End Game (2005)

Show Me the Plot ... and a Decent One

Cuba Gooding Jr. stars this direct-to-video political/action thriller as Alex, dedicated Secret Service agent. Angie Harmon is Kate, Pulitzer-winning writer working for the newspaper "Washington Insider," who gets wind of a story when President of the United States is assassinated. James Woods plays the boss of Alex; Burt Reynolds is a retired general and Anne Archer is The First Lady.

The cast of "End Game" is reasonable, but none of them is allowed to show what they can do in this meandering, cliché-ridden story where nothing makes sense. Characters (both "good" ones and "bad" ones) repeatedly do what they don't need to do. It's a kind of plot in which a hero and a heroine can find clues as to the mastermind(s) and dodge the bullets of the baddies so easily, but audiences are not interested at all because of the lack of mystery and suspense.

The film (directed by stunt-turned-director Andy Cheng) has several decent action sequences including car actions and shooting, but not enough to make up for the poorly written script.
January 4, 2008

Good movie

I actually caught part of this movie on Lifetime, but as with other lifetime movies they don't show too often. So came to amazon to purchase. It was really a good movie. Lots of action and the storyline was good.
October 24, 2007

End Game - Synopsis and Review

The Not-Too-Revealing-Synopsis:

Secret Service investigation into an assassination. Conspiracy theories, hit men who is your ally and who is your friend.

Review:

The plot was interesting enough to want to know who did it. The acting was good, characters were above average. The bad guy coverup just seemed half-hearted and full of holes. The interplay between reporter and secret service agent was questionable and the ending is unsatisfying. If you watch it you can enjoy it, if you miss it there is no real loss. October 12, 2007

In search of a screenwriter

End Game is underrated because of the lack of a good ending. The movie itself moves along and follows a decent plot. The acting isn't bad at all. It reminded me of movies like "Absolute Power", "The Sentinel", "Line of Fire", and most recently "Vantage Point". The only problem is those movies had solid endings, and this one does not. Cuba Gooding turns in a good performance and this could have been a hit for him if they and went a little further with the conclusion. What you don't think it would have hurt for them to go in the slammer because of their "position". In they would have went had it been my movie and I bet audiences would have liked it. As it is the ending seems weak. Up to that point I found it good with plenty of action and decent dialogue. Even with the weak ending I think it is worth seeing. Gooding, Woods, Reynolds, and Harmon give good performances no matter what the critics say. You will truly be wondering to the end of the movie who was responsible for the assassination of the President. Good rental, but wait till you see it to buy it. If you enjoyed this catch the movies I mentioned above or "Murder of Crows" and "Chill Factor". July 6, 2007

gee, maybe I can make a movie too....

Easily, one of the worst movies of its genre. Does it rise to the level of unintentially hilarious?--for me, yes. June 4, 2007

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