El agente

This feels a little retro: think Soylent Green. The story is the point here, and the descent of humanity following it's devaluation by a government that no longer cares. It is exactly what it seems to be and it isn't pretending to be anything else.

Another straight to DVD Nicolas Cage movie, I have absolutely no idea what's going on with this guys career.

The Humanity Bureau tells the story of a government agent whose job it is to establish who is contributing to society and who is not. Those deemed "Not" are sent to a place to live out there days away from civilization.

I actually like the idea, I like where the story goes and thought it was very thought provoking and scarily realistic (I could actually see something like this happening in the near future).

The trouble is the idea isn't fully utilized, the movie should have been better but instead comes across rushed, with chronic pacing issues and doesn't embrace the concept quite as tightly as it should have.

Cage phones in an average performance once again and everyone else except Hugh Dillon are instantly forgettable.

Some pretty scenery going hand in hand with some great ideas save it to an extent but it should have been so much better than this.

The Good:

Great visuals

Hugh Dillon

Unpredictable

Fantastic concept

The Bad:

Pacing issues

Wasted potential

Lifeless cast

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

"It's easier to build fear than build a wall" That term is oddly relevant at time of writing

Somehow, someway, despite everything, I'm still a Nicolas Cage fan

Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage) works for the Humanity Bureau and they try to get people to go to the city to enjoy a better life. The land is a desert the results of climate warming and water has to be boiled to be able to drink if you can find it. There are no rivers or lakes anywhere. Many people reject the government plan to move them because they do not trust the government. This disturbs Noah.

Noah comes across a woman, Rachael Weller (Sarah Lind) , who he didn't know, but did know Rachael Weller and she is not her and she has a son Lucas (Jakob Davies). It turns out this Rachael took the real Rachael's identity and cared for the real Rachael's son, Lucas, as if he were her son. The real Rachael died and this Rachael took her identity to prove the birth of Lucas. Noah is supposed to insure that Rachael and Lucas leave, but delays their departure.

So Noah, Rachael and Lucas take off and try to go to Canada where the waters are still there or so they want to believe. Agent Westinghouse (Hugh Dillon) is on their trail and he believes Noah is going Rogue.

This could have been a better story if it were more developed, but sometimes when you write a script while on roller skates, there isn't much time and you are afraid of crashing. So we are left with an outline of a story. One day Nicolas Cage will pick a good script. We just have to wait. The Nicolas Cage Impersonators are hoping for a better script too. They need more material. Ha!

Not such a good cat and mouse game and the ending will surprise. I supposed most of you already know what the government did to those people who they conned into leaving. (5/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Humor: None. Language: Brief small stuff only. Rating: C

I guess when the movie came out the reviewers thought it was ridiculous. Today is a different story given the tings our government has been doing recently. Today, it is totally believable.

I gave this a 5-rating for one simple reason: It kept me sufficiently interested to watch it to the end. No, it wasn't enthralling and, no, it wasn't exciting. The characters were poorly developed and no thought or creativity went into the single snowy mountain scenery. Plot holes abound, but I ended up not caring because I never had that suspension of disbelief that great movies inspire.

As a storyline, it had potential. But occasional glimpses of "what might have been" left a deep feeling of wanting so much more than was delivered.

Ultimately, the ending had a genuine feeling of "Oops, we spent too much time and money, so let's finish it quick". Very disappointing, but it did keep me watching (silly me).