'Agent Recon' Review: Chuck Norris Is Back in Action, Barely

The Big Picture

This third movie in an unknown action franchise will make sure it remains on no one’s radar.

Agent Recon
is impressively atrocious from start to finish.

Everything from the action choreography to the world-building are disappointing and unimportant.

Have you ever flipped on a movie and realized you’re in trouble almost instantaneously? That’s Derek Ting’s Agent Recon. It’s a schoolyard action flick in that everything feels like children playing pretend during recess, devoid of guns-blazing movie magic. Nothing’s tangible beyond what can’t be fabricated in post-production, from weapon effects to whole-ass characters digitized into scenes, inadvertently matching the vibes of an Adult Swim mockery of Universal Solider blueprints. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen previous franchise entries Agent Intelligence or Agent Revelation — Ting’s brand of no-budget thrills requires zero brainpower. It’s an amateur mess on laughable levels, but not in a “see it to believe it” way.

Agent Recon (2024)

Release Date: June 21, 2024
Director: Derek Ting
Cast: Derek Ting , Marc Singer , Chuck Norris , Sylvia Kwan , Jason Scott Jenkins , Matthew Ryan Burnett , Nikki Leigh , Teo Briones
Writers: Derek Ting

What Is 'Agent Recon' About?

Ting stars as superagent Jim Yung, a covert soldier hunting an alien threat. There’s talk of an “ash” infection and a disturbance in New Mexico involving extraterrestrial technology. Jim’s superhuman abilities earn him a spot next to Colonel Green (Beastmaster’s Marc Singer) as they raid an abandoned base where Captain Lila Rupert (Nikki Leigh) is being held hostage. With the help of an A.I. “Organic” (played by Chuck Norris), Jim executes a mission of grave importance — or at least that’s what the film tries to convince us through the hideously barebones affair.

No matter where you look, the film’s blemishes are inescapable. Locations resemble forest paintball arenas built from plywood that cinematographer Zach Trout foolishly shoots from the inside so you catch a glimpse of the barren “details.” Gunfire visuals are all animated, pixelating wounds and muzzle flashes like a 90s computer game. There’s slapdash and makeshift, then there’s incapable and unable. Ting’s third passion project only appears moderately passable whenever he’s throwing punches or kicking abdomens, while the rest plays worse than high school productions where off-brand tablets and random pieces of plastic pass for advanced futuristic technology.

The Chuck Norris of it all is everything you need to know about Agent Recon. Norris clearly only graced set for a single day to fire a minigun with minimal effort (parts of which are computerized), to the point where Ting opts for still photography of Norris copy-and-pasted onto preceding locations. I’ve never seen anything as poor-quality or incompatible included in a set-for-release movie that believes it earns your money when arguably its brightest star could barely be bothered to appear on set. Most sequences featuring Norris recall unfinished stock photography renderings meant to be in-progress placeholders. The body double they shoot from behind a few times doesn’t even have Norris’ haircut, physical build, or bone structure. Danny Trejo appears in a billion projects per year, but at least he puts the work in — Norris’ casting is an insult given his billing.

'Agent Recon' Is an Action Movie Without Personality

The action choreography does Agent Recon no favors, either blurring everything with bounce-about cinematography or sluggishly performances by second-rate stunt performers. Exchanges pull punches as “alien” henchmen (extras in black masks) oversell their inabilities; Jim’s supposedly inhuman threats are just dudes in dark jumpsuits with facial coverings instead of cosmetic makeup. I’ve seen more believable attacks on the indie wrestling circuit in Ukranian recreational halls — and better acting. The dialogue is nothing but hamfisted jarhead tropes inorganically spouted by third-string talents doing their best impressions of 80s action heroes. No one exhibits any personality, whether spewing nondescript military jargon or trying to dazzle us with a few white-belt martial arts combos.

What isn’t a disappointment in Agent Recon? Entire sequences are filmed against digital backgrounds that can’t even trump graphics in old-school video games like Diablo II. Any world-building is horrendously unimportant, since “ash” or “mana” explanations are valuable maybe once or twice in the remaining (and excruciating) 80-ish minutes. Scene transitions are nondescript photography you’d find in Chromecast background slideshows, most likely purchased off the internet or perhaps even downloaded for free. Narrations are read without emotion or vocal rhythm as if it’s the first time actors are reading a script. The list goes on and on.

Please don’t misinterpret this scathing review as an encouraging push to check out what could be a ridiculously flawed watch with friends. Agent Recon is unwatchable and doesn’t deserve your patronage. Congratulations to Mr. Ting for getting an entire three-movie trilogy funded and distributed, but it’s nothing more than a cosplaying dream-come-true vanity project. Agent Recon starts abysmally, somehow gets worse, and goes out in a disastrous blaze that’s missing any glory. Bad movie is bad, ‘nuff said.