Movie Review: Freelance (2023)
Synopsis: Eight years after a back injury sustained during a failed mission forced him to leave the Special Forces, Mason Pettis is trying to live a quiet life as an attorney, husband and father but is left with an empty feeling that threatens to end his marriage.
Pettis is given a chance to fill that void when a friend, who owns a private security firm, offers him a freelance job protecting journalist Claire Wellington as she interviews a South American dictator, Juan Venegas. There are just two problems - Venegas is the guy Pettis and his team were supposed to kill on their failed mission and, soon after arriving, the country is thrown into chaos by a coup.
Who's in it? The movie stars John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, Christian Slater and Alice Eve.
Review: I decided to checkout what was on Netflix yesterday evening and since I like both John Cena and Alison Brie, decided to give Freelance a try. While not quite as good as I hoped, it was still an entertaining choice.
The film was pretty much what you'd expect from a Cena-led action movie. There were a lot of bullets flying, plenty of explosions and the occasional pro wrestling-like hand-to-hand combat, though this time with a twist involving a lingering back injury that gave Mason's (Cena) opponents a fighting chance. To keep the movie from becoming too serious, there was a healthy mix of comedy in between.
Claire (Brie) meanwhile made the perfect damsel in distress, always finding herself in need of saving while, at the same time, trying to find excuses to get into more trouble when Mason's top priority was getting her out of the country. I also liked how the movie managed to create quite a bit of sexual tension between the two main characters while going to great lengths to show Mason's commitment to his wife (Eve), despite their marriage troubles.
Venegas (Raba) also added a nice wildcard to the mix. At first, I wasn't sure what to think of him but as the movie progressed and we learned more about the character and his motivations for the exclusive interview, he became a lot more likeable. He also had just enough unpredictability to potentially change the film at any given moment.
The latter could also be said about Mason's employer, Sebastian Earle. It was unclear where he fell in terms of loyalty to Mason and if we'd end up liking or hating him by the end of the movie.
The movie did fall a bit short in some areas. For one, some of the surprise twists weren't all that surprising, including the real reason Mason was offered the job and the truth behind the mission that left Mason injured.
Also, for a bunch of bad guys who were supposed to be highly trained, they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. I can suspend some disbelief with movies like this because you obviously don't want the heroes killed. However, when they are firing machine guns at close range and can't even wound one of the protagonists, that just seems like the movie is making it a bit too easy.
Final Opinion: Cena has had better films but this one was still entertaining enough to be watchable, even with the flaws.
My Grade: B
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 2023:
Movie Review: Til Death Do Us Part (2023)
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