End Game

Cuba Gooding Jr. is a secret service agent who blames himself over the assassination of the U.S. President, i'll point out straight away that this is not the type of role that this very talented actor is noted for, and this film shows us why. He teams up with a persistent news reporter (Angie Harmon) to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the president's death, and so on, blah, blah, blah.

Even with a cast of James Woods, Cuba Gooding Jr, Anne Archer and Angie Harmon 'End Game' fails to grab your attention, plain and simple; some of the action is good, the acting isn't all bad and the story although clichéd and done before could have lead to an entertaining and enjoyable movie - WELL IT DOESN'T! The writing of the script and the direction makes absolutely sure of that, at no point does it suck you into the story or make you give the slightest thought to any of the characters.

4/10 It's Boring, Predictable and Dull.

Viewers seem to be pretty much against this action flick, seeming to put it down because if IS an action flick, a fact that for this viewer prevents looking for the good parts of a movie that succeeds in making us think. Director Andy Cheng (also a co-writer for the script) has a background as a movie stunt coordinator and that talent serves him well in this fast paced, explosive, interesting film.

Alex Thomas (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a secret agent assigned to the President when an assassination occurs: Thomas takes a bullet for his beloved President (Jack Scalia) and comforts the First Lady (Anne Archer) when the President is pronounced dead. Thomas works for Head Agent Vaughn Stevens (James Woods) who comforts the grieving Thomas and sends him off duty to recover: Thomas goes off on a drinking binge and is discovered by an aggressive Pulitzer Prize news reporter Kate Crawford (Angie Harmon) and between the two of them they uncover a conspiracy that involves top ranking people. The perpetrator of the assassination is one Jack Baldwin (Peter Greene) who guides the events from is hidden space. Every lead Crawford uncovers is promptly destroyed by explosions or fires until the final confrontation of Baldwin with Thomas and Crawford. And just when the viewer thinks every step is utterly predictable, the ending leaves the truth about the assassination to the viewer...! Cuba Gooding, Jr. is a fine talent in search of a great role: in this film he does well underplaying his character with some of the subtleties that demonstrate more of his talent. Angie Harmon delivers a fine performance: she deserves more roles. Anne Archer remains a pleasure to watch, even in this small but pivotal role, and James Woods, James Selby, and to an extent the grossly disfigured, post multiple plastic surgeries Burt Reynolds create credible characters. This is not a great movie, but is certainly is one with some fine elements and offers promise for new director Andy Cheng in his stepped up role. Yes, it is a bit predictable until the end, but it is a far better film than many of the movies that had the experience of a theatrical run (this one went straight to DVD!). Worth an evening's watching. Grady Harp

I spent almost two hours watching a movie that I thought, with all the good actors in it, would be worth watching. I couldn't believe it when the movie ended and I had absolutely no idea what had happened.....I was mad because I could have used that time doing something else....I tried to figure it all out, but really had no clue. Thanks to those who figured it out and have explained it....right or wrong, it's better than not knowing anything!! Who was the lady in the movie with dark hair that we saw a couple of times driving away? How did First Lady know that her husband was cheating on her? At the end of the movie Kate said she would eventually find out the truth. Does this mean that we're going to be subjected to End Game 2?

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.

Angie Harmon who seems to have more success on the small then the big screen with Law&Order and Rizzoli&Isles to her credit teams up with Cuba Gooding, Jr. to investigate nothing less than the assassination of President Jack Scalia. In fact it was rather a freakish event in and of itself. The assassin's bullet passed through Secret Service Agent Gooding's hand and may have changed direction ever so slightly and killed Scalia. That's left Gooding bummed and looking for answers.

Harmon plays an investigative reporter looking for the truth as well. But this particular president led a secret life as well along the lines of JFK and Gooding was the one who kept the secrets. He and Harmon team up for the investigation, but Gooding feels a loyalty to his former boss and wants to preserve his legacy. At some point they could be working at cross purposes.

The action is exciting however the story had a lot of holes in it. Harmon and Gooding work well together. They could have used some better direction as well. Playing a most mysterious role is a retired general Burt Reynolds. He definitely knows more than he's letting out.

Fans of the two leads should like this one.