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John Cena is no stranger to action movies – but his latest, Freelance, sounds like it may have been better off staying on the cutting room floor. The movie debuted to a score of 0% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 reviews from critics at the time of writing.
Cena stars as Mason Pettits, a retired Special Forces operator. With his military career long behind him and becoming restless in his new life as a suburban lawyer, he decides to take on a job as a security detail for a journalist (Alison Brie) as she travels to interview the president of a fictional South American country (Narcos' Juan Pablo Raba). The movie was helmed by Pierre Morel, the director of Taken, starring Liam Neeson, and From Paris with Love, starring John Travolta.
"It should all make for a zippy good time, crackling with humor and intrigue and punctuated with bursts of thrilling action. But Freelance fails to deliver on every front. Worse, it barely seems to try," writes The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han.
"There’s an oppressive nothingness to Freelance. No romance. No comedy. No action. Sure, there are half-hearted attempts at those things, but none of it connects because this film doesn’t have an ounce of artistry behind it," Brian Tallerico writes for RogerEbert.com.
Meanwhile, "John Cena deserves better. And so do we," is the damning verdict of The Globe and Mail's Barry Hertz.
Next up for Cena is Argylle, a spy comedy movie from Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn, co-starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, and Henry Cavill.
Freelance is out now. For some slightly higher-rated viewing inspiration, check out our picks of the best Netflix action movies to add to your watch list.
