End Game - Tödliche Abrechnung

So I'm looking to rent a DVD and I come across this movie called 'End Game'. It stars James Woods and Cuba Gooding JR and has the synopsis of a taught political thriller. Well worth a look then. Or so I thought.

Boy, was I wrong.

End Game has just about the most ridiculous plot I have ever had the displeasure of enduring. Now being something of a whodunnit, I can't really tear into it as I would like without 'ruining' it for those who have yet to experience this monstrosity. But questions such as 'Why has he/she/they done this?', and 'Where on earth did they get the resources to pull this off?' are all too abundant following the film's unintentionally hilarious conclusion.

As for the acting - you know those films where you can almost feel that an actor's realised that they've made a terrible mistake in signing on for a movie, and this then shows in their performance? This is one of those. Accompany this with a laughable script and seriously flawed, irritating direction and you have the recipe for cinematic poison.

Of course, this didn't make it to the cinema, and for the same reason you should not allow it into your living room; it is appalling.

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.

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.

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.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a secret service agent who blames himself over the assassination of the U.S. President, i'll point out straight away that this is not the type of role that this very talented actor is noted for, and this film shows us why. He teams up with a persistent news reporter (Angie Harmon) to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the president's death, and so on, blah, blah, blah.

Even with a cast of James Woods, Cuba Gooding Jr, Anne Archer and Angie Harmon 'End Game' fails to grab your attention, plain and simple; some of the action is good, the acting isn't all bad and the story although clichéd and done before could have lead to an entertaining and enjoyable movie - WELL IT DOESN'T! The writing of the script and the direction makes absolutely sure of that, at no point does it suck you into the story or make you give the slightest thought to any of the characters.

4/10 It's Boring, Predictable and Dull.