Warning: Major spoilers for Hidden Strike below!
Summary
- Hidden Strike's ending features a daring heist and a potential sequel tease, with Jackie Chan and John Cena's characters racing against the villains to stop the biggest oil heist in history.
- Chris survives the truck crash by jumping off and grabbing onto the cliff, defying the physics of the situation in classic action-comedy style.
- Dragon reconciles with his estranged daughter Mei, who forgives him after seeing his heroics and repairing a torn picture of her family, and the ending sets up a possible sequel, although the chances of it happening are slim.
Hidden Strike's ending sees its heroes bring a daring heist to an explosive conclusion - while teasing a potential follow-up. Hidden Strike pairs Jackie Chan and John Cena as former Special Forces soldiers who reluctantly team up to stop an attack on a Chinese oil refinery in Iraq. Cena's Chris initially joins the villain's crew - led by disillusioned mercenary Owen (Pilou Asbæk) - but leaves once he learns their true objective. After Chris' brother is killed by Owen, he, Chan's "Dragon" Luo and Luo's estranged daughter Mei (Chunrui Ma) race against time to stop Owen's men from pulling off the biggest oil heist in history.
Hidden Strike's finale sees the heroes storm the refinery, but despite fighting through waves of Owen's men, they're too late to stop the oil being pumped to waiting tankers. Dragon, Chris and Mei chase the fleeing Owen and his crew, leading to a huge crash that sends the group over a cliff. Chris appears to die in the fall, while Dragon and Mei hold onto a dangling rope from Owen's vehicle. Despite having a chance to escape, Owen dies attempting to kill Dragon and his daughter, who are saved by landing on a ledge. The very much alive Chris later climbs up to them and they wait together for rescue.
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How Chris Survived The Truck Going Over The Cliff
Hidden Strike's ending sees Chris and Dragon commander a huge truck with a jet engine on the back, which was used earlier by the mercs to create a sandstorm. The jet comes in useful for stopping Owen's crew, but it also sends Chris, Dragon and Mei rocketing off a cliff in the finale. Since Chris was hanging on for dear life near the back of the truck, it's assumed he had to have died when it when over.
Of course, that would be a bleak ending to a somewhat lightweight action-comedy, so it's later revealed he jumped off the jet truck as it plummeted and grabbed onto the cliff. The physics of this are questionable, considering the truck flew quite a distance away from the cliff when it shot over the edge. Still, realism isn't one of Hidden Strike's strong points, so it's best not to dwell on the logic of Chris' survival.
Does Luo Stop The Oil Heist?
Hidden Strike's main villain Owen grew tired of the mercenary life while watching those he worked for grow rich. Thus, he hatched a plan to steal oil from the Chinese refinery and needed the help of local mercenaries Chris and his younger brother Henry (Amadeus Serafini) to do it. Owen's plans involved sending the oil through a network of underground pipes to awaiting oil tankers. After Owen's defeat, Luo directs his men to intercept the tankers and take back the stolen oil, thus saving the day.
Hidden Strike's mid-credits sequence doesn't explain how the stranded trio were rescued from the ledge and picks up with them back in the village Chris was trying to save. His entire reason for signing up with Owen's crew was to earn enough money to restore the water to the village's well. While he doesn't ultimately receive that paycheck, he, Dragon and Mei work together to fix the well, with the villagers being jubilant when the water starts flowing again. Amidst the celebrations, Dragon again advises his daughter to stay away from the overly flirtatious Chris.
How Dragon Luo Reconciles With His Daughter Mei
Part of Dragon volunteering for the oil refinery evacuation mission was to reconnect with Mei, who worked there as an engineer. Their estranged relationship plays a big role in Hidden Strike, where it's revealed early in the story that Mei felt abandoned by her father. When she was young, Mei's mother took her away from Dragon, but later fell ill and died in hospital. During that time, Dragon claims he was on a top-secret mission and couldn't come to visit them, but Mei refuses to forgive him.
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Throughout the story, Mei carries a torn picture of Dragon from her childhood. Thanks to his heroics, she starts to see her father in a new light, especially in Hidden Strike's ending when she sees that he's repaired her photo with the other half, which features her mother and Mei as a child. He claims "You two have always been with me," leading Mei to forgive him.
Why Owen Killed Chris' Brother Henry
Part of Chris' backstory in Hidden Strike is that he, his father and brother worked as private contractors, and got a mission on Baghdad's "Highway of Death." While his father thought it was a bad job, Chris pushed for him to accept, but after a firefight that lasted for 48 hours, his father and most of his men died. Feeling immense survivor's guilt, Chris doesn't want to take any more mercenary work, but his brother Henry convinces him to sign on for Owen's "extraction" job. In truth, Owen only really wanted Chris and felt his brother was too young and untrustworthy for his team.
Once Chris learns he was lied to about the job, he quits and leaves Owen's crew. Despite Henry's claims he's still of use, Owen wastes little time and shoots him in the head. Again, this is because he felt that without his older brother helping out, Henry was of little use. Chris later finds his brother's dead body and swears revenge on Owen.
Hidden Strike's ending features a fairly blatant sequel hook, where after water is restored at the village, Dragon's men return. They state there's a new mission, so Dragon turns to Chris and invites him to join. With his work at the village wrapped up and perhaps feeling he'd earn some redemption for his father and brother's deaths, there's not much holding Chris to the village anymore. While Chris doesn't say yes to the offer, the freeze-frame fist bump that ends Hidden Strike suggests he's taking the gig.
Of course, the question remains of whether Hidden Strike 2 is even possible. The Chinese/American co-production started life as a team-up between Chan and Sylvester Stallone, though the latter dropped out and was replaced by Cena. The project was first dubbed Project X-Traction before being retitled Snafu and after it wrapped filming in 2018, Snafu sat on a shelf for five years. It was thought that comments made by Cena during a press tour for F9 in 2021 - where Cena angered China by referring to Taiwan as a country - may have played some hand in its continued delay.
Despite its long delay, Hidden Strike quickly claimed the number 1 spot on Netflix when it finally debuted. The film clearly cost a lot to produce, but it's been a sizable hit despite negative reviews. In all likelihood, Hidden Strike 2 probably won't happen. Its two stars have long since moved on since the project wrapped years prior, with Cena's star having since risen substantially thanks to the Fast & Furious movies and playing Peacemaker. It was likely felt Hidden Strike was damaged goods after such a lengthy delay, so after its surprise success, producers might not want to tempt fate with a sequel.
