Bullet Points: Freelance (2023)
I believe that John Cena has finally reached a point where he’s no longer at any risk of losing his place among the action stars. He’s had a successful comic book series, a couple of really fun DTV (or streaming) action flicks, and he’s in about half a dozen different commercials. He’s essentially all over the television and he is still able to run back to the WWE when the writer’s strike stopped movie production. Freelance seems funny, at first glance, because it’s so similar to Cena’s The Marine. In both films he returns from service in the military and is thrown back into a situation where he must use his skills. Let’s hope this one is as fun as The Marine was.
Synopsis: An ex-special forces operative takes a job to provide security for a journalist as she interviews a dictator, but when a military coup breaks out in the middle of the interview, they are forced to escape into the jungle.
- Who is Mason Pettits: I will say right away that I don’t like the name. I think John Cena is a better name for an action hero than Mason Pettits but they at least play it up throughout the film with lines about things being “petite”. Except his penis, of course. No movie star is gonna allow them to say he has a little weiner. So Mason was one year away from being a lawyer when he decided to join the Army. He ended up in the Special Forces and that was when he truly felt like he was where he belonged.
- Crash and Burn: Mason’s chopper gets shot down on a mission to take out a President of a South American country (Do they still do that?) and he injures his back pretty badly. Some of his friends die in the crash and he’s forced to leave the military and head back to his life of being a lawyer and having a daughter and a hot wife played by Alice Eve. Tough luck….I guess.
- Your new gig: Mason is miserable and his marriage is in disarray. He runs into his old buddy from the Army played by Christian Slater and agrees to take a job protecting a journalist (Alison Brie). It just so happens that she is interviewing the same President that Mason was on his way to kill all those years ago.
- Their chemistry: Since so much of the movie depends on the chemistry between Cena and Brie, it’s good that the two of them seem to play off one another pretty well. Mason is all business and it’s really when they meet President Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba) that the film really picks up. He’s hilarious and yet sincere in his love for his people at the same time. It isn’t long before the action picks up.
- On the Run: After a cleverly planned ambush, the trio is on the run from a coup d’etat. The gov’t, specifically Venegas’ nephew and a group of South African mercenaries are there trying to take him out. As we go further into the film, we learn that there are other reasons why President Venegas has had a target on his back for some time. Reasons that were unknown to Mason and we start to see a change in the beefcake Cena.
- Big Business: Freelance has lots of things going for it. The actors are all pretty likeable. Cena, Brie and JPR are all great in their roles and you could totally see another film featuring some sort of adventure in the country of Paldonia. Hidden here is the idea that other governments and massive corporations are causing the poverty and destruction of lands in these non-Western countries.
- Killin’: We do get a quick shower sequence where they cover their privates and everyone acts like they’ve never seen a nipple but we also get a whole lot of killing. That’s good because they film does have a lull in the middle of it and we’re just waiting to get some of the loose ends tied up. One thing about Cena’s character is that he’s still favoring that back injury and he remembers every once in a while to sell that injury. Gotta love it.
The Verdict: All that is to say that Cena has some good will among the community and I think the next thing for him to do would be this type of flick. The type of flick that my wife could actually watch. The type that feels like it could’ve easily had Cameron Diaz or Jennifer Garner in it a decade ago and one that won’t have much re-watchability but one that will probably do well on Netflix. Cena is likable and I’m glad they went the direction they did concerning his relationship status. The film had some solid shootouts and Alison Brie is funny and more up to the task than Cena in most cases. I also found it kind of funny that Mason’s wife was played by Alice Eve and he was unhappy in his marriage. Some men just need more than a hot wife. I had a lot of fun watching Freelance and I expect this is one that most of you reading this will like.
