End Game: Complot à la maison blanche

Apparently most of the money spent in making "End Game" went to pay the stars. With such adept actors as Cuba Gooding Jr., James Wood, Anne Archer, and a pasty-faced Burt Reynolds literally having a bad-hair day, this movie should have been much better. None of the others looks quite as shopworn as Burt but they do give the appearance of being tired and bored. Cuba almost walks through his lines as if reading from a cue card.

The story is trite and lackluster, with only a few exciting scenes such as the opening assassination. Both writers, J.C. Pollock and stunt man Andy Cheng, are novices and it shows. Even the title is lame. Of what relevance is "End Game," and what exactly is the story? This viewer got confused, especially toward the end.

Vaguely, the film is about the assassination of a President and a personal investigation by the secret service man, Alex Thomas (Gooding), who did take a bullet for the President. But the bullet pierced Thomas' hand and then hit the President, ergo Thomas feels responsible for the Chief Executive's death, that he also let the First Lady down. He is joined in his manhunt by a reporter, Kate Crawford (Angie Harmon), who is determined to crack the case and get her scoop even at the risk of her own life. The situation becomes extremely hazardous as more and more evidence is uncovered pointing a finger to those in high places of our government. How the case is resolved at the end of the game leaves several unanswered questions. That all this sounds familiar indicates the picture's lack of originality and creativity.

The hackneyed script does provide a few good lines such as when Kate is interrogating an indigent person who keeps asking her for money. When she wants him to keep a house under surveillance, he tells her he would be glad to help anytime. She mumbles under her breath,"And how much will that cost me?"

Rather than waste time watching "End Game," why not rent other better movies on the topic such as "In The Line Of Fire," starring Clint Eastwood?

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.

I argued with myself whether to rent this or not. I'm always afraid of renting something I've never heard of (don't remember this being in theaters). Great cast...that's what tipped the scales. 30 minutes in, I almost stopped watching it. The first few minutes are fun to watch, but unbelievable. It only gets worse after that. The writers of this movie could do a little research on future projects if they want to make their movies even a little better. Or they could just try writing something just a little bit believable. I give it a 3....a 1 for the writing (only because there are words)and a 2 for being able to get so many good actors to agree to do this movie despite having to read the script. Oh my god this movie sucks.

i guess its possible that I've seen worse movies, but this one is a real stinker! the plot is unremarkable but thats not the worst of it. the directing is no where close to what you would expect from andy ching. he's capable of good work but failed to pull this movie together.

angie harmon, playing the female lead as a reporter dogging into who's behind the assassination of the president, truly butchered the role. there was no chemistry with gooding, her demeanor was flat and wooden, and the 5 inch spike heels she wore throughout the movie were absurd. this outing for harmon places her solidly at the bottom of the "b" list.

and what was cuba gooding thinking??? he has to his credit a number of outstanding performances, but this was far beneath what we've come to expect from him.

poor james woods and burt reynolds. poor poor poor poor poor.

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.