Cheesy but entertaining, with some good misdirection. Switched off my brain and enjoyed the ride.
There's this thing about modern action movies where I sometimes don't quite understand who they're made for anymore. This is a really good example of that. In fact, this movie is so bad that even the dads who collectively skip the mature 'boring' films will most likely turn their noses up for it. It's appropriately stupid and over the top, but completely devoid of any charm, blood, humor, sex or fun. There's attempts at gore and comedy, but executed in a way where I don't see it satisfying anyone. Take Alison Brie, who plays this annoying millennial reporter stereotype who's obsessed with her phone, or John Cena, who's given the bland soldier/family guy type of role Dwayne Johnson has been playing for the past ten years. Every single character acts like a doofus, a child, or both. Nudity and intimacy are portrayed through a bunch of stiff, awkward interactions where our main characters act like teenagers who are experiencing new feelings. Our story is set in this fictional narcos-state, but the generic score and glossy, bright cinematography refuse to create a distuingishable atmosophere. It's all so infantile and annoying, yet it somehow ended up with an R-rating. It's not trying to be a romcom like Romancing the Stone, it's not a swashbuckling adventure like Jumanji, it's this formless, nondescript thing that's made for everyone and therefore made for no one. The action is also really poorly staged and shot, I don't understand how this is the same director who made Banlieu 13 20 years ago (which is this interesting French parkour stunt reel/B-movie, I'd recommend watching that instead). The story is derivative and instantly forgettable, with every character dynamic or arc feeling lame and trite, but somehow that's the least of this movie's problems. Avoid at all cost.
1/10
I thought them being chased by a helicopter is the stupidest scene in a movie ever. Boy, was I wrong. They topped that with the jeep-horse chase.
Typical US action movie, the likes of which I haven't seen fro a few years
Mercenary turns out to be a good guy
South Africans are bad mercenaries
South American dictators turn out to be good (and snappy dressers)
Helpless women turns out to be awesome heroine
Non Americans can't shot with any accuracy
It's all here. But lets face it - we don't watch this for the socially conscious realistic plot. We watch it for the fighting and the shooting and for John Cena to show his muscly bits. And it's fine for that, Turn off your brain (a really large amount of your brain...) and enjoy
Like a half-off coupon for a good action comedy: not worth a lot.
John Cena is fun when he stays in his range and Alison Brie is my favorite Hollywood cheese but they have too little to work with here.
This movie was probably better than it had any right to be. John Cena is as likeable as he usually is, and Alison Brie brings credibility to the film. While it may seem like a throwaway action comedy, there is a decent amount of depth to the story. I enjoyed it.
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John Cena and Alison Brie aren't great at picking the right movie roles. This one is another dud that is only worth watching if you're a fan of its two stars.
Didn't like it. Didn't feel chemistry between the main characters, the third wheel was mostly annoying, the fight scenes were not too good acted, even the slight cgi was shitty (specially on the horse run). I know John Cena, even that he has the same range of emotions as a 2x4, can be funny if he wants to. But the humor in here didn't stick, it was weird or just not funny. The plot is mediocre at best. It's a 3 for me, and mostly because of the eye candy of Alison Brie (which until the first half of the movie with the ponytail wasn't even that)
:heart:x6
This was fun enough. There wasn't really a whole lot new, different or exciting, but it was a fun watch nonetheless.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Half naked Alison Brie is probably the best thing I saw in this.
I honestly never laughed once.
John Cena was fine, but the writing lets him down especially when it comes to comedic moments which of course you tend to see him at he’s best.
30mins too long for this type of movie. The action scenes got worse and worse. I didn’t expect much from the plot so that wasn’t an issue. CG is laughable.
Not a risky movie at all. Yes it had a lot of cheesy scenes, but entertaining. Is it a MUST WATCH? Sure, just switch off your brain and watch.
Best Comedy was Alison Brie's face edited on somebody else while riding horse
It's meant to be on the fun side. A bit unrealistic but I was entertained. 6/10 for me.
This movie is incredibly bad. And the Brazilian dubbing hired also left a lot to be desired. An unwatchable film both with audio in Portuguese and with original audio.
There is lot of violence and action but is mostly comedy. It was funny at times And I really loved the hand combat scenes! It's worth checking out this is a fun and exciting movie for adults.
Pretty awful cgi and bad acting. Alison's t&a couldn't save this film.
when finishing this movie, the only think that comes to mind is "WHY?" like it feels like whoever wrote this had ADHD and kept forgetting the theme he was writing.
I think John Cena is an ok actor (Amazon seems to think he's the new Sasha Baron Cohen seeing they're putting him everywhere) and I love Alison brie In almost anything she has been In but this one was just... bad?
we start as a comedy ( very deadpan and not really funny) then it's a action movie(John Cena needs to show the muscles and guns), then it's a romcom for bros (with literally NO chemistry from anyone involved), then its a political conspiracy movie (because why not) then it's back to being an action movie (because explosions) and we're just jumping around all the plot holes and characters written with close to no motivation besides the bare minimum to keep the plot together.
none of the characters are likeable or interesting enough to redeem the fact they're not likeable... it's just a big miss in all areas it tries to cover.
A cross between "Romancing the Stone" and a bad political thriller trying to sell a serious message... it was mediocre.
Don't take the movie too seriously and it's actually very enjoyable.
Of course it's a story copy/paste from at least 144 other movies which are exactly 100% the same plot and story.
The woke level is amazingly low, as in 0. Quite surprising.
I really hate Claire Wellington. That's all I have to say.
:heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart: - It's a feel-good popcorn action film
10:heart:- Masterpiece :100:
9:heart:- Excellent
8:heart: - Amazing :ok_hand:
7:heart:- Great :sun_with_face:
6:heart: - Good :thumbsup:
5:heart: - Average :head_bandage:
4:heart: - Bad but watchable :octagonal_sign:
3:heart: - Bad :sob:
2:rage:- Awful :face_vomiting:
1:face_with_symbols_over_mouth: - Bull Shit
This movie is interesting. It's not the throw away nonsense I was expecting from the trailer. I maintain that Cena and Brie don't have the chemistry you want in a man-woman adventure action movie. But unexpectedly the script doesn't push it. The script does a lot of things unexpectedly to be honestly.
The strange thing about this movie is that somehow in spite of everything in it's premise, from the big strong man my people call 'The American' shooting up a poorer nation ruled by an insane and violent dictator to the jungle poor but honest working people, the movie manages to avoid being the most jingoistic thing I've seen in 5 years. Considering how lazy the other elements of the movie are it's almost as if genuine criticism of typical jingoistic action films was it's real purpose one that it manages to do with a touch of actual heart. One that isn't distracted by a budding romance and sexual tension between it's male and female lead.
All that and still I say if you are the type of person to find Allison Brie attractive, then this is the movie for that kind of thing. Full of The Layover (2017) (https://trakt.tv/comments/155857) moments. Yes she does saucy-sashay her way through the movie which is a hilarious contrast to her character's motivation as being taken seriously.
It's just so unexpectedly interesting. I put this on for a lark. The trailer looked kinda bad and bland. But in the end I think I have a movie that I not only like but that I might want to watch again. Even though it's has tonal jumps all over the place. Unearned scenes of humor. Scenes of gore that come out of nowhere. Editing that in any given scene might just make you want to rewind five seconds to see if that scene even made sense visually. Yet it seems to avoid doing the "same old thing" that most action movies of this type do. Even the ending didn't have the requisite secret backstabber that I expected from the start of the movie.
The comparison for this movie is last year's The Lost City (2022). Now if you look at the two movies. The Lost City is going to be rated much higher. I think they put more budget in that. They have bigger not muscle man stars (Bullock, Radcliff, Pit). Tatum and Cena are practically interchangeable in my opinion. But The Lost City is more polished. It's also more shallow. It's more navel-gazey. It's very focused on the characters and doesn't really care about the people in the country they arrive in. In contrast while Freelance isn't as polished. It cares less about the main characters and more about developing the narrative about people of the country. I enjoyed both movies. But I think Freelance has fewer sustained flaws. Yeah there's some awful CGI scenes but that outfit Sandra was in was just awful and that lasted much longer. It's just The Lost City also has greater interpersonal chemistry and the big names are very effectively used. The jokes are setup better and land harder. But still as I said earlier. I kinda want to watch Freelance again where as The Lost City is probably just a movie I wouldn't switch channels from if it pops up on PlutoTV or something.
It was a great easy watching movie that was entertaining
This was so poor. There was no reason, no reason at all, that this film should've been made. Jacob Lentz had zero business writing a movie . I wouldn't trust him to write an e-mail let alone a film. This should not have been labeled a comedy, as there wasn't a single funny or amusing thing that happened during the entirety of it. It was also about 30 minutes too long. This was a huge swing and a miss.
7/10
Movie it self is not great, 5/6 at most. But for el presidente I give it a 7. This dude carried the movie! Started kinda slow, but ended up being a pretty enjoyable movie. Fun to watch when you want to turn of your head and just watch a movie.
comical far cry's rip off
Definitely the best in this is president Vargas, John cena did what he is capable of, and Alison Brie fails completely
Wow... really bad. Can't believe people actually got a paycheck for this. The writers should be taken out and shot.
1/10
one of the worst films iv seen this year , don't waste your energy or Electricity give it 1/10
Shout by Ragnar LothbrokBlockedParent2023-11-28T22:25:23Z
It's always a pleasure to see Alison Brie, especially almost naked. John Cena is also good.
And don't forget - a man who touches the honey will eventually lick his fingers.