Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch

John Cena and Jackie Chan join forces to foil a heist in new trailer for Hidden Strike, an action thriller that was shot five years ago.

A new trailer for Hidden Strike has been released, which finds Jackie Chan and John Cena playing two ex-special force soldiers who must escort a group of civilians along Badhdad’s Highway of Death to the safety of the Green Zone.

If Hidden Strike has slipped under your radar, you’re not alone. The movie was shot in September 2018 and has been on the shelf ever since. To put that in context, John Cena hadn’t yet been seen in Bumblebee, F9, or The Suicide Squad. Jackie Chan is a Chinese security contractor called to rescue oil workers from an oil refinery run by China in the Middle East. The refinery is attacked and Chan’s character needs help from John Cena, a former Marine. But that’s a smokescreen for an oil heist, and Chan’s character needs the help of an American former Marine (John Cena) to stop the thieves.

In the film, both characters start off as quite normal guys, both retired military and not superheroes,” Chan said in 2018. “At the beginning, I thought we were opponents — I thought he was the bad guy and I believed he was the bad guy. But then we realize that we’re on the same side and go after the real enemy.

The film, directed by Scott Waugh (Need For Speed), was based on a script written by Arash Amel (The titan). However, the project was entirely Chinese-funded and filmed in China with local crews. Chan said, “Some Western talents just come-and-go when they do a China-project, but these guys are committed to the culture and industry“. “Scott lived here for months in preparation for the film and John had been learning Mandarin for years before we asked him join our cast.“. The film was meant to capitalize on the Hollywood-China partnership that was popular at the time, but soured relations and the COVID-19 epidemic left the project in limbo. John Cena may have also delayed the film by referring to Taiwan as a nation while promoting F9. There was an immediate backlash and Cena issued an apology, which was also criticized.

XYZ Films will now release Hidden Strike sometime this year, but it doesn’t have an official release date yet. What did you think about the HiddenStrike Trailer?

Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch