The Division: Agent Origins

I really enjoyed this short adventure into the world of The Division. The director used some impressive shots and angles the action was well thought out and fun to watch.

Tom Clancy's titles have found success on both cinema and video game, so there's bound to be tie-in project along the road. However, Agent Origins is more of teaser for a video game rather than a full movie experience, that's not to say it's low in quality. For the short thirty minutes there are multiple facets of action one would expect from famous name, although there's little depth and intricacy here.

This is a simple rendezvous gig for several agents as they gather for one mission. Unfortunately, the backstory of the world, and its viral outbreak theme are not fully fleshed out, its short runtime is mostly used for nifty parkour or shootout. There's no vengeance, patriotism or even greed for motivation, these people just simply meet up and shoot people. It would have been better if the creator had prolonged the action movie to present more than cool military combat sequences, but it is still a visually pleasing work.

There are lots of melee and gunslinging action packed into the short movie, certainly poised with brutal choreography and fast pace. It shows some clever tricks fans of action, especially gamers would appreciated. For most parts it's a solid presentation throughout, with the exception of one or two hiccup in screenplay. The effect for gunshot or explosion can be slightly jarring, but it does convey the right color tone for its premise.

It's quite a missed opportunity to not produce actual back story, in a work called "Agent Origins", but the flashy and stylish shootout is a crowd pleaser, which understandably its original objective; a long snazzy trailer.

The 2 previous reviewers obviously don't get the aim of these Live Action episodes for Tom Clancy's The Division: Agent Origins, a video game made by Ubisoft Massive.

The characters in these episodes are not represented in the game, they are based on hypothetical back stories for characters that 'could' exist in the game universe. The game is highly customisable and you play the game as a protagonist that you create. There are set characters within The Division game universe but none which are seen in any of these Agent Origins episodes.

To add to that these are promotional story trailers for a video game. I repeat - a video game. They are not part of a main feature length movie. So besides already spending thousands if not millions of dollars on already actually making the game, Ubisoft has a marketing/promotional department who probably have a finite amounted budget to use on promotional material such as back story trailers/episodes. If you have actually followed the game's development there has been a vast wealth of promotional videos covering various aspects of the game's features, development, story, community events.

Back to the Agent Origins short film, there most likely never would be too much fleshing out of characters, a huge production budget or development of a feature length story - that's what the game is for.

If you're a fan of the game you most likely have already seen the Agent Origins shirt film/episodes, and appreciate the production, mini-stories, characters, gadgets/gear, weapons, action sequences, easter eggs, and setting that they're shot in.

The Agent Origins live action film series is supposed to be short & sweet, and it hits the nail on the head in regards to The Division's atmosphere, setting, and main game points. The action sequences are exciting to watch with great audio and SFX keeping you in the moment, and the action is not too heavy, with equal snippets of humor, drama, and character and story development thrown in between. There also multiple perspectives shown, such as from the bad guys (Factions), civilians caught in the conflict, and of course the Agents themselves.

If you are a fan of the game, or curious about the game, I would recommend this to you to watch.

I would also recommend watching Ghost Recon Alphas - another short film made by Ubisoft.

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.

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