Freelance (2023) Director: Pierre Morel Starring: John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, Christian Slater, Alice Eve
Certificate: 15 Running Time: 109 Minutes
Tagline: "Retirement didn't suit him."
Historically, wrestlers trying to act has rarely gone too well, but in recent years that appears to have changed. Cena is just the latest one to swap the squared circle for the silver screen, and as quickly as Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista, he's found himself headlining big-budget films. Obviously, like the other two, he's something of a man-mountain and is accordingly more than competent in action scenarios, but it's actually his comedic delivery that made me something of a fan of his - something I never really was in his WWE guise, in fact. This is his latest 'vehicle' where he is once again a military dude, or more accurately Mason Pettits, an ex-military dude this time, who was forced to retire from the US Special Forces after his final mission to assassinate 'Paldonian' dictator Juan Venegas (Raba) was ambushed and he was injured. Since recovery, he has been working unhappily as a lawyer and is in an increasingly unhappy marriage to Jenny (Eve).
As if in answer to his prayers, he is offered a lucrative job by Sebastian Earle (Slater), his old CO who now runs a private security company. The bad news? The job in question is to protect disgraced journalist, Claire Wellington (Brie), who has been granted a career-saving exclusive interview with Venegas who's still in power, and who Mason still holds responsible for his injury and the death of his friends in the bungled military op. Astonishingly, almost as soon as they arrive in Paldonia (couldn't risk offending a real country, huh?), they are caught in a military coup when their convoy, also containing Venegas who met them at the airport, is caught in a shooty, explodey ambush. With their cars all fiery and with treacherous soldiers on their tail, it's up to Mason to guide them through the 'Paldonian' jungle to safety.
Naturally, he isn't very enthusiastic about this prospect - he'd rather kill Venegas than protect him - but he still needs to bungle Claire back out of the country, and she and Venegas kind of come as a package deal for the most part. While there are heinous mercenaries hunting them, at least. I believe they are only after Venegas but... you can't leave any loose ends, right? Sadly for them, they apparently didn't bank on Mason who, though still injured, is far from a slouch when it comes to fighty, shooty stuff, and it's these parts of film that are most entertaining. I always enjoy a good sneaky hunter/huntee scenario, especially in woods/jungles, and there are some decent scenes of this nature here (Mason vs Chopper? Yesss!). It's certainly no First Blood but I still found myself wishing there were more of these scenes.
I doubt many would go into a film like this expecting a serious action-drama either, but there is far less humour than I was expecting, and that was, as mentioned, my main reason for watching it. Much of the humour is 'banter' between the three leads but it seems like the producers are also trying to sneak in a few 'messages' here and there too (which doesn't really work when it's a fictional country), and we also have a lengthy pit-stop in a charming rural village. As a result, the tone of the film is all over the place which, combined with iffy chemistry between the talented stars, makes Freelance a bit of a chore to get through. There are a few nice scenes and some explodey action for those who enjoy such things, but the charms of Cena and Brie are mostly wasted in this disappointing outing.
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