‘Matchbox: The Movie’ Promises High

How do you take an intellectual property and turn it into a full-length feature film? Who cares? Matchbox: The Movie just looks like a lot of fun, whatever its origin story. The same kind of fun you had as a kid playing with Matchbox toys on the carpet in front of the TV.

That’s essentially what Matchbox: The Movie looks like it has done. Here’s the premise: A group of friends who grew up together playing with Matchbox toys gets together for a reunion. At the bar, after they all take a shot, it appears the shot was spiked, and they all pass out, but not before the group’s alpha male John Cena says, “OK. everybody listen, we’re all going to wake up someplace different.” Seems like he’s been here before.

Cut to a C-130 flying low over a vaguely mysterious eastern Mediterranean sea port. Cut again to an interior shot of plane where Cena is hanging by his wrists.

Thus, is the adventure launched.

It seems the CIA (or is it the CIA?) thinks he has stolen an atom bomb. Or thinks the group of friends has stolen an atom bomb. In any case, they want it back. Nuclear annihilation hangs in the balance.

That’s enough of a premise to string together a long series of car chases, shoot-em-ups, Cena using his professional wrestler past to bodyslam bad guy after bad guy into walls, shelving, and off roofs, interspersed with occasional cuts to calm cul-de-sacs in the movie where Cena and Biel make googly eyes at each other before… more chasing!

“I got to wheelie a VW van… and jump a 6×6 Land Rover,” Cena told the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/sphere-entertainment-slides-after-analyst-downgrade-flags-cooling-wizard-of-oz-demand/” title=”Sphere Entertainment Slides After Analyst Downgrade Flags Cooling ‘Wizard of Oz’ Demand”>entertainment outlet Polygon. “So, like, for real. This thing is roll cage-tested. You’re in there with a six-point harness. If you roll it, you’re probably gonna be okay. So put the gas down and have fun.”

Biel got to do some stunts, too, the first of her career.

“I hadn’t done any real stunt driving like this in the past. Not really. Not for any other job or movie or anything like that,” Biel said at Comic Con last summer. “So this opportunity was incredible. We had the most incredible team. The most amazing stunt drivers, and everyone training us. I got to learn how to 180 a car to a mark on the back of the car, 360 to a mark, skid out, fishtail out… so cool.”

In between those two was the supporting cast of friends, including comics Arturo Castro and Sam Richardson, who form a sort of comic bond, and actress Teyonah Parris. It’s all directed by stuntman-turned-director Sam Hargrave, who was stunt coordinator for seemingly every major action movie of the modern era, from Captain America: Civil Warand Avengers: Endgame to The Saint, The Accountant, and Atomic Blonde.

So we’re going to assume the action moves right along. Or at least we’re going to hope it does. We weren’t invited to preview the movie, which can be a bad omen. But it’s only on Apple TV, so it’s not like you have to get all dressed up and go to a theater to see it. You can watch it on your pajamas on your iPhone.

“Intellectual property sometimes can be tough,” says the surprisingly cerebral Cena. “And we all, having gone through the journey and filmed the movie, feel very confident that when fans see that trailer, they’ll be like, ‘Okay this is great.'”

Will we say the same thing after seeing the movie? Sure! We’re all just playing with Matchbox toys! You can see it October 9 when it comes out on Apple TV.