Review: Agent Game

In the present day, a team of ops is on a mission to detain a person of interest. In flashbacks from several weeks earlier, we learn that Dermot Mulroney was part of an interrogation of a suspected terrorist (Barkhad Abdi). Mulroney suspects something is fishy about this situation, meanwhile back in the present day Adan Canto is similarly pondering the nature of his mission. Do you think the two missions might end up related? The man behind both of these missions is Mel Gibson, head of some shadowy intelligence agency. Katie Cassidy plays one of the ops, Jason Isaacs plays Mulroney’s comrade.

 

Below par if not abysmal spy nonsense from 2022 has three decent performances but it’s overall disjointed and messy to the point of irritation. Couple that with a dreadfully miscast, one-note Katie Cassidy and you’re not gonna have a good time here. Directed by Grant S. Johnson, there are a few moments here and there where it doesn’t suck, but the screenplay and editing are a complete mess. From a narrative perspective, it’s the most annoying film I’ve seen in quite a while. It’s been told in non-linear fashion just because the director and screenwriters Tyler W. Konney (“Money Plane”) and Mike Langer (whose experience is mostly in shorts) felt like it. There’s no productive reason for it, and by the time it stops dicking around with chronology you’ll have long stopped caring.

 

Mel Gibson is the one actor here who seems to be having fun, whilst Jason Isaacs and (briefly) Barkhad Abdi are fine enough. The rest are pretty dreadful. For someone who looks like a fragile supermodel on her way to a fashion shoot, Katie Cassidy tries way too hard to seem tough with all the cold-stare glaring. She’s ridiculously bad at it. Poor Dermot Mulroney looks colossally bored, one has to wonder if he and “Harry Potter” cast member Jason Isaacs lost a whole heck of a lot of money at the track. No way a “Harry Potter” actor should need to slum it in a direct-to-DVD/streaming flick with Mel Gibson. Look out for the truly hilarious moment when it’s revealed that Gibson’s character has Air Force One and DOD clearly labelled on speed dial. As it would be in real life, I’m sure.

 

Dopey, disjointed spy caper with very little of merit, a messy script and a ridiculously miscast Katie Cassidy very much of debit.   

 

Rating: C-

 

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