The Division: Agent Origins

TOM CLANCY'S THE DIVISION: AGENT ORIGINS - now there's a title to contend with! - is a short, 31 minute action film that seems to have been made purely to sell a video game series made by Ubisoft. I'm no gamer, so I don't know anything about that, but what I can confirm is that this short film is very well made and much better than a lot of full-length action thrillers.

First, the bad stuff: there's no real story here, just a collection of action sequences. The setting is an anarchic New York, where a viral pandemic has laid most of the population low and the streets are filled with murderers and looters. The heroes are a group of 'sleeper' agents who must come together to combat lawlessness.

I have to say that the action sequences in this film are very well achieved. There are hand to hand fight scenes here alongside free running and some violent shoot-outs. The camera-work is very nicely achieved and although the characterisation is nil you still end up admiring the athleticism of the participants. Although in essence this film is little more than a lengthy advert, it's a really entertaining one!

There only few quirks in the movie that seem unrealistic. However with such minimal budget, this is very well made. I know you have seen movies when a man standing in the middle of the gun fight and he wins, killed all 300 bad guys. This is not so in the movie. The fight seen, especially the last one is very precise. They always take cover, which you do in a real tactical gun fight. Movies always forget to do this just because they wanted a better camera angle.

There are some quirks in the movie that I didn't like. When the Mia the girl was trying to take the gun from the guy, she was having a hard time. She already have a grip of the gun but couldn't take it. If she is very trained(which they portrayed), she would know how to easily flip the wrist and take the gun in a matter of seconds. I Also do not know where and why a shooter just busting up a door and start attacking, just because of Pizza?

It also needed more story on how the prisoners got out? and How the smallpox cause them to be able to escape. Why is it that they didn't get affected by the virus?

Anyway, still a great to watch, and I'm forgiving it since the budget is little. It did keep me interested the whole time which is the most important thing and reason why I am giving it an 8.

No plot and B actors makes for a disappointing film all around.

As a fan of the game series, I was a little disappointed that this series did not expand further on the already very rich narrative of The Division. However, I can appreciate the cinematography and well framed action shooting it took to put all this together. Taken as a whole, this is a pretty decent addition, even if it is short on narrative.

They had the opportunity to give depth to characters that probably do nothing else than shoot people in the game. They did not. The premise is ridiculous as well: a sleeper agency that can be activated only in case of "real" emergencies, meanwhile they live like ordinary citizens. Where is all the training coming from, then?

The feel of the short is interesting, with people trying to fend for themselves, while infected people, escaped convicts and eradication squads are roaming the city. The ultimate purpose of the squad is not clear, though. They just meet somewhere and kill the convicts in a rather unconvincing firefight. What is their ultimate goal? How did they become agents in the first place? For a story title Origins, you get nothing more than a text scroll explaining the thing.

Bottom line: all you have to do is look up game play videos from shooter games and choose the ones that are the most liked by people and put them together in a coherent story. They did none of this. The actors are mediocre, the visuals are almost bad and the budget ridiculously low.