In the Iraqi desert, mercenaries have besieged a Chinese oil refinery. Their goal? To wipe out the workers there and take the oil profits for themselves. Chinese Commander “Dragon” Luo Feng has been sent in to protect the workers as they’re evacuated to Baghdad in armored buses. They shut off the refinery, then start their perilous journey down a road known ominously as the “Highway of Death.”
But the mercenaries capture a handful of hostages, including the one woman who knows how to turn the refinery back on. They deliver the woman to their boss. One member of the mercenary group, a retired Marine named Chris, is just happy the job’s done. He was roped in by his brother, Henry, who said the job would pay a lot. And money’s something that Chris is interested in: He’s desperately trying to raise enough of it to bring water back to a village that’s slowly drying up.
As it turns out, the job isn’t finished. The man who hired the mercenaries now wants them to get the oil refinery back up and running. Chris objects, since that wasn’t what he was hired for. So he storms off. And that’s when the mercenaries shoot and kill Henry, his friends and a couple other Chinese hostages.
Pretty soon, both Chris and Luo come across the executed hostages’ bodies. And though Chris was recently hired to attack Luo, now the two are on the same side—and together, they’ll get revenge.
Chris’ intentions throughout the film are clear: He wants to provide for and protect the village in which he lives. He initially appears in the movie’s plot because he wants to raise money to provide water to the dry village. And later, when the terrorists come to the town, he protects them.
Likewise, Chris is in the village to take care of a group of orphans, and it’s very clear that he loves the children—and they love him.
Chris, Luo and Luo’s daughter (Mei) risk their lives to protect others and fight against evil. Luo and Mei, who have a strained relationship, reconnect throughout the film.
Someone says that people died because it was their time. A hostage puts her hands in a praying position.
Chris says that he finds Mei “hot” and references “that booty” to Luo, unaware that she’s Luo’s daughter. Later, Chris tells Mei that he’s “totally single” and “disease-free, too.” Chris gives someone a crude nickname that refers to the male anatomy. He also calls the tattoo-heavy man “tramp stamp.”
Chris’ chest is exposed at one point.
In post-credits bloopers, John Cena improvises a joke about dating another man. He also jokes about performing oral sex on a woman and smacking her rear.
About a dozen people are killed throughout the film: soldiers, terrorists and civilian hostages alike. (A couple of the latter are executed.) When these people are shot, we see a brief bloody cloud puff from their bodies.
Throughout the movie, many people are shot at. Likewise, a good two to three dozen people are knocked unconscious with weapons or through fist fights. Some people fall from great heights, and others are allegedly killed in explosions, including one man whose corpse is seen with severe burns. A couple people are thrown through the dashboard window, but both survive the respective incidents.
Child soldiers try to blow up a convoy of buses. Many vehicles crash.
The s-word is used 13 times. We also hear a few instances of “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n” and “h—.” God’s name is used in vain once in the form of “g-dd–n.” Jesus’ name is used in vain once. Chris is often called an “idiot.”
Someone interprets a hand signal to mean “have a beer.”
None.
Hidden Strike is a buddy action film starring John Cena and Jackie Chan. In it, the two of them shoot, punch and fight their way through a group of mercenaries who have taken over an oil refinery.
As you might expect with the duo’s appearance, a lot of Hidden Strike is based on unique fight scenes with amazing choreography and the beating of a bunch of disposable bad guys. But if we’re being blunt, the plot in this one is cheesy and predictable. It almost feels as if the fight scenes were written first, and the plot was thrown in just to connect us from one thrown punch to the next.
But punches aren’t the only things flying, as many people are killed from gunshots, and others are deleted from existence by explosions. We likewise hear a couple of crass jokes and some swears soar through the screen, too. Those elements will certainly put the “crude” in the crude oil.
We didn’t expect much from Hidden Strike. We chose to cover it simply because, at the time of posting, it was the number one hit for Netflix movies. And you know what?
We were right. Save from some fun fight choreography, Hidden Strike just doesn’t punch above its weight.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
