Sean’s movie thoughts

John Cena as New Orleans Detective Danny Fisher. He arrested an arms dealer named Miles Jackson but an accident happened that killed Miles’ lover. A year later Miles breaks out of prison and kidnaps Danny’s girlfriend and sets a series of challenges for Danny. (This makes it feel a bit like Diehard 3.) Cena is pretty good in this. He gives off a good determined vibe and if he did not do his own stunts, the stunt double for him was pretty good. He has a nice chemistry with his partner, and his love interest. (Those are separate characters in case I was unclear.) This is definitely a step up from the Marine. Aiden Gillian is good as the villain Miles Jackson. This was before he joined the cast of Game of Thrones. Gillian has been in the Maze Runner series too. (He was good in that series.) There are sequels to this but Cena did not return for them. I am not saying this is great but I enjoyed it on re-watch.

John Cena was the star of the first Marine film and it is okay. It has a nice turn by Robert Patrick as a bad guy.  Cena plays a Marine named John who gets discharged for disobeying an order, the fact that he pulled off the mission  I guess is besides the point. He tries to get work as a security guard but that ends after he throws someone through a plate glass window. (The guy deserved it though but after that John’s buddy left the movie.) John and his wife are going to the mountains but they end up at the same gas station as Patrick and his band of villains. (The heroes of this series, from what I have observed from watching five of the six films, are not very lucky.) Thing go sideways and his wife gets kidnapped. John Cena is capable in the action scenes but he was not a natural actor at the time. (The fact his character is named John might have been a hint.) He has become better over the years but I don’t think he is in the same class as Dwayne Johnson.