Operation: Endgame (2010)

A battle ensues among groups of government spy teams in an underground facility after their boss is assassinated.

Director:

Fouad Mikati

Writers:

Sam Levinson (screenplay), Brian Watanabe (earlier screenplay)

Stars:

Joe Anderson, Rob Corddry, Ellen Barkin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joe Anderson	...	Fool
Rob Corddry	...	Chariot
Ellen Barkin	...	Empress
Odette Annable	...	Temperance (as Odette Yustman)
Maggie Q	...	High Priestess
Zach Galifianakis	...	Hermit
Adam Scott	...	Magician
Brandon T. Jackson	...	Tower
Emilie de Ravin	...	Hierophant
Beth Grant	...	Susan
Bob Odenkirk	...	Emperor
Michael Hitchcock	...	Neil
Tim Bagley	...	Carl
Ving Rhames	...	Judgement
Jeffrey Tambor	...	Devil

Storyline

A dry action-comedy about two teams of government assassins working out of a top-secret underground facility using code names from the Tarot deck. When our hero--The Fool--arrives for his first day at work to find that the boss has been killed under mysterious circumstances, he must find the killer before the whole place blows up.

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Plot Keywords:

looking at oneself in a mirror | first day at work | assassin | code name | spy | 

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Taglines:

Two rival teams of assassins. One killer day at the office.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and pervasive language including sexual references

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 2012 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Operation: Endgame

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anchor Bay Films,Infinity Media,Darko Entertainment

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was shot in 20 days, most of the fight scenes were done in less than 3 hours.

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Goofs

Halfway through the fight scene between High Priestess and Tower, two of the shots of High Priestess are clearly flipped - all of the labels of the boxes in the background are suddenly backwards in those two shots.

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Quotes

High Priestess: I wish it was Sunday.
Fool: How do I know for sure you are who I think you are?
High Priestess: Well, for one, we were just speaking in code. And two... I currently have a Para Carry 9mm pointed squarely at your crotch. I'm High Priestess. Nice to meet you.

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Connections

References Sally Jessy Raphael (1983)

User Reviews

Another example of a great idea resulting in a not so great movie.

"You think it's easy to look like a bearded tampon?"

What a weird, odd, and ultimately underwhelming mixture Operation: Endgame ended up being. 

I was expecting a bloody action comedy with several really hot women and a couple of funny/interesting actors playing rival assassins who are out for blood, but instead I got a predictable, poorly scripted, ham-fisted critique on Bush-era intelligence operations. The great cast was really the only thing that made this movie somewhat worth my time. We've got Odette Yustman, Zach Galifiankis, Maggie Q, Rob Corddry, Adam Scott, Brandon T. Jackson, Emilie de Ravin, Ving Rhames, Jeffrey Tambor...it's like someone asked me personally about all the actors I'd like to see in a movie. Yet, they're utterly wasted on characters that are terribly written. It shouldn't be possible to make a mediocre movie with a cast this great, but whoever wrote the script certainly pulled it off.

The majority of the jokes are unfunny (Corddry does get a few gems, though), the fight choreography is unimpressive, and the movie as a whole would have been better without the looping real-life footage of President Obama's inauguration and the lame attempts to ground the story in some kind of political statement. I'm all for messages in movies, but Operation: Endgame goes about it without any subtlety or wit, and seemed a muddled mess as a result.  

I'm giving this a high score than it deserves because I got some enjoyment just from the opportunity to see a few of the actors I'm quite fond of (good Lord, Odette Yustman looks fantastic in a tank top), but I feel pretty comfortable advising others to just skip it, entirely. It's a shame that a movie with such potential ended up stumbling in the execution.