End Game - Tödliche Abrechnung

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a secret service agent who blames himself over the assassination of the U.S. President, i'll point out straight away that this is not the type of role that this very talented actor is noted for, and this film shows us why. He teams up with a persistent news reporter (Angie Harmon) to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the president's death, and so on, blah, blah, blah.

Even with a cast of James Woods, Cuba Gooding Jr, Anne Archer and Angie Harmon 'End Game' fails to grab your attention, plain and simple; some of the action is good, the acting isn't all bad and the story although clichéd and done before could have lead to an entertaining and enjoyable movie - WELL IT DOESN'T! The writing of the script and the direction makes absolutely sure of that, at no point does it suck you into the story or make you give the slightest thought to any of the characters.

4/10 It's Boring, Predictable and Dull.

Angie Harmon who seems to have more success on the small then the big screen with Law&Order and Rizzoli&Isles to her credit teams up with Cuba Gooding, Jr. to investigate nothing less than the assassination of President Jack Scalia. In fact it was rather a freakish event in and of itself. The assassin's bullet passed through Secret Service Agent Gooding's hand and may have changed direction ever so slightly and killed Scalia. That's left Gooding bummed and looking for answers.

Harmon plays an investigative reporter looking for the truth as well. But this particular president led a secret life as well along the lines of JFK and Gooding was the one who kept the secrets. He and Harmon team up for the investigation, but Gooding feels a loyalty to his former boss and wants to preserve his legacy. At some point they could be working at cross purposes.

The action is exciting however the story had a lot of holes in it. Harmon and Gooding work well together. They could have used some better direction as well. Playing a most mysterious role is a retired general Burt Reynolds. He definitely knows more than he's letting out.

Fans of the two leads should like this one.

Predictable, hackneyed & poorly written. Foolishly I reasoned such a prominent cast would not be involved unless it had merit. I guess competition amongst actors is so intense these days (and will only get worse) that one cannot pick and choose much any more. Early on we were given an inkling who was was instrumental in the assassination and we had it rammed down our throats ever since. The movie lacked intrigue, giving us little insight into the victim and only one possible motive for the murder. Some of the discourse was, frankly, embarrassing! It's hard to believe anyone would even consider, let alone commit to, the spending of tens of millions of dollars to make this tripe.

I argued with myself whether to rent this or not. I'm always afraid of renting something I've never heard of (don't remember this being in theaters). Great cast...that's what tipped the scales. 30 minutes in, I almost stopped watching it. The first few minutes are fun to watch, but unbelievable. It only gets worse after that. The writers of this movie could do a little research on future projects if they want to make their movies even a little better. Or they could just try writing something just a little bit believable. I give it a 3....a 1 for the writing (only because there are words)and a 2 for being able to get so many good actors to agree to do this movie despite having to read the script. Oh my god this movie sucks.

Apparently most of the money spent in making "End Game" went to pay the stars. With such adept actors as Cuba Gooding Jr., James Wood, Anne Archer, and a pasty-faced Burt Reynolds literally having a bad-hair day, this movie should have been much better. None of the others looks quite as shopworn as Burt but they do give the appearance of being tired and bored. Cuba almost walks through his lines as if reading from a cue card.

The story is trite and lackluster, with only a few exciting scenes such as the opening assassination. Both writers, J.C. Pollock and stunt man Andy Cheng, are novices and it shows. Even the title is lame. Of what relevance is "End Game," and what exactly is the story? This viewer got confused, especially toward the end.

Vaguely, the film is about the assassination of a President and a personal investigation by the secret service man, Alex Thomas (Gooding), who did take a bullet for the President. But the bullet pierced Thomas' hand and then hit the President, ergo Thomas feels responsible for the Chief Executive's death, that he also let the First Lady down. He is joined in his manhunt by a reporter, Kate Crawford (Angie Harmon), who is determined to crack the case and get her scoop even at the risk of her own life. The situation becomes extremely hazardous as more and more evidence is uncovered pointing a finger to those in high places of our government. How the case is resolved at the end of the game leaves several unanswered questions. That all this sounds familiar indicates the picture's lack of originality and creativity.

The hackneyed script does provide a few good lines such as when Kate is interrogating an indigent person who keeps asking her for money. When she wants him to keep a house under surveillance, he tells her he would be glad to help anytime. She mumbles under her breath,"And how much will that cost me?"

Rather than waste time watching "End Game," why not rent other better movies on the topic such as "In The Line Of Fire," starring Clint Eastwood?