r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 7d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Matchbox The Movie [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Matchbox the Movie (2026)
Summary
When a group of childhood friends reconnect, their reunion takes an unexpected turn. Sean, a former leader of the group who is now an undercover CIA agent, returns to his hometown and unwittingly draws his old friends into a dangerous international conspiracy. Together, they must survive a globe-trotting pursuit and save the world.
Director
Sam Hargrave
Writer
David Coggeshall
Story Consultant
Matt Westbrook
Cast
- John Cena
- Jessica Biel
- Sam Richardson
- Arturo Castro
- Teyonah Parris
- Corey Stoll
- Bill Camp
- Golshifteh Farahani
- Danai Gurira
Rotten Tomatoes: 24
Metacritic: 46
VOD / Release
October 9, 2026 (Apple TV)
Trailer
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u/MeaninglessGuy 7d ago
Missed an insane opportunity to make a fun effects movie about people shrunk down Honey I Shrunk the Kids-style and stunt-driving Matchbox cars all over a suburban house.
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u/The_Swarm22 7d ago
There’s literally a line in this where Jessica Biel says “Gotta pay the bills” and I assume that was the mindset everyone had when signing on for this.
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u/greendakota99 3d ago
As she casually exits a race car and is within 15 feet of her parked ambulance that she gets in to drive for work.
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u/_-Prison_Mike-_ 7d ago
Sean, a former leader of the group who is now an undercover CIA agent
I'm so fucking tired of this trope, man.
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u/N8CCRG 7d ago
These streaming services are asking their chatbots for the formula to a blockbuster movie with wide appeal and they're all getting the same answer and greenlighting it, because CEOs think "AI" is an actual intelligence.
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u/_-Prison_Mike-_ 7d ago
I have no doubt that's the reason, and I have no doubt that they actually do decent numbers. It's boomer slop. But, god damn, I'm not exaggerating when I say that 80% of action movies now involve the plot of "Former or currently undercover CIA agent, assassin, or super secret Special Forces." The only movie that's handled the trope decently in the last decade has been Nobody. Get a new plot point.
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u/pinkysegun 4d ago
I mean we had slop like this before AI, stop blaming the Algorithm for incompetency of humans
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u/manored78 7d ago
This is probably such an understated thing. I really do think studio heads are coming up with ideas using AI. I swear some of the scripts have to be AI because there is no way the writing is this bad and incoherent. They really do think AI is intelligence.
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u/pinkysegun 4d ago
Terrible movies exited pre AI in 80s, 90s, 00s,10s, not imcluding B or cheaply made ones. Blaming this on AI is just creating excuses for those people who have produced nonsense like expecially when they have the budget to do better.
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u/manored78 4d ago
Why is there always someone that excuses this type of stuff by studios just because shit was done in the past? It’s so lazy.
Making bad movies back then didn’t have a major impact on the industry itself as AI does.
Do you get paid to defend this or are you licking boot for free? I just don’t get how placated people can be.
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u/unsuitableasf 6d ago
This entire movie is Action Movie Trope: the Movie. They somehow got a fantastic cast (and Jessica Biel) and made them lose their charisma and act as plastic and forgettable as modern matchbox cars
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u/y2jasper 7d ago
I think Jessica beil should have ended up with the sultry arms dealer lady.
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u/jawknee530i 20h ago
I just wanted to slap Beals character every time she said anything. "We saved your ass" no the duck you didn't lady you did quite literally nothing. "We need to split them up" why? You going off to the side door just made two motorcycles follow you which accomplished literally nothing. "Do you every turn it off?" Bitch you are being chased by people trying to murder you and him not turning it off is the one reason you're alive right now.
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u/Froteet 7d ago
Look, it's not the worst thing I've watched this year... But it's not far from the bottom I'll tell you that
It does the worst thing a movie can imo, it's boring
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u/HugeLeaves 7d ago
Making it a 2 hour movie was certainly a choice, I had it on in the background while I was cleaning my house and I had no intention of rewinding it at any point to see what happened.
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u/Froteet 7d ago
Same, I was background watching it while folding laundry and I never thought "oh I missed something important"
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u/MoistProlapse 7d ago
I was background watching too, and I really regret not listening to something else for an hour. I don't even know who this movie is for, cause my kids peaced out like 20 minutes in, and the oldest is 13.
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u/jawknee530i 20h ago
I just wanted to slap Beals character every time she said anything. "We saved your ass" no the duck you didn't lady you did quite literally nothing. "We need to split them up" why? You going off to the side door just made two motorcycles follow you which accomplished literally nothing. "Do you every turn it off?" Bitch you are being chased by people trying to murder you and him not turning it off is the one reason you're alive right now.
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u/Sammyd1108 7d ago
Like every Apple action film so far, very generic and nothing that really makes it stand out. It’s not the worst thing you can watch, but it isn’t really good either.
They should’ve leaned more into the comedy aspect and it would’ve made it more fun at least. I probably would’ve quit watching if I didn’t really like the cast.
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u/AVR350 7d ago
Atleast Mayday was lot of fun, especially Kenneth Branagh and had some really well choreographed fights and a chase scene
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u/Digital__Illusi0nz 7d ago
Also Mayday tabled the turns a little, by making Reynolds the weaker partner, even if he was also some fighter pilot.
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u/Data_Chandler 5d ago
Mayday was fantastic. What a fun surprise. For those that are skeptical: it's from the same directors as D&D: Honor Among Thieves!
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u/0verstim 7d ago
you say that as if the other streamers dont make vapid stuff like this also. Gray Man, Red Notice, 6 Underground, Red One, Tomorrow War...
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u/hallmark1984 7d ago
Tbf 3 of those 4 are vastly better than Matchbox.
Remember kids, a 4/10 is twice as high a score as 2/10.
Matchbox was worse than Battleship.
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u/Parmesan_Pirate119 6d ago
Why is this so serious?
Like, did they not know anyone watching this just wanted some fun dumb car chase scenes and John Cena doing John Cena things?
Sometimes, it's okay to just have a little fun and not take yourself seriously.
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u/ignatious__reilly 7d ago
Not going to lie…….
I turned it off
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u/mojo-jojo-was-framed 7d ago
This being over 2 hours is really daunting. No reason for it to be over 90 minutes
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u/Even-Lawfulness8796 7d ago
I made it like 40 minutes in. Felt like they just took every spy movie cliché and threw them in a blender, the plot was all over the place. John Cena doing his usual thing but even that couldn't save it.
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u/WizardPhoenix 7d ago
That’s saying something because for me it takes a lot for movie to irritate me that much. Last time I did that for a movie was probably Ghosted. Once it cut to Tim Blake Nelson acting like an actor who is a Spy Kids or Nickelodeon movie, I shut it the fuck off.
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u/unsuitableasf 6d ago edited 6d ago
It’s taken me three separate viewings to get through it. I’ve never seen a movie with such carefully crafted well done action sequences be so boring.
Holy balls even the Tom Petty cover at the end is bad.
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u/TexasSk8 4d ago
I fell asleep and when I woke up it felt like hours and the damn movie was still on!
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u/krisko612 7d ago
How much is it inspired by Matchbox?
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u/slaterman2 7d ago
There's a lot of talk about how great Matchbox is.
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u/WiFiForeheadWrinkles 6d ago
I think they mentioned Leatherman more frequently than Matchbox but I wasn't really paying that much attention
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u/greendakota99 3d ago
There are several pivotal emotional scene discussing “thinking inside the box”.
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u/kneeco28 7d ago
David Ellison is even worse at this than you think.
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u/supermans_neighbour 4d ago
Funny how his choice of bad guys at the beginning were arab bad guys wearing the РаIeѕtinian kuffiуeh
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u/Chris_Bagel_Jr 4d ago
I have a friend who worked at Skydance.
Any movie he’s involved with (besides Mission Impossible, Ray Gunn) are mostly bad due to his taste in movies.
Their animation division is suffering because he prefers the worst Minions sequels over Sony Animation or old school Pixar. He hates sentimental stuff.
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u/0verstim 7d ago
Tens of millions of people are going to watch this. Sometimes you want wagyu, but sometimes you just want Doritos.
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u/dustyfaxman 7d ago
The Mild and the Moderate.
It's bland, functional, zero peril for anyone at any time, action bunkum.
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u/Ok_Helicopter_2499 7d ago
Feels like Cena is taking The Rocks scraps.
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u/surkoc1 4d ago
Read that The Rock is rumored to be doing a film with Martin Scorsese. Which is being compared to "Goodfellas," but in Hawaii. Sounds interesting, but I'm sure both are very busy with different productions, etc., so who knows if that happens
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u/greendakota99 3d ago
“Compared to” Goodfellas? Or “From the director of” Goodfellas?
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u/surkoc1 3d ago
Well it would be about a gangster in Hawaii & some from the mainland trying to take over, from the description I read. But also directed by Martin Scorsese. It would be something good for The Rock too, as he's been trying to do different types of roles than the same he's done
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u/Playful_Honey_4175 1d ago
I actually quite like the Rock when he isn't doing his usual schtick, so this is something I'm looking forward to
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u/DrSpaceman575 5d ago
Lol I thought the same, my wife said she wonders how many times The Rock passed on this script
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u/Potore5 7d ago
Jessica Biel and Golshifteh Farahani
I repeat,
Jessica Biel and Golshifteh Farahani
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u/jawknee530i 20h ago
I just wanted to slap Biels character every time she said anything. "We saved your ass" no the duck you didn't lady you did quite literally nothing. "We need to split them up" why? You going off to the side door just made two motorcycles follow you which accomplished literally nothing. "Do you every turn it off?" Bitch you are being chased by people trying to murder you and him not turning it off is the one reason you're alive right now.
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u/TaikaWaitiddies 7d ago
I'm a John Cena fan and I'd watch him in anything but this one was rough
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u/__Pendulum__ 6d ago
I want the last 2 hours of my life back. I could have spent it on more productive things. Even just sitting in a chair looking out the window at nothing.
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u/TheSodernauts 5d ago
I too will watch most things he's in but he spent some significant good faith capital with this one.
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u/Riggs1087 7d ago
For some reason I watched the whole thing. It ain’t Casablanca.
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u/sibooku 7d ago
Right, because Casablanca is a movie about a club-owner named Rick. This movie is about… matchbox cars? I’m not sure.
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u/WarmMoistLeather 7d ago
I was thinking about making this reference but I wasn't sure anyone would get it. So just wanted to let you know I appreciate it!
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u/CreepyGymTeacher 7d ago
Well you’re in luck the producer behind this film just bought the studio that made Casablanca…and with a Mattel co-CEO in charge expect more Matchboxes..
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u/gambalore 7d ago
Mattel also owns Hot Wheels and they have that movie in development now too, with Jon M. Chu attached to direct. This is all so so stupid.
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u/Redxcted999 7d ago
Next matchbox Better have a shit ton of cars in it…only watched this all the way cause I’m a car guy and the car selection was alright was taken up by too much action scenes
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u/ToneBone12345 7d ago
The movie starts with the amazing Runnin’ down a dream by Tom petty and then ends with a garbage cover of runnin down a dream that really sums up the movie
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u/leafs81215 7d ago
I’m about 45 minutes in and…this thing is on life support.
It had one terrific exchange involving the
Morals of someone who throws people out of airplanes.
But it’s been close to dead since then..
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u/Falstaffe 7d ago
Perhaps he's wondering why someone would shoot a man before throwing him out of a plane.
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u/Twisted_lurker 6d ago
50 minutes in and the only references to matchbox were in the first 5 minutes. I’ll wait through it for a race track with a loop.
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u/VampireHunterAlex 7d ago
The trailer made it feel like the most generic & forgetful action movie you can imagine: And that’s saying quite a lot considering the era of unmemorable action blockbusters on streaming.
(Especially Apple TV & Netflix)
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u/KevReadThis 6d ago
Paint-by-numbers action spy movie with the Matchbox brand seemingly tagged on after 99% of the story was written.
Could have been so much more....
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u/LiangHu 6d ago
You know there are 3 good things about this movie.
Sam Hargrave, the guy who created the action scenes in Tyler Rake has a guest role in there, but too bad the action scenes in this movie are nowhere this lvl lol.
Sean drives a Nissa GTR.
Sean made a Zangief joke, ye for the upcoming SF movie lol.
Other than that it was your typical Friday night action movie.
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u/Taker598 5d ago
It really bothers me how they have these really wacky scenes and very little self-aware dry humor to put it altogether.
This had Game Night energy, but the film refuse to lean into it. Sad.
Instead of being self-aware dumb and funny... It's mostly just dumb and boring with actual quality live action stunts. What a waste since we get so little live action stunts.
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u/Sisiwakanamaru r/movies Contributor 7d ago
Surprisingly, I enjoyed it more than I expected, it was nice to see Jessica Biel in an action movie again, speaking of action, some of the actions were memorable, like the third act. The rest of the cast were fine, although I found the overall plot to be ridiculous. All in all, I did not hate it.
Fun Fact: Mason, the boy who got into the ambulance during the last scene is Jessica Biel's son
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u/HickorysticksEnigma 6d ago
I agree with a lot of people who have said it feels very generic, predictable and full of cliches but its a matchbox movie and very much feels like a throwback to 90s pg13 action films which I found a way to appreciate on a Saturday afternoon watch.
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u/BassWingerC-137 5d ago
I’ll get flamed for this, but it was a better car movie than Baby Driver was. And had more likable characters.
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u/adamtheimpaler 7d ago
I..... I almost cried when the scientist guy said that he was suicidal in high school, and he was just bullied everyday, and that the Matchbox group meant so much to him. That it was just so much more than just a matchbox car group.... /s
Then he mentioned Brian, his husband, and his three kids, which at this point in the movie was basically just a comment I was suppose to remember from the bar scene earlier. and then I laughed so hard instead....
This is a competent enough movie that is exactly what you would expect from the trailer.
It feels like its almost on the same level of the A-Team movie(which I genuinely like for one of these types of ip movies) or maybe one of the GI Joes movies. Its not near a Gone in 60 Seconds level, which is more what I would have went for if I was making a matchbox/hot wheels movie, but it is on par with most of the Fast and Furious movies I've seen.
I think ultimately its good enough that you could watch it as a drinking game where you drink every time you see a matchbox car or real car/vehicle based on a matchbox toy. So I think it's successful in its execution.
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u/Street-View-6318 6d ago
Very forgettable film but kudos to the almost frame by frame recreation of the fake out death scene from Indiana Jones Last Crusade when Indy plunges of the cliff. 😂
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u/TheCavis 5d ago
This is a movie that I watched.
It felt like a movie that wanted to be zany but also kept reeling itself back in. They launched a semi with a tow truck, Biel's driving the remains of a car straight out of Wacky Races, Cena's in the background struggling to pull himself up as they mourn his death, and then they drop right back into the main plot. It had a few amusing moments but it was mostly forgettable.
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u/Training-Look-1135 5d ago
The Mattel logo and the beginning. 😂 They have one movie that apparently people went to see (Barbie... 😏) Now they think they are the MC fucking U ... 😂
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u/Thiezing 5d ago
"Treating him like a human tea bag." - how one character describes John Cena being dipped into water while hanging onto a helicopter.
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u/bendo_4130 5d ago
Terrible movie imo. Lame story that we've heard/seen hundred times before and all the characters and dialogues were so superficial.
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u/FoxMcCloudOwnsSlippy 5d ago
First 5 mins and I was randomly thinking, god why are the colours so muted and bland? It's supposed to be a fun movie, let the colours pop.
The story is a standard spy movie with the IP smacked on. Apple can't quite crack their streaming movies which is a stark contrast to their shows which contain some bangers.
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u/Effective_Buddy1178 4d ago
Movie was straight buns. I regret watching it… Apple missed be mark with this one big time.
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u/supermans_neighbour 4d ago
I was wondering who would sponsor and produce a movie in 2026 where kuffiyeh wearing arabs portrayed as bad guys are in the start of the movie, and then a google search shows hardcore ZlONlЅТЅ behind the movie like EIIiѕon (guy who buys every mega media corp, and TikTok) and Уnon Krelz a literal lѕraeIi…
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u/barrosoOso 3d ago
Man, it wasn't the best thing I've ever seen, but I sure as hell didn't hate it like every one here. Straight up adult paw patrol.
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u/lovely_cappuccino 1d ago
So this is why the Chain Bridge was closed. This shouldn’t have been a 2 hour film. At least the car and helicopter stunts were real. That’s a win in today’s world. Unfortunately, the story feels like Apple just prompted Siri AI: make a script for a generic action movie using every spy trope we have Mission Impossible at home style.
(Jessica Biel in that dress = 7th heaven)
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u/jawknee530i 20h ago
I just wanted to slap Beals character every time she said anything. "We saved your ass" no the duck you didn't lady you did quite literally nothing. "We need to split them up" why? You going off to the side door just made two motorcycles follow you which accomplished literally nothing. "Do you every turn it off?" Bitch you are being chased by people trying to murder you and him not turning it off is the one reason you're alive right now.
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u/stubbledchin 3d ago
I hear people say a film is generic and I often think it's unfair. Predictable films can still be fun and enjoyable.
But holy shit this is generic. To the point you can predict the next line at times. The blandest characters. The loosest connection to the title.
Something it would have going for it is that it seems a large amount of the car stunts are done for real, including flipping a truck and throwing another off of a bridge. Unfortunately these are quite badly shot and edited so you don't really get a sense of awesome.
Some stuff is just brushed over like a water landing in a plane that suddenly jumps to them on the beach.
No concern or peril when the gang is in a party while their family believe them missing. But Jessica Biel definitely has a back.
And worst crime? Not nearly enough cars.
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u/mamute_hagnos 2d ago
did anyone notice there not one scene of cena just walking, showing his fullbody, i noticed on peacemaker, but the dude has a serious back problem
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7d ago
[deleted]
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u/Mindless_Formal_6647 6d ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted for that opinion. I do the same thing
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u/Fit-Theory-6342 6d ago
The range of emissions on Jesica Biels face were unbelievable, worthy of an Oscar even
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u/Acrobatic_Bet_4891 7d ago
It should have been "Honey I Shrunk the Fast and the Furious." A shrunken John Cena and crew in Matchbox cars, racing around the normal-sized world.