I expected nothing from this straight to DVD thriller , especially remembering how painful were Lundgren earlier thriller efforts "Cover up" and "Jill ripps". I was somewhat pleasantly surprised . I've got something. One should not mistake "Hidden agenda" with a great movie , but it's reasonably entertaining time waster for a B-movie.
The plot seems to be inspired by the movie "Eraser" , however unlike Schwarzenegger movie it focuses more on the story than action set pieces (maybe because of the low budget) . This is techno thriller with only some action scenes here and there. Average action junkie might be disappointed. The movie actually feels realistic , something like this could happen in real life and that's a big plus for me.
The plot is fairly intelligent. The movie does make sense but it's unfortunately a little bit hard to follow . The main plot twist was too obvious and at the end the story gets muddled. This is one of those films where you can't tell the bad people from the good, so everyone is suspect. It kinda feels like there are too many characters in this movie. At the end not everything feels resolved and not every character motivations are clear. Big minus for that.
Lundgren gives a fine performance. It must have been a treat for him to play smart and classy guy , not muscle man. He gives his character Jason Price enough charm and intelligence to make audience care for him. Maxim Roy is very hot as the femme fatale and gives a okay performance. The rest of the cast is not bad , but nothing to write home about.
Director Marc S. Grenier obviously works on limited budget , but somehow manages to give this movie a certain atmosphere (the snow keeps falling all the time , the shots of city traffic are sped up ). Sadly , he fails when it comes to action scenes. The opening chase at the airport is decent , but things go downhill from there. The action scenes are badly "Matrix" stylized and the camera work is too shaky. The final gun battle is also poorly staged. In the end the action is below average.
The music is pretty cool . It's a quite catchy electronic score . The few CGI effects look like taken from 90's movie. The dialogues are decent.
Anyway , for a B-movie it does what it promises - provides harmless entertainment for one night. Compared to some other Lundgren movies (especially the rest of his DTV stuff) "Hidden agenda" is a quality movie. It remains one of Lundgren's better movies in quite awhile. I give it 4/10. Maybe I'm too harsh , if you're a Lundgren fan , give it one star more.
The plot seems to be inspired by the movie "Eraser" , however unlike Schwarzenegger movie it focuses more on the story than action set pieces (maybe because of the low budget) . This is techno thriller with only some action scenes here and there. Average action junkie might be disappointed. The movie actually feels realistic , something like this could happen in real life and that's a big plus for me.
The plot is fairly intelligent. The movie does make sense but it's unfortunately a little bit hard to follow . The main plot twist was too obvious and at the end the story gets muddled. This is one of those films where you can't tell the bad people from the good, so everyone is suspect. It kinda feels like there are too many characters in this movie. At the end not everything feels resolved and not every character motivations are clear. Big minus for that.
Lundgren gives a fine performance. It must have been a treat for him to play smart and classy guy , not muscle man. He gives his character Jason Price enough charm and intelligence to make audience care for him. Maxim Roy is very hot as the femme fatale and gives a okay performance. The rest of the cast is not bad , but nothing to write home about.
Director Marc S. Grenier obviously works on limited budget , but somehow manages to give this movie a certain atmosphere (the snow keeps falling all the time , the shots of city traffic are sped up ). Sadly , he fails when it comes to action scenes. The opening chase at the airport is decent , but things go downhill from there. The action scenes are badly "Matrix" stylized and the camera work is too shaky. The final gun battle is also poorly staged. In the end the action is below average.
The music is pretty cool . It's a quite catchy electronic score . The few CGI effects look like taken from 90's movie. The dialogues are decent.
Anyway , for a B-movie it does what it promises - provides harmless entertainment for one night. Compared to some other Lundgren movies (especially the rest of his DTV stuff) "Hidden agenda" is a quality movie. It remains one of Lundgren's better movies in quite awhile. I give it 4/10. Maybe I'm too harsh , if you're a Lundgren fan , give it one star more.