Saturday, July 11, 2015

End Game (2006)

Director: Andy Cheng                                      Writers: Andy Cheng & J.C. Pollock
Film Score: Kenneth Burgomaster                  Cinematography: Chuck Cohen
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Angie Harmon, James Woods and Anne Archer

I’ve seen some bad political thrillers, but End Game goes beyond bad and well over the line into offensive. In fact, it’s difficult to understand how this film was even made because the screenplay alone makes no sense whatsoever. But add to that the world’s worst direction by Andy Cheng, and terrible acting by everyone involved and you have a project that should have been shelved during rushes as a lost cause. Fortunately MGM was acquired by Sony in 2005, just as the film was nearing theatrical release, and it’s not far fetched to think that execs at Sony took a one look at the finished product and balked, choosing instead to send the thing directly to video stores the following year. The direction seriously looks as if it was from 1985 rather than thirty years later. It wouldn’t even have made a good TV movie, there are so many plot holes. Motivations are not only unclear, but it’s as if the assassination is just another assignment for the killers. No angst, no worries about investigations, no concern at all about getting caught. And the people responsible seem even less concerned. In fact, there’s no sense that anyone in the country cares that this happened. The film wants to be a lot of things, Murder at 1600, Absolute Power, and In the Line of Fire, but it falls flat at every level to the point where the audience, literally, doesn’t care either.

Things go bad right from the beginning as the film opens with the president of the United States and first lady being driven to a speaking event. The first lady is Anne Archer, still best remembered for her role in Fatal Attraction. The president, on the other hand, is a complete no-name soap star. At this point it’s obvious to anyone who has ever seen a movie that he’s going to wind up dead. And sure enough, that’s what happens. Cuba Gooding Jr. is the secret service agent assigned to the president, and while he’s shot in the hand, he can’t move fast enough to save him. James Woods, head of the secret service, tells him to take some time off and Gooding proceeds to get drunk that night. Meanwhile Angie Harmon, a newspaper reporter, is investigating the shooting and talks to homeless man David Selby, another soap star, and he shows Harmon the house where the killer stayed. She discovers that he was dying of cancer, but the audience can see she’s being watched. After she leaves to talk to the killer’s sister, Selby is killed. Then after she leaves the sister and mother, their trailer is blown up. By the time she gets to Gooding’s house, she’s left a wide swath of death behind her but doesn’t know it yet. Fortunately, Gooding senses something is wrong and they narrowly escape being blown up in his boat. It’s a conspiracy, to be sure, but when they tell Woods he inexplicably tells them to wait a few days.

The killers, on the other hand, aren’t waiting around and take another crack at Gooding and Harmon, so Gooding gets tired of waiting and seeks out a general, Burt Reynolds, and Reynolds is never seen again the entire film. Cuba Gooding Jr. is obviously going through the motions and doesn’t have a lot to give to the production, but it’s not as if he has a lot to work with given the script. Meanwhile, Angie Harmon looks as if she’s taking an Acting 101 class and flunking badly. She has no range, whatsoever. Woods and Reynolds have what amount to cameo roles, with Woods at least looking his age. Reynolds has so much plastic surgery and an obvious black toupee, that he’s little more than a joke. Anne Archer doesn’t fare much better. She only has a couple of scenes and the corny work of art she’s painting that must be seen from a certain angle to understand is a real groaner. But even the bad guys suck. Peter Greene initially looks as if he’s trying to be Christopher Eccleston from Gone in 60 Seconds, but he gets little in the way of screen time, except as a boogieman at the end of the film, and even then it’s in the dark. And then, after all that, as if to add insult to injury, the ending is the worst part of the film--and that’s saying something. Essentially, Gooding knows who did it and won’t tell anyone. End Game cost approximately five million to produce and only made back one point two million in video sales and rentals. The only surprise is that it made that much.

7 comments:

  1. So, who killed the President? I still don't know.

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    1. The first lady had her husband killed because he was having an affair. Cuba Gooding decides not to reveal who was behind it all in order to protect the President's reputation, because Gooding considered the President a friend and someone he highly respected.

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  2. I liked the movie. However it was confusing to understand who the lady leaving all the time was, and clear understanding of who was responsible, tho it is the wife.

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  3. Stupid to have it be the First Lady when Cuba said his hand deflected the bullet or it would have missed him. Smarter if the mistress or even the President himself had hired the guy to kill the First Lady but the bullet shifted. Most stupid ending of a movie in a long time.

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