We all know this was gonna be be bad. The trailer, the poster...heck the tagline alone caused someone to rage review this film (though I doubt they watched the movie). However, when you live in a state where the film commission has been gutted and you are left to your own laurels, what do you expect?
This ain't Rio Bravo or Evolution or Planet of the Apes. This is not the high quality films that used to come to the great state of Arizona before the conservative elite pretty much yeeted out the film commission and its associated offices (did I use yeet right?). So what is left is the DIY crowd, and I honestly can't get too angry at Clay Moffatt for making his own movies even if the quality is suspect. I guess when you have that kind of money to throw around, you might as well. But on the other hand, the modern era of DIY bad film making is its own niche, and this movie is on par with the likes of Birdemic. This movie was made with love and care, regardless of the awful production value.
It's hard to tell you what this story is. I mean, a story about an agency brainwashing...err....training young spies is an interesting idea. We have seen it many times before, but not at this level of low budget incompetence. The only thing that saves this thing is the eccentricity of it. It tries to be Dr. Who and any number of Christopher Nolan films with the budget barely big enough to pay for a wedding (which one reviewer called Good Bad or Bad Bad insinuated). Plus you got Ben Vasquez's ridiculous hat, the silly code names and the fact this secret organization would exist in the boring and ridiculously hot plains of Mesa, Arizona (I guess they could not afford Sedona or Flagstaff locations).
This movie is bad, let's be honest. But at least they tried (?).
