End Game

i guess its possible that I've seen worse movies, but this one is a real stinker! the plot is unremarkable but thats not the worst of it. the directing is no where close to what you would expect from andy ching. he's capable of good work but failed to pull this movie together.

angie harmon, playing the female lead as a reporter dogging into who's behind the assassination of the president, truly butchered the role. there was no chemistry with gooding, her demeanor was flat and wooden, and the 5 inch spike heels she wore throughout the movie were absurd. this outing for harmon places her solidly at the bottom of the "b" list.

and what was cuba gooding thinking??? he has to his credit a number of outstanding performances, but this was far beneath what we've come to expect from him.

poor james woods and burt reynolds. poor poor poor poor poor.

After secret service agent Alex Thomas (Cuba Gooding Jr) gets shot trying to protect the President of the United States who's assassinated the question becomes who hired the dead shooter and why in this fairly average action thriller. The bottom line is they assembled a decent cast and a respectful budget to swim thru poor writing and cliches by the boatload.

Angie Harmon is the reporter who digs into the events, won't let things go and teams up with the secret service agent in pursuit of the truth. When everyone she talks to gets killed you know the direction we're heading in. By the time a bunch of mercs try to kill them both the writing is on the wall. The story is so routine, predictable to a fault that it's very easy to follow.

At first glance, there seems to be a lot to like. The film is shot well, polished and acted by a cast of recognizable faces. James Woods, Anne Archer, Peter Greene, Jack Scalia, Burt Reynolds and Benito Martinez all appear in supporting roles. However factor in the story that barely holds your attention and an ending, payoff that is massively underwhelming and you see why the cast alone can't salvage this tale.

We've had plenty of films explore presidential assassination before. I've seen others explore secret service members undivided loyalty to the President. Clint Eastwood's 'Absolute Power' comes to mind. The well worn issue of infidelity. 'End Game' goes thru the paces and pays the price ultimately not being very memorable or worthy of even a lazy Sunday afternoon viewing.

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.

An enjoyable film that has a decent pace to it, free of bad language which makes a nice change and has a great cast. The biggest question mark over it is the presence and closeness of a journalist to the investigation. That said it helps the story telling and the flow of the film, at the end of the day it is make believe and not worth getting hung up on. This film should be enjoyed for what it is, an action film.

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.