MR-9: Secret Agent

This is one of the worst movies I have ever watched. Right from the storyline to action sequences, from acting to cinematography, there is not a single aspect of this movie that had anything positive about it. Most action set pieces looked like they have picked some random people with big bodies from street, handed them some fake firearms and asked them to play tag. The production value is extremely poor and resembles that of the Kanti Shah movies. Let alone the Bollywood spy movies of the Jitendra era, this could not even match the semi B-grade spy movies of Mithun.

If only stuck to the original storyline this could have been a much more compelling movie. Kabir Khan, was an iconic villain in the Masud Rana universe. They reduced him to a caricature at best.

Please save yourself from headache and avoid watching this movie.

The aftermath of the first showing of MR9: Do or Die left the audience in an unusual silence, as they departed from the theater and resumed their day. The film's disoriented beginning and lack of coherence left it struggling to establish a clear direction, resulting in its forgettable nature mere hours after viewing.

MR9: Do or Die grapples with an identity crisis, wavering between a buddy cop drama and a budget James Bond imitation. This attempt to cater to both the US and Bangladeshi markets unfortunately misses the mark on both fronts.

The story, though often conforming to the cliché "evil Russian with grand world-ending plans," remains the most logically sound aspect of the movie. However, the forced romantic subplot and the introduction of Masud Rana's origin story felt jarring and unwelcome. Compounding the issue, the protagonist, Masud, conveys his emotions through minimal dialogue, hindering audience connection.

The characters suffer from one-dimensionality, particularly Masud Rana, who lacks meaningful interactions with others. On a positive note, the performances of the actors portraying the CIA detectives were commendable, with Duke emerging as a standout favorite. The remaining characters merely occupy space within the movie.

Thankfully, the film refrains from including gratuitous elements like item songs, maintaining a clean presentation. Despite leaning into certain stereotypes, the film offers a fresh perspective on the beloved character Masud Rana. However, the decision to end with sequel bait was ill-advised, leaving an unsatisfying aftertaste. The film would have been better served by concluding when the primary story wraps up.

Am not gonna waste more time on this. I wasted time already in the cinema.

It is horrible, the scenes are too slow, actors too weak and show off, story is not understandable due to the horrible work of the director, characters appear out of nowhere, fights happen without clear reason, the fights are unrealistic at all, out of nowhere we change from Las Vegas to Bangladesh, the actor steals a bike in 2 seconds...

Horrible, it is literally horrible work.

And the scenes are horribly unrealistic, illogical and can't be considered. It's like they're laughing at the audience.

Enough said, enough time wasted.

The director, storywriter, and others involved probably never read any Masud Rana books before. Masud Rana doesn't resemble the character, and he doesn't act like him at all in this film. He didn't even look like a secret agent; instead, he came across as a trainee, a secondary character, and a weak, unintelligent, and immature one.

The special effects and CGI are worse than what you'd find in average budget social media content. Everything went horribly wrong in this movie. Not every idea deserves to be turned into a film, and this one is a prime example of that. It's a disheartening disappointment for fans and cinema enthusiasts alike.

Of course I opted to sit down and watch "MR-9: Do or Die", as I happened to stumble upon it by random luck here in 2024. It was an action thriller with Frank Grillo and Michael Jai White on the cast list, so of course I sat down to watch it. Sure, I had never heard about the movie before, but that hardly mattered.

The storyline in "MR-9: Do or Die" wasn't exactly interesting or captivating. And it was a constant struggle to maintain interest in the movie, because it made very little sense, and there just wasn't anything overly enjoyable happening throughout the course of the mundane and long 106 minutes that the movie trotted on for.

It was rather impressive that a collective three writers could manage to conjure up something this weak and disappointing. Writers Asif Akbar, Nazim Ud Daula and Abdul Aziz delivered something that felt like something that would happen if you ordered James Bond from Wish.

The acting performances in the movie were, for the most part, rather rigid and devoid of life and emotion, and that made sitting through the movie all the more painful. And I have to say that this movie was definitely not the finest moments in the careers of Frank Grillo and Michael Jai White, the only two familiar faces on the cast list. Grillo and White were like fish out of water in this movie. Leading actor Abm Sumon, playing MR-9 Masud Rana, was not a particularly good actor, and that sort of shunted the movie.

The music in the movie was so over-dramatic that is quickly became a nuisance to listen to. And I really wish that I had the option to turn off the music, because it was seriously ruining the movie.

The blood effects from the gunshots was just laughably bad to look at. No one buys into those God awful sprays of red CGI mist as being blood from gunshot wounds. It just looking atrocious and gave a low budget and amateurish atmosphere to the movie.

"MR-9: Do or Die" is definitely not a movie that I would recommend you waste 106 minutes of your life on watching. Some of us suffered through it and took one for the team, so you don't have to; you're quite welcome. Nor is it a movie that will ever find its way back to my screen a second time, as it was difficult enough to sit through it the first time.

My rating of director Asif Akbar's 2023 action thriller "MR-9: Do or Die" lands on a very, very generous three out of ten stars.