Movie review: ‘Operation: Endgame’

There’s a Hollywood joke that goes, “There are two kinds of agents: bad agents and worse agents.” That same range of adjectives could apply to the nasty political operatives who populate the ugly action-thriller “Operation: Endgame,” now making a theatrical pit stop before its late-July DVD release.

If the script, credited to Sam Levinson “based on an original screenplay by Brian Watanabe” (a dubious ascription at best) spent as much time on character development as it did concocting its raft of explicitly vulgar putdowns, it might have had some actual flesh on its bones. Instead, we’re left with a brutal, coldly efficient story about competing government assassins — all pretentiously code-named after Tarot cards — who turn on each other after a mysterious new recruit, a majorly botched mission, a suddenly dead boss and a ticking time bomb all intersect on Inauguration Day 2009.

You’ll likely never look at office supplies the same way again after director Fouad Mikati’s gory close-ups of murder by staple remover, scissors, bookend and paper cutter, among other everyday “weapons.”

And, while the producers managed to rope in a large, mostly recognizable cast including Jeffrey Tambor, Zack Galifianakis, Adam Scott, Emilie de Ravin, Beth Grant and Maggie Q, they also generously provided career lows for Ellen Barkin, Ving Rhames and an especially repugnant Rob Corddry.

“Operation: Endgame.” MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and pervasive language including sexual references. Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes. At Laemmle’s Sunset 5, West Hollywood.