)

Hidden Strike is a functional East meets West, military action thriller. There's reasonable chemistry between Jackie Chan and John Cena. Both are likeable and function well together, as an action duo.Chan has a well established background in this kind of film, backed by decent martial arts skills, that are, once again, on display. Cena has an imposing physical presence that works equally as well. It helps no end either, that both can actually act. Where this film falls down somewhat is it feels a little random. I think the key issue is there is a lack of building cohesive momentum towards a final show down, with the bad guy. Instead, what you get is a series of well choreographed gun and fight scenes, that feel "loosely thrown together" in a way that sort of works, just not terribly well. Had more thought be put into linking these scenes into a more cohesive thematic story, it would have been a much better experience. In summary, decent action, decent chemistry between the action buddy duo. Let down somewhat by an overly loose and disjointed approach, to the overriding action sequences and the basic story they are supposed to help tell.