Playing with Fire
John Cena is the latest wrestler to follow in the footsteps of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as he makes the switch from the world of sports entertainment to the world of movie stardom. Cena leads Playing With Fire as Jake Carson, a by-the-book superintendent leading a small group of wilderness firefighters — known as ‘smokejumpers’ — at a depot in Redding, California. Called “Supe” by his team, Carson runs a tight, military-style operation as he aspires to be promoted to Commander of all of the Department of Forestry’s Fire Depots. He does not work well with distractions and likes to stick to his ways. After a fire breaks out at a log cabin, Carson and his smokejumpers (Keegan Michael-Key, John Leguizamo, Tyler Mane) suddenly become babysitters to the three children they rescue (Brianna Hildebrand, Christian Convery, Finley Rose), who quickly cause chaos at the fire depot while they wait for their parents to meet them.
Playing With Fire is wholly aimed at younger kids in a way that feels almost surreal watching the film as an adult. It opens with a devastating scene of backed-up traffic caught in a wildfire, to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk. The smokejumpers spring into action, rescuing people from trapped cars, before calling in a drop of fire retardant. Slow-motion cinematography and GoPro-like camera angles add to the over-the-top scene composition. A rescued woman even lusts after Cena’s character right in front of her husband. Other bizarre choices continue throughout the film; low angles and sound effects feel forced and out of place. John Cena seems to be trying too hard to maintain Carson’s stoicism while Michael-Key and Leguizamo also try their hardest to make the jokes land.
Cena puts a forward a decent turn as Carson, but the wrestler-turned-actor‘s performance is much more enjoyable when he is relaxed, as shown in his natural ability to cut promos with the WWE. Being a family movie aimed at children, much of the jokes are toilet humour. Said jokes are low-brow and lack intelligence, none of them are aimed at adults, but there are a few solid running gags — recurring jokes which start funny but quickly grow tired. Characters also appear and disappear suddenly, especially Keegan Michael-Key’s Mark, who often pops up around Carson with “whoosh” noises as he backs him up against the kids. Playing With Fire uses all the critical jokes from past live-action family comedies; the only thing new is just jokes based on the latest Generation Z trend, an element that will quickly age this property in the years to come.
The plot is uninspired and predictable, utilizing the trope of misfit children helping macho men discover something about themselves, but adds nothing new. Carson has a strained romance with a local field scientist who researches toads (Judy Greer), which adds some drama to the mostly comedic movie, but it still lacks engagement to make it impactful. The film tries hard to show that firefighters are just like superheroes, but the random directing style and expected plot undercuts the sentimental message. Playing With Fire is cute and lighthearted — families will undoubtedly enjoy it — but it is destined to be forgotten in a genre filled with carbon-copy features that add just a bit more weight and layers.
Playing with Fire is released November 8th and November 22nd in the US and UK, respectively.