Operation Cast Magnet

So how does a cast this impressive get attached to a film that goes straight to DVD?
In the case of Operation Endgame, I'm guessing it's the script. This low budget spy movie takes place within the confines of a secret base (much like True Lies or Get Smart) on the day of President Obama's inauguration. In it work two teams of agents, the Alphas and the Omegas, all of which are given code names derived from tarot cards (Empress, Devil, Chariot, Fool, etc). After their boss is murdered, they team up into pairs trying to catch the killer...but then the body count increases dramatically...

The script has a witty irreverence that mirrors the ambitions of Tarantino. There's plenty of juicy character stuff and verbal sparring (and swearing, thank God) for the actors to get their teeth in to, along with brief bursts of violence to punctuate the banter. The ensemble cast, including the aggressive Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine), Maggie Q (MI:III), Jeffery Tambor (Hellboy),Emilie De Ravin (Lost), Ellen Barkin (Oceans Thirteen), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), uber babe Odette Yustman (Cloverfield) and Ving Rhames (you name it), and a host of other familiar actors you know but can't quite name, are all fine in what is essentially an office' comedy.

But...

...it's directed with all the skill of a deceased Frenchman. While you can detect the wit in the script, the cast are rarely able to make it work thanks to the leaden direction. It looks bland and it plays bland. Only Corddry, playing a similar self obsessive asshole as he did in Hot Tub Time Machine, rises above the energy draining direction. The political subtext is lost in the cut too, making this one lost opportunity. It's a diverting and inoffensive (in terms of quality) 90 minutes, but you can't help but think that in the hands of a director with talent, this might have been something special.