By Dan Skip Allen

I’ve seen my share of movies based on toys. Some of my favorites were the first “Transformers” “The LEGO Movie” and “Barbie”. The latest film based on a toy is “Matchbox: The Movie”. As most people probably know, Matchbox are little cars that we probably collected as children. We did a lot with these cars. I’m quite honestly surprised that there is a movie based on this toy. Sure, there have been a lot of movies involving cars or racing of some kind over the years, but a film specifically named after these cars we had as kids is a very odd choice, in my opinion. The thing is, it’s a comedy and an action movie combined, so maybe that was the pitch the writer, David Coggeshall, and the director, Sam Hargrave, had going in. This works.

Sean Walker (John Cena) is an undercover CIA agent. He is in a race against some men in an undisclosed desert to get to a delivery point. He has a package he has to deliver to a man in another location, but he also has an operator in his ear, helping him and guiding him forward. After he did his mission, he took some time to relax and have a drink with a pretty woman. While he’s there, he sees a news report of a man being found dead at his business. This compels the man to go back to his hometown in Ohio to attend the man’s funeral. There, he runs into some childhood friends of his. They go out for dinner and drinks later that night, but something happens. They get shots, and they cause them to pass out. When they wake up, they’re on a cargo plane being accused of stealing a nuclear war head. This is where the real adventure begins for this group of longtime friends.

This film had a cold open where the viewers got to know this group of friends as children. You see some of their interactions and a brief moment with the man in the garage, played by Bill Camp, who later is found dead in the same location by the adult version of a woman named Aimee (Jessica Beil). He had a brief friendship with the Cena character before his family moved away, and he lost contact with her. Now, as adults, these people get reacquainted with each other now in this very difficult situation. Which isn’t the ideal scenario to see each other again after a long time away. They have a lot to catch up on.

As this movie is based on toy cars, the filmmaker specifically gets a lot of different types of vehicles in the film. From the beginning, with off-road vehicles to many other scenes with helicopters, cars, trucks, and vans. The point was to get as many types of transportation in this movie. How they use them is sometimes in some creative ways. The writer wanted to make sure the title of the film was used as literal as you could possibly think it could be. If you’re going to make a “Matchbox” movie, you’re going to get the most out of this IP. They definitely did that in some very unique and creative ways. Which I’m sure fans of the IP will definitely like. That’s the point of it, I guess.

Besides the actors I’ve already mentioned, this movie has a pretty deep cast of characters. Denai Guira as Helen, Cena’s character handler at the CIA. She has some hidden secrets. She’s not telling everything she knows. Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, and Teyonah Parris play the three remaining friends of Cena’s character Crosby, Ted and Charmaine. They bring nice support to Cena and some much needed comedy relief in this action film. Golshifteh Farahani plays Robbie, an ex-friend of Cena’s character. She agrees to help him out in a key moment when he has nowhere else to go. There is definitely an old romantic angle here that is entirely fleshed out in this film. The supporting cast is all fine. They don’t do anything too special except Farahani, who is good in everything she does.

With all of these vehicles featured in the film, they have to use them for something, and that is action scenes. Near the end of the movie there is a massive action sequence where each of Cena’s characters’ friends have their own vehicles: a motorcycle, a truck with a bed, a mustang, and a helicopter. They are chasing after three Mercedes Benz haulers carrying the nuclear warhead and led by the Guira character. This scene involved tunnels and bridges and all kinds of crazy stunts the Cena character had to do. This was a wild sequence that made the movie worth watching in the end. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been that enjoyable for me.

“Matchbox: The Movie” is a movie based on toy cars, but with any film based on a toy, the picture itself has to be believable. Even though the story itself is a bit far-fetched, Hargrave and Coggeshall got the assignment right. They knew that the vehicles had to be the main focus of the action. Sure, the cast had to drive or pilot these vehicles, but if the cars, trucks, helicopters, motorcycles, and other vehicles weren’t fully involved in the story, it wouldn’t work. You could have called this movie anything, but I was called “Matchbox: The Movie.” The concept worked for what they were trying to do. The addition of comedic moments helped. I think most people will enjoy this for what it is. I, on the other hand, thought it was just okay.

🌟 🌟 🌟 stars