Agent of Solitude

It's true that these days to have a good old fashioned time at the movies, you basically have to go Indie. That generally means delving into something with a budget too low for big stars or action sequences, but this film certainly delivers the goods on the latter. There are at least two major shootout sequences that dip into JOHN WICK territory, with all kinds of crazy stunt and squib work way beyond what non-studio movies are generally capable of.

That said, this movie does get off to a rocky start with the main character just sort of hob-nobbing around various European cities not interacting with anyone except for a disembodied voice on the phone. It works for a minute or two but quickly grows tiresome, especially in that he's chasing a suspect but we never get any kind of pay-off shot of who he's following and if there is any kind of near-miss. After this wobbly start, the film redeems itself with a comically over the top gunfight at an airport that just keeps going and going, delivering all sorts of over-the-top violent endings for a seemingly endless array of FBI agents.

There's a few effective scenes of destruction and terrorism scattered throughout, like a shockingly convincing immolation of a pair of helpless women. Just when you think the film won't go that far, it does. Most impressively of all would be the car chase through the Italian countryside featuring a couple bystander (by-driver?) vehicles getting blown to smithereens, followed by a nightclub massacre rocking out to EDM music in an experience rivaling the climax to COLLATERAL. Through all this excitement, the film carries a humorous streak of cruelty similar to the horror films of Lucio Fulci, where we have to stop for a moment and focus on an innocent bystander losing his or her life senselessly, only for the movie to breeze on as though what we just saw didn't really matter.

Considering the director has made 55 (!!!!) low budget movies over the past 15 years, I was a bit skeptical going into this one, but surprisingly it does manage to avoid the weak acting which has weighed down a lot of his other movies. It's amazing what's technologically possible these days with the right talent, a determined crew and the right technology.

There are a lot of these movies, but sometimes they take more risks and make things more interesting than other similar storylines.

This movie tries a bit too hard standing out with no memorable characters, the cast doesn't fit together, either.

It falls flat on almost every level. The plot, is as generic as it gets. Like I said, a well-worn plot. The main character is as shallow as the plot itself, and any attempts to make him "relatable" or "complex" feel forced and hollow.

Too many moments in the story are also painfully slow, especially the beginning. Would not recommend and not sure what the director meant to do here.