Dir. Sam Hargrave · 2026 · 126 min · Apple TV
Sean Walker (John Cena) is a spy and former soldier who goes home and reunites with the childhood friends he left behind, among them Aimee (Jessica Biel), Crosby (Sam Richardson), Ted (Arturo Castro) and Charmaine (Teyonah Parris). The reunion does not last. The friends are drugged, wake up kidnapped, and learn that a group is after a nuclear warhead and that the CIA believes Sean and his friends stole it. Their only way to clear their names is to steal it back. That is the first act, and this review stops there. The film comes from Mattel's Matchbox toy line, with a script by David Coggeshall.
The kindest reviews are the ones that expected nothing. JoBlo's Alex Maidy says it "works far better than I would have hoped", singles out Hargrave's chase sequences and crashes, and finds Cena more subdued than in his recent action comedies, which he thinks works in his favour. TheWrap's William Bibbiani credits a cast that is "actually trying to imbue this film with humor and character", calls the climactic chase "a hoot", and picks out Biel's grieving performance as a grounding element.
one of the most entertaining generic streaming action comedies, which says very little
William Bibbiani, TheWrap
The complaints are consistent. Both of those friendlier critics say the Matchbox link feels tacked on: Bibbiani says the film has so little to do with the toys it feels like the wrong film, and Maidy compares the tie-ins to a two-hour commercial. They also note some weak computer effects, a jokey tone that undercuts the danger, and fight scenes that fall short of the chases. Bibbiani finds Hargrave short of the energy of his Extraction films.
The harsher notices, as quoted by Forbes, go further. The New York Times' Brandon Yu thinks a brand with no distinct conceptual identity was perhaps always doomed. The AV Club's Simon Abrams argues the film never commits to being either a parody or a heartfelt story about friendship. IndieWire's David Ehrlich says it moves from Casablanca to Budapest with the urgency of a Friday afternoon work meeting. Variety's Guy Lodge allows it occasional charm.
Wikipedia's summary of the reception puts it at 24 per cent positive on Rotten Tomatoes from 25 critics and 46 out of 100 on Metacritic from 12 critics, which it calls mixed to negative. Those figures were still moving when this was written. The pattern in the reviews is a gap between people judging it as a brand adaptation, who are hard on it, and people judging it as a Friday-night streaming action comedy, who find it passable. The score here sits between the two: two and a half stars out of five.
It looks like a fit for viewers who want a loud, undemanding caper with a likeable cast and a few big car stunts, and who will not mind a story that reads as generic. If you are hoping for a Matchbox nostalgia trip or for the grit of Hargrave's earlier work, the reviews suggest you will be disappointed.
Tap what applies. This is a reading of the reviews, not a prediction.
Pick one or more to see how the reviews line up.
The film premiered in New York on 5 October 2026 and arrived on Apple TV on 9 October 2026. Availability varies by country, so check your local listings.
Sources: TheWrap, JoBlo, Forbes for the NYT, AV Club, IndieWire and Variety lines, Notebookcheck, Wikipedia for credits, runtime and scores, Mattel for the release date.