John Cena’s transformation into a bona fide movie star has long since been complete, but it still feels like a fun surprise every time he pops up in a new movie. Amazon’s cottoned on to his value nice and smartly, too.
After he starred opposite Zac Efron as a grown-up imaginary friend in Ricky Stanicky earlier this year, Cena’s queued up for another Amazon original, as confirmed by the first trailer for Jackpot!, which is coming to Prime Video on 15 August this year.
This time he’ll be bouncing off comedic star Awkwafina, who plays Katie Kim, the nonplussed winner of a futuristic lottery in a dystopian California. Instead of simply winning money, her huge windfall can be stolen by anyone who kills her before the end of the day. Nice premise, right?
If that sounds potentially gruesome and indeed a little like a sci-fi thriller from the mind of an author like J.G. Ballard, don’t worry – the trailer makes it clear that we’re in for a much more light-hearted ride.
Cena plays Noel Cassidy, an enthusiastic but raw “lottery protection agent”, who wants to help her survive to get a slice of her prize. And this looks like one of Cena’s most comedic roles yet – which has proven a fun bit of surprise for fans.
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Cena as Cassidy won’t be the only one looking for Katie, though, with another lottery protection agency led by Louis Lewis (Simu Liu) looking to capitalise by doing the opposite: killing her instead. So, the stage looks set for plenty of comedy-action sequences, and the trailer showcases a nice heap of different fights that’ll unfold.
It looks like daft fun, and underlines the fact that Cena has been willing to take on remarkably silly roles in the last few years – some of which have suited him down to the ground. He’s fresh from a surprise appearance in the latest season of The Bear, too, after getting rave reviews for a completely nude appearance at this year’s Oscars.
Cheesy but fun movies seem to be in huge demand as every platform vies to be the best streaming service on the market, so Amazon will clearly be hoping that Jackpot! draws the punters in when it releases later this year. It could have hit the, er, jackpot too (sorry not sorry).
