2024-01-15 20:32:29
As he reminded us Quentin Tarantino in the splendid Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in the late 60s, early 70s, some mature stars of American cinema found an outlet for their waning careers in Europe, especially Italy. Some were fortunate enough to find great directors who relaunched their careers, offering them a notable return to Hollywood; others simply ended their days filming low-budget, low-prestige titles.
In 2008, the success of the film Revenge It opened the doors for, once again, stars in the doldrums and whose age already kept them from leading roles in commercial titles to try their luck in European action cinema. Liam Neeson He saw his career revived thanks to this film and there were multiple films of similar format that wanted to follow in his wake. Something similar can be found in the relaunch of the career of Keanu Reeves thanks to John Wick. Unfortunately, as happened in the 60s and 70s, for every Neeson o Reeves There are many estimable, but forgotten, actors who try to revive their stardom by trying their luck in this type of productions.
ACTOR IN DISGRACE
If we look at the beginning of his career, Aaron Eckhart He did not present himself as the protagonist of any actioner, but as a character actor, with good acting skills and an attractive physique that opened the doors of Hollywood for him. His first supporter was Neil LaBute con In the Company of Men y Friends and Neighbors. From there he earned a position as an important secondary player in productions such as Erin Brockovich, Chasing Betty o Possession.
Jason Reitman I would give him leading weight again with Thanks for smoking y Christopher Nolan made him the fallen angel of his Dark Knight. Curiously, this film, far from serving as a springboard, marks a turning point in his career in which he begins to decline. I still spend his time in the franchise Objetive the white housealthough in a secondary role, he continues to be respected by a certain stardom, and on television he has had some projects that have allowed him to maintain his profile as a character actor, such as Los Romanov o The First Lady; However, his career begins to accumulate low-budget food projects until he reaches Agent X. Last Mission.
DIRECTOR IN AUGER
We can find a similar trajectory in the film’s director, Renny Harlinwho in the 90s became one of the highest-grossing action film directors, anticipating by a few years the arrival of Michael Bay. After two modest films, Hell in the Arctic y Prison, Harlin He first gained attention when he took charge of the fourth installment of the Freddy Krueger franchise, Nightmare in Elm street. The Dream Master.
In 1990 he combined two action films of different stripes, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane y The Jungle 2. Red Alertwith which he entered class A projects. The ability of Harlin to stage explosive action sequences that went beyond the plausible opened the doors to Hollywood’s elite. Maximum risk It became the culmination of all that work and his best film.
At the height of the wave, he decided to revive pirate cinema with a film starring Geena Daviswith which he then filmed Lethal Memory. Expensive and bulky, the two films fell far short of the expected results. Deep Blue Sea gave him some air, but from then on the race Harlin begins its descent. Driven (again with Stallone), Mind Hunters y The Exorcist. The beginning They were his last business opportunities.
From there the drift takes him further and further from the privileged place he enjoyed in the first half of the 90s. The last two decades have involved an itinerary through different cinematographies in search of commercial projects with which he can get your career back on track. Movies like Hercules. The Origin of the Legend, Catch a Thief, Bodies at Rest o Elite Thieves They are cannon fodder for the domestic market. And so we also arrive at Agent X. Last Mission.
SEEKING REVENGE
Former FBI agent (turned ex-CIA agent for the film) Steve Vail is the protagonist of a trilogy of novels written by Noah Boyd (also a former FBI agent) and although the Spanish title of the film Agent X refers to the second novel, the original title (The Bricklayer) and the plot correspond to the first book of the trilogy (it is likely that those responsible for marketing in our country The Bricklayer It didn’t seem like an attractive title.)
The novels of Boyd and the character of Steve Vail have served here to inspire a film that takes us back to the actioner of the 70s and 80s, with characters of ambiguous morals and physical violence staged on screen. Without having been able to read the novels, we cannot gauge the fidelity of the film with respect to the literary work, but we hope that Boyd be a better writer than the screenwriters assigned to this adaptation, because the film’s plot ranges from the implausible to the incongruous. Not only are there many loose ends (which could well be the product of cuts in editing) but the character himself contradicts himself from one scene to the next. In one moment he is a Bryan Mills or a typical John Wick, capable of facing a group of aggressors relentlessly, but in the next sequence he can barely defeat a single one of those aggressors whom he had previously knocked down with a single effective blow. .
CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS
This plot of half-truths, old betrayals, old friendships, meetings and disagreements between the hero and the villain seeks without success to be ingenious and sophisticated, while Aaron Eckhart It tries to give consistency to a character without enough ingredients. Harlin, for its part, takes action and tries to make its part effective and, it must be said, the action is neatly shot, using practical effects and action specialists, without resorting excessively to CGI and leaving a stale taste. Unfortunately, this is not enough when all the dramatic scaffolding is so flimsy. It’s ironic that a film called The Bricklayer has such an inconsistent brick structure. Added to this is an abuse of the musical section, with an excessively emphatic score that highlights moments where that impetus was not necessary.
MISSION UNCOMPLISHED
Agent X. Last Mission It is a mediocre product, which scrapes the minimum to entertain, but which wastes the possibilities it had. From the beginning, everything shows reluctance in the B series, a direct hit to the domestic market or platforms that, for some reason, has managed to make its way to movie theaters. It may serve to kill a silly afternoon at home, but seeing it in theaters is a waste of time and money.
#AGENT #MISSION #revenge #worth