Hidden Agenda (1999)

Better Late Then Never

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

An interesting cast is the only good thing about HIDDEN AGENDA, a boring and dated Canadian thriller released in 1999 with some of the technological mumbo-jumbo that filled turn-of-the-century thrillers back in the day; there's some stuff about a stolen computer disk, for instance. The setting is Germany, where an ever-youthful Kevin Dillon (of THE BLOB fame) investigates his brother's murder and comes up against a murky conspiracy. The film is cheap and dated looking and it's hard to believe that in just three years time THE BOURNE IDENTITY would come out and revitalise the genre. Cast-wise, we get turns from the underrated Michael Wincott, old-timer Christopher Plummer (who at least seems to be enjoying himself) and the great J.T. Walsh, for whom this was sadly his last role before his untimely death.

The script appears to be someone's first attempt at an Eastern-block who-dunnit-spy-intrigue mystery. Kevin Dillon is "David McLean", in our story, on his way to visit his brother. Apparently, the brother has been murdered, but David meets lots of folks who knew Michael. We aren't given any clues as to what's really going on, just lots of secretive looks and car chases by "people" coming after him. The CIA seems to want a disk he finds in a locker, and "Monika" (Andrea Roth" ) knows more than she is telling, but instead of telling David what's going on, he (and us, the viewers) are left in the dark so more people can chase him around. The Stazi secret police are involved, and the bodies start piling up. It pretty much comes to a screeching halt when then they hole up in an apartment about halfway through the film. It's less than satisfying, but it IS part of a four- film thriller set I found, so it is mildly entertaining. Very clichéd, even down to the sound levels jumping way up and way down throughout the film. So typical.

A average, but not bad thriller in a kind of Hitchcock-mood. Dillon think his brother is killed, but off course we know better... and soon he is hunted for the McGuffin: A disk of spy names from the Torn Curtain-time. There are many failures in this movie, but if you can accept them, you get a good Dillon, a lovely Roth and first of all a fine story. 5½/10

This movie is called Secret Agenda at our cable rental store. Although Chris Plummer does a good job as the inscrutable German detective, the movie is like a standard TV flick. It's a pretty good story, but the acting is rather flat, and it doesn't really draw the viewer in. It's really not worth rental money, and it should be on regular TV sometime soon anyway. It's better than Act of War with Jack Scalia, but not much.