Freelance

For so many years, action films--script wise--seem to have comic overtones to them.Think about it; with films such as "Kindergarten Cop", "Demolition Man", "The Suicide Squad", "Zombieland", "The Lost City", "Bullet Train" and the like, these are basically action films laced with a ton of humor. So, with "Freelance", we have a similar thread running. 

Ex-special forces operative Mason Pettits (John Cena) is stuck in a dead-end desk job when he reluctantly takes on a freelance gig he got roped into from his former ops buddy, Sebastian Earle (Christian Slater), to provide security for washed up journalist Claire Wellington (Alison Brie) as she interviews the ruthless--but impeccably dressed dictator, Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba). When a military coup breaks out just as she's about to get the scoop of a lifetime, the unlikely trio must figure out how to survive the jungle AND each other in order to make it out alive. 

Others to round out the cast are Alice Eve as Mason's wife, Marton Csokas as Rebel Leader, Julianne Arrieta as Avery Alderson, Molly McCann as Casey, Mason's daughter, Sebastian Eslana as Jorge, Daniel Toro as Jorge's aide and Roberto Cano as Lavato. 

This was helmed by director Pierre Morel ("District B13" '04, "Taken" '08, "From Paris with Love" '09, "The Gunman" '15, "Clan of the Cave Bear" (TV movie) '15, "Peppermint" '18, "The Ambush" (TV movie) '21) plus TV, and observing his resume, is surely within his comfort zone. His staging and pacing were delivered in a way that gave the audience that feel of what to expect next. The emotions ran the gambit with his actors, but, then again, they were supposed to. If you appreciate this filmmaker's brand of directing, his "Canary Black" is in post production. This was surprisingly well written by relative newcomerTJacob Lentz (TV). Even though this film is Lentz's debut for feature films, this was incredibly well penned. Was it an Oscar contender? Absolutely not. Was it terrible? Absolutely not. Considering the lack of feature film experience that Lentz has, he certainly has proven that with more work given him, he will improve with each project he writes--this was an amazing start. Some of this was a bit predictable, and there were a couple of very small areas of choppiness, but, all in all, it was a film that kept one's attention. Both Cena and Pablo Raba were cast amazingly well and gave believable performances. I realize that this film has been panned, but after viewing this, I'm not sure what those other critics were looking for. This was fun, entertaining and a great way to spend the better part a 2 hours. 

If you are an action junkie, this is the film for you. This was humorous, entertaining all the while the heroes are attempting to save the day. It has an underlying message of family and priorities which we all could think about a bit more in our lives. It's a great popcorn film, so have fun with this. I sure did. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                        Rated: R                                            109mins.