The Big Picture Have you ever flipped on a movie and realized you’re in trouble almost instantaneously? That’s Derek Ting’s Agent Recon. It’s a schoolyard action flick in that everything feels like children playing pretend during recess, devoid of guns-blazing movie magic.
No matter where you look, the film’s blemishes are inescapable. Locations resemble forest paintball arenas built from plywood that cinematographer Zach Trout foolishly shoots from the inside so you catch a glimpse of the barren “details.” Gunfire visuals are all animated, pixelating wounds and muzzle flashes like a 90s computer game. There’s slapdash and makeshift, then there’s incapable and unable.
'Agent Recon' Is an Action Movie Without Personality Close The action choreography does Agent Recon no favors, either blurring everything with bounce-about cinematography or sluggishly performances by second-rate stunt performers. Exchanges pull punches as “alien” henchmen oversell their inabilities; Jim’s supposedly inhuman threats are just dudes in dark jumpsuits with facial coverings instead of cosmetic makeup.