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The Gratuitous B-Movie Column: Agent Recon
Image Credit: Quiver Distribution
The Gratuitous B-Movie Column Issue #613: Agent Recon
Hello, everyone, and welcome once again to the internets movie review column that has never had to infiltrate a secret alien compound out in the desert or, really, anywhere, The Gratuitous B-Movie Column, and I am your host Bryan Kristopowitz. In this issue, issue number six hundred and thirteen, I take a look at the B-movie cinematic event of 2024, the low-budget sci-fi action flick Agent Recon, which debuted in late June, 2024, and is currently available to watch on the Hulu streaming platform.
Agent Recon
Agent Recon, written by, directed by, and starring Derek Ting, is a low-budget sci-fi action flick that I’ve been anxious to see ever since I found out that it was a movie earlier in 2024. I saw a trailer for the movie and immediately wanted to know when it was going to be debut and where. Would it go directly to a streaming platform? Would it do the Video On Demand thing first? Would it get some sort of limited theatrical run somewhere before hitting home video and streaming and everything else? I had to know. Agent Recon was a big goddamn deal. Why was it a big goddamn deal?
It was the cinematic return of Chuck Norris.
Yes. The Chuck goddamn Norris, who hadn’t been in a movie since 2012’s The Expendables 2. And Big Chuck was going to be in a movie with the Beastmaster hisself, Marc Singer. The Beastmaster and Chuck Norris in the same movie? Why would anyone want to pass that up? And it’s some sort of low-budget sci-fi action thing where Big Chuck, Singer, and star Ting battled alien kung fu zombies out in the desert for some reason? Jesus Christ, did I make this movie and have no memory of doing it? Because Agent Recon looked and sounded like something I would want to make if I actually made movies.
I had to see it.
I have now seen Agent Recon, and I can say that, as a low-budget sci-fi action flick, it’s not bad. It isn’t perfect, it has some issues, and when you get into the nitty gritty of the movie’s plot and whatnot it’s weird to think that Chuck Norris wanted it to be his cinematic comeback movie. When was the last time Chuck did a sci-fi movie? The closest thing he’d done to sci-fi before Agent Recon was 1982’s Silent Rage, an action-horror slasher flick with a monster created by science. Everything else after that has been some sort of straight up action flick with the occasional quasi fantasy flick thrown in just because (like the horror flick he did in 1993, Hellbound, or the environmentalist movie Forest Warrior in 1996, or that weirdo Christian movie he did in 2003, Bells of Innocence). And when you realize, both by watching the beginning of Agent Recon and doing a little research on IMDB, that Agent Recon is the third movie in an ongoing low-budget sci-fi action series spearheaded by Derek Ting, you really start to wonder how the heck this movie happened. Why did Chuck Norris want to appear in this movie?
Agent Recon stars Derek Ting as Jim Yung, an alien/human that has special powers because of this alien stuff called “ash.” Yung works for the special U.S. government entity called the Earth Security Unit, a sort of military/government agency formed in a previous movie to deal with the ongoing alien threat to Earth. Yung is also close to Alastair (Chuck Norris), an alien robot AI thing that is essentially a weapon that can be used against the aliens if and when it comes to that. Alastair also has access to specialized knowledge about the aliens and how to fight back against them. Yung, for whatever reason, seems to be the only one on the ESU team that can meaningfully communicate with Alastair.
The main plot of the movie begins when ESU commando Colonel Green (Marc Singer) and his team are brought in to rescue Captain Lila Rupert (Nikki Leigh), who has apparently gone missing/has been captured by the aliens and is being held in a fortified compound out in the middle of the desert. There also seems to be a new and super dangerous alien threat to deal with, a guy dressed all in black with a trench coat and a mask who is faster and more powerful than any of the other aliens that the ESU knows about. There’s also a need to “download info” about the compound and that can only be done by accessing various terminals around the compound. Yung wants to be a part of Green’s team, but Green doesn’t want Yung involved at all since he’s never been a part of an ESU commando team before. Green eventually relents and allows Yung to be a part of his team (I think it has something to do with Yung being able to talk to Alastair but I’m not entirely sure). And so Green and his team (Miller, as played by Jason Scott Jenkins, is part of Green’s team) and Yung head out to the secret alien compound in the desert, with Agent Tanya (Sylvia Kwan) and Agent Aaron Klak (Matthew Ryan Burnett) providing backup via a helicopter and drone surveillance.
Colonel Green’s mission immediately goes to crap as soon as his team enters the secret alien compound, with kung fu alien zombies attacking them (Green and Yung call them “infecteds” but I’m not entirely sure what that means. Are they humans that were infected with alien stuff at some point in a previous movie? Are they aliens that have been infected with something that makes them evil? Agent Recon doesn’t specify as far as I can tell). General mayhem ensues, a bunch of alien zombies die and then get right back up, multiple firefights ensue (the alien zombies can use guns, too), and the data collection via the terminals is way harder than initially thought. Agents Tanya and Klak take some of the gathered info and feed it into Alastair, who needs time to process it because, as an alien robot AI thing, sometimes he needs to warm up or something.
The middle part of the movie is a bit confusing, as it’s mostly just a series of action sequences that are either happening in the reality of the movie or are part of some sort evil alien computer simulation. Yung ends up getting separated from Green’s commando team and has to fight by himself, and Green ends up getting captured. We also find out, via flashback videos, that a doctor performed some sort of laser experiment on an alien, that Green was somehow involved with that experiment (maybe), and that laser thing is basically the reason why the ESU had to send Green’s team to the compound in the first place. At least I think that’s what’s happening during this part of the movie.
The movie picks up considerably during the last twenty minutes or so, when Yung, after being rescued via helicopter by Agent Tanya, decides to go back to the compound to rescue Colonel Green and stop the evil alien threat once and for all, this time with the help of Alastair. We then get another series of action scenes, most of them actually including Big Chuck. And Big Chuck, along with Big Chuck’s obvious stunt double, wield a minigun, wield two smaller but no less lethal machine guns, and destroy multiple alien zombies via karate. And these action scenes move back and forth between being in slow motion and not in slow motion.
Now, do I fully understand what’s going on after the halfway mark of Agent Recon? Not really. I mean, I get the basic idea of what’s going on. I know that Derek Ting’s Jim Yung is the good guy and that he’s fighting aliens. I also know that Marc Singer’s Colonel Green isn’t just a badass commando leading a badass commando team. And I know that Big Chuck’s Alastair is a super weapon. But the details, the actual specific details? No. I actually felt lost in the middle of the movie, figuring that I needed to find the first two movies in the series and watch them before I could actually understand what the heck is really going on. And it doesn’t help that, despite lots of action and fighting and whatnot, the pacing of Agent Recon slows down considerably in the middle of the movie. Once Big Chuck actually becomes a participant in the action, the movie picks up again. Why couldn’t the movie’s pacing been more consistent throughout? Why does the movie bog down in the middle?
And what the heck happens at the end? The only thing I’m certain of is that Ting and company want to make at least one more movie.
Pacing issues aside, Agent Recon is a fairly well-made low-budget sci-fi action flick. It looks fairly slick, the sound design is generally quite good (some of the dialogue is muffled, but I think that has more to do with how the actors in question delivered their lines than the production using substandard sound equipment), and the action and fighting is exciting and well done. You can actually see what the heck is going on most of the time. Some of the CGI special effects are a bit wonky at the very end, but there are some nifty looking “energy blast” effects that Ting’s Yung engages in while fighting off the alien zombies. The alien compound set also looks pretty good. I also want to commend the movie for getting to use a real helicopter in the helicopter scenes. I mean, if the helicopter is actually really CGI, it’s the best looking CGI helicopter I’ve ever seen in a movie.
I’m also fully intrigued by the idea that the only way an infected alien zombie thing can be killed is via a bullet to the liver (or really you have to attack the liver). The liver. Not the head. Not the heart. Not the whole “you can kill a zombie by breaking its neck” thing that we saw in the Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil movies. How did that detail develop?
The performances are decent enough. Star Derek Ting does a good job as Jim Yung, the alien/human that works for the ESU. He seems more vulnerable than he actually is, but at the same time he isn’t a full on super being, despite his alien “ash” powers. Ting makes Yung a more or less normal guy stuck in the middle of a not-very-normal-at-all situation, and that’s an interesting characterization, especially around both Marc Singer and Chuck Norris. I really need to see the other two movies in this series to fully grasp what’s going on with Jim Yung and see what the heck this series is supposed to be about. I feel as though I’m missing something important and it already happened in another movie and I’m supposed to know all about that before watching Agent Recon. I’m also curious as to why Ting, as the writer and director and star, wants this series to be his series. I mean, we don’t have that many low-budget franchises out in the world at the moment. How the heck did this become a series? And why? I have to find out.
Marc Singer is fantastic as Colonel Green. He’s experienced and grizzled and he’s been there and done that when it comes to fighting alien zombies out in the desert and he doesn’t have time for your bullshit. You’re instantly drawn to Colonel Green as soon as you see him, even if you think he’s kind of an asshole (and there are moments where you might think that). You start to feel for him more and more as the movie progresses and you find out what his deal really is, especially when it comes to Captain Rupert. The only disappointing moment for me when it comes to Singer’s performance is that he doesn’t use a sword in the movie. When you have the Beastmaster in your movie, give him a sword for at least one action scene. It should be a law.
Chuck Norris gives his most bizarre career performance as Alastair. Alastair is an alien robot of some sort, and Big Chuck has never done anything remotely like that up until this movie. When you first see him, you think his head has been superimposed on a stunt performer’s body, and all Alastair is doing is sitting and waiting to be activated. Norris also delivers his somewhat complicated sci-fi dialogue is a near whisper. Norris gets through it, though, and he seems engaged in what he’s been asked to do. His action scenes towards the end of the movie are engaging, and it seems like he’s actually doing some of the hand-to-hand scenes. Yes, it’s obvious that his stunt double is doing the sequences where we only see Alastair from behind, but when we see Big Chuck’s face? It looks like he’s actually punching and kicking alien zombies. That’s cool. It’s also quite cool seeing Norris use a modified minigun to take out various alien zombies. I’m going to assume, with the way the movie ends, that this is a one-and-done for Norris, at least in terms of doing action star stuff (fighting, shooting, that kind of stuff). It will be interesting to see if Norris gets back into movies on a more consistent basis after this and that movie he’s in with Vanilla Ice. Maybe he can do the Brice Willis thing, do the “Second billed name star” thing for a few years? That would be fun to experience. What other kinds of movies does Chuck Norris want to do?
Sylvia Kwan and Matthew Ryan Burnett do a nice job as the ESU support team, Tanya and Aaron Klak. They don’t get to engage in the action stuff like Ting or Singer or Norris, but they do get to try to ground the movie’s sci-fi stuff in a seriousness that makes you believe in what’s happening. They seem to know and understand what the heck is going on and what the stakes are, so maybe you should pay attention to how they react to everything. Will they return for a fourth movie?
Everyone else involved with the movie is just sort of in the movie. Nikki Leigh does an okay job as Captain Rupert, but she isn’t given much to do beyond get captured and then rescued. And Jason Scott Jenkins is a formidable enough second-in-command of Green’s team. Christopher Showerman, who I believe plays dual roles, is quite good as the lead alien zombie bad guy, Alpha. He comes off as a very good martial artist.
I liked Agent Recon. It’s a nifty low-budget sci-fi action flick, and an absolutely fascinating return vehicle for action star Chuck Norris. Even being ultimately confused by what the heck is really going on, it’s a perfectly fine 85 minute genre movie. I need to search out the other two movies in the series, to see if my confusion can be reduced by seeing what came before. And I am very interested in another movie, mostly to see what happens next. What is the next part of this story? And what surprise will franchise mastermind Derek Ting spring on the world next? Will he be able to top the return of Chuck Norris? I can’t wait to find out.
See Agent Recon. See it, see it, see it. It’s currently available to stream on Hulu.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: Maybe 30?
Explosions: Several.
Nudity?: None.
Doobage: An opening voiceover. A lightning strike. Welder stuff. Slow motion beatings. A big fire. A helicopter. Guys sparring. Commando stuff. Some bullstuff about a tech billionaire creating a thing that needs humans and robots or something. Alien stuff. An old photo. Compound infiltration in slow motion. A “red ash/alien” view. Multiple interfaces. A shootout. Aggressive stabbing. Attempted metal door breaking. Rain. Downloading. Multiple martial arts brawls. A super CGI punch. Potential spine breaking. Hatchet attack. Some bullstuff about humans and alien DNA. Some stuff about energy chambers. A red alien laser thing. Wall buttons. Another hatchet attack. A countdown clock. An old western town for some reason. DNA confirmation portals. Shotgun hooey. Slow motion shotgun blast to the back. Slow motion kung fu brawl with special effect flashes. Head bleeding. Helicopter stuff. A final siege. Serious infected alien zombie killing. Minigun hooey. Energy burst stuff. More martial arts brawling. A massive explosion. A plane lands somewhere. A final voiceover.
Kim Richards?: None.
Gratuitous: Stuff about aliens. “And Chuck Norris.” A massive desert landscape. Scanners that can detect the amount of alien ash in the body. Chuck Norris playing an alien robot. Chuck Norris talking like a robot and loading his memory onto a nearby TV. Flashback scenes from a previous movie in the series. Heavy box lifting. Chuck Norris sitting and staring. Marc Singer. A surveillance drone. Device interfacing. Downloading. Marc Singer yelling into his walkie talkie. Knife making. A hatchet. An eye device that can see through walls. Cell phone charging. A Chuck Norris voiceover. Chuck Norris using a modified minigun. Chuck Norris fighting bad guys. Chuck Norris doing a throat throw. Chuck Norris using a shotgun. Chuck Norris having a nuclear reactor inside of him. Massive underground explosions.
Best lines: “Execute! Execute! Execute!” “I’m Colonel Green.” “That’s okay, Colonel, we can practice liver shots here, too.” “Alastair? Yes, Jim.” “Alastair, why did you bring us here?” “I want a ready op! ASAP!” “Don’t you have ash running through your veins? How do we know you won’t go all alien on us?” “Okay, kittens, playtime is over.” “Jim, you were not chosen. You were called upon.” “Jim! Your weapon! Ready to go.” “Let’s get the eagle up! The eagle is rising.” “Place looks abandoned. Sure does.” “Go for the liver!” “Miller didn’t bleed. They do.” “Of course it’s locked!” “These files are on the infected!” “Can’t catch a break!” “How long was this testing going on?” “You, sir, are a walking hypothesis.” “I can’t wait for you to join the party, Jim!” “His genetic structure is remarkable.” “I’m such an idiot!” “I’m invincible, Jim.” “We need to stop this.” “I have a nuclear reactor in me.” “What happened? He died fighting for what he believed.”
Rating: 8.0/10.0
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And don’t forget to check out From the B-Movie Vault!
Issue #1: Phantasm and Phantasm II
Issue #2: Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead and Phantasm IV: Oblivion
Issue #3: Phantasm: Ravager and John Dies at the End
Issue #5: Scanners II: The New Order and Scanners III: The Takeover
Issue #6: Scanner Cop and Scanner Cop II
Issue #7: John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2
Issue #8: Silent Night, Deadly Night and Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2
Issue #9: American Ninja and American Ninja 2: The Confrontation
Issue #10: The Marine and 12 Rounds
Issue #11: The Marine 2 and The Marine 3: Homefront
Issue #12: The Marine 4: Moving Target and The Marine 5: Battleground
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Agent Recon
Derek Ting– Jim Yung
Marc Singer– Colonel Green
Chuck Norris– Alastair
Sylvia Kwan– Tanya
Jason Scott Jenkins– Miller
Matthew Ryan Burnett– Aaron Klak
Nikki Leigh– Captain Lila Rupert
Teo Briones– Larry Higgins
Christopher Showerman– Dr. Penn/Alpha
Yarett Harper– Harden
Directed by Derek Ting
Screenplay by Derek Ting
Distributed by Quiver Distribution
Not Rated
Runtime– 85 minutes
Watch it on Hulu
