Operation Endgame

Underneath the bright and shiny facade that is America, there exists another world. A world of assassins with cool nicknames and deadly skills. At least that is what I want to believe after seeing 'Operation Endgame' because having a job like that would be SO cool.

Rod Corddrey is very funny as the burnt-out leader of an elite government organization called 'The Factory' that exists to do the government's dirty work. All of the operatives are named after tarot cards. There are two teams, ALPHA and OMEGA which 'balances' the power they have but in truth they really just try to kill and do more damage then the other team. Both are led by 'The Devil' (Jeffery Tambor) who is little more than a civil servant.

Each agent has their own unique skill set and special mental illness. They all are bitter and spent most of their time verbally putting down each other with foul language. Ellen Barkin (Empress) has a particularly filthy mouth and looks terrific for her age. 'Lost's' Emilie de Ravin is also very cute with her psychotic little giggle.

Joe Anderson (The Fool) is an agent that was just hired by the factory and he has the bad luck of showing up on the one day when everything in the underground facility goes crazy. Both teams have been given orders to eliminate the other after their boss is assassinated. There is some mystery as to who the guilty party was. You can get the whole idea of the movie from the trailer.



I really enjoyed this one. I especially enjoyed the two civil servant guys (Carl and Niel) who have the job of watching everything that goes on in this facility from the safety of their control room. They riff back and forth on everything happening with the dispassion of a couple of office drones who are just putting in their eight hours. They are riveted to the screen while watching the murders happen but are powerless to do anything to stop them.

I liked how they made each character their own brand of crazy. You really don't root for anyone because you kinda root for everyone. Each attempted and completed murder is funnier than the last as these killers are paired up against one another while trapped in their underground fortress. Since they are not allowed to bring traditional weapons into the office they have to use whatever they can find. If gruesome deaths disturb you then you best give this one a pass.

The story moves quickly and gives you lots to enjoy. I can't believe that this one went straight to video. This is on my list of good movies that should have been released to theatres - it is certainly no worse than most of the dreck out there.