It’s like another Mel Gibson movie. . . Even twenty years ago, the indication on advertising posters of the name of the star of “Lethal Weapon” (1987), “Maverick” (1994), “Braveheart” (1995) and a good couple of dozen excellent films by Mel Gibson would be the launch mechanism for storming ticket offices in cinemas for a large army of fans of the actor. But at one point everything somehow broke: Gibson began a series of scandals, because of rash words, he was almost declared persona non grata, and the actor almost disappeared from cinematic horizons. For some time he was remembered only for his past merits, as well as for new scandals with pleasure relished in the media. But after a while, he came back. If you do not take into account his directing work on the film “For reasons of conscience” (2016), then the actor’s return can not be called triumphant, but the tapes “Games of Minds” (2018), “Rolling on the pavement” (2018) and “Shook Day” (2019) set up on an optimistic basis the still numerous fan base of a truly remarkable actor.
But then, alas, came a bitter disappointment. Mel Gibson began to put his signature on highly questionable projects. So on the screens came “The Power of the Elements” (2020), “The Hunt for Santa” (2020) and “Dangerous” (2021), which received a flurry of criticism. And as a result, interest in subsequent projects involving Mel Gibson fell to an extremely low level. Moreover, the actor began to appear in bundles of films for a year, and the number is not always an indicator of quality. Of course, the well-received Bandit (2022) gives hope again, but so far it is rather weak, and still waiting for Lethal Weapon 5 (2023), although the penticvel is still unknown. And if you go back to those dubious projects with Gibson, then you can not say anything about the spy action movie Agents Game (2021) from inexperienced director Grant S. Johnson, where Mel company on the set was Dermot Mulroney and Jason Isaacs. Even twenty years ago, with such a composition, a film with such a genre could attract... All of this was mentioned in the beginning.
The very start of Agents’ Game suggests that we are not expecting a film that exceeds the level of the B category. Judge for yourself: the main star of the film, Mel Gibson, appears before us, and he says on the phone that there are problems. That's it, without an introduction and explanation. It seems like an intrigue, but not so! The film’s cameraman, David Kruet, needs to be urgently enrolled in refresher courses because the title scene is extremely disgusting. But it would be one of the flaws of the Agents Game, you could forget, but then the fierce thrash begins. Or rather, a total mess. I confess that I had to rewind the film several times ago to try to understand all the vicissitudes of spy intrigues woven into the plot. Some people with weapons appear, then others, then someone kills someone for something, then his colleagues begin to hunt him back a minute, then some people appear again. What this carousel is all about is a pretty complicated question. And the climax with the massacre is put terribly and this is again a question for the operator of the Agents Game.
And if it is so difficult to understand the meaning of what is happening, then at least the actors must somehow show themselves and express the images, so that at least they are remembered. But nothing like that happens. Mel Gibson is more of a guest star, so there's pretty little scenes with him. Dermot Mulroney, who probably (probably!), plays the main role in the "Game of Agents" remains only an actor whom we have seen more than once before, and his character in this film is an impersonal creature who tries to be the protagonist. A few scenes and Jason Isaacs - so he came out of the shadows and came back into it. By the way, about the coloristic "Agents Game" - this is another point that very much interfered and annoyed when watching. On some ice decided to darken every scene, as if creating a secluded atmosphere for spies, but half the film you strain your eyes to listen to what is happening on the screen. And yet here tried to create a dynamic movie, but it is so uninteresting, unseen and with disgusting acting that "Spy, get out!" (2011) will seem fascinating entertainment.
With all this total failure, the authors of “Game of Agents” decided to end the film with the same scene from which it all began, but thus designated a cliffhanger. But that's not enough! But on the other hand, it is hardly necessary to worry - the creation of the film was estimated in the range of 20 to 40 million dollars, but its fees are unlikely to be at least 1 million, so the sequel should not come out, given the current commercial trends in cinema. And with Mel Gibson in 2021, three films were released at once, but only one of them is worthy of attention and this is Waldo, but Dangerous and especially Agents Game should be passed by.
2 out of 10