Hidden Strike is a new Netflix action/comedy starring two human cartoons with very very different comic stylings. I was rooting for this flick… it really wants to entertain and certainly Jackie Chan and Joh Cena are trying. But the script just betrayed everyone.

Set in a hand-waving-away-the-details Middle Eastern country, Chan plays a soldier trying to extract people from a dangerous situation. Cena leads an opposing team of mercenaries. Eventually they collide and team up to stop the real villains.

The first half hour is a well done, pretty serious flick with solid action scenes that are clean and well shot. I guess I should have seen the comedy coming though given Chan and Cena… but the way it shifts gears the very second they meet was total whiplash. It becomes a buddy cop flick full of quips and shtick. But it’s immediately clear that the script just ain’t funny enough. Sometimes I laughed… but more often I didn’t.

As a pure action film, it’s also uneven. Not counting the solid first act, the action is sometimes fun and charming and other times flabby and poorly paced. Jackie Chan gets into some of his patented tomfoolery and that’s generally fun… though given his age, I spent time wondering if he was using stuntmen or clever editing to mask his years.

Chan though definitely works his agile monkey schtick better than Cena’s galumphing ape routine. I generally like Cena, but I don’t think he was ready for Chan’s jelly. Chan is just better at action comedy (and buddy cop) flicks than Cena. They weren’t operating on the same level.

I had a reasonably good time at a few points but the flick was off way more than it was on. I did laugh occasionally but more often I found the script cringe and the actors unable to make it work.

Score: 71