Bullet Points: Alien Agent

You can file 2007’s Alien Agent under the “How the hell did I miss this movie?” category.

First off, the movie stars Mark Dacascos. I’ve been a Dacascos fan dating back to 1993’s Only the Strong and while Alien Agent was proof that I have not seen all of Mark’s films, I have seen far more than I have missed in the near three decades since.

Second, Alien Agent was directed by Jesse V. Johnson. There have been plenty of Jesse V. Johnson movies I have enjoyed over the years, including Accident Man and The Package, yet Alien Agent flew completely under my radar.

With two proven winners like that, I am not sure how I missed the movie, but I am sure I now have a better late than never review of Alien Agent…

• Strange Visitors from Another Planet: The movie begins with some backstory narration provided by Mark Dacascos’ character, Rykker. Rykker hails from a dying planet whose inhabitants are in desperate need of a new home. They are searching the universe for a planet that will meet their needs and is devoid of sentient beings, so they can claim it as their own. However there is a group of extremists on Rykker’s planet who are growing impatient and have found that Earth would suit their needs and are more than willing to wipe out the Earth’s population to make the necessary room. A trio of these rogues have already made their way to Earth with plans to build a portal to bridge their world with ours and open the gateway for their army to conquer this big blue marble we call Earth. Rykker has been sent in to stop them..
• Road Rage: With the backstory told, Alien Agent gets right to the action as Rykker is in hot pursuit of the terrible trio consisting of Isis (Amelia Cooke, Species III), Sartek (Dominiquie Vandenberg, The Mercenary) and Kaylor (Darren Shahlavi, Bloodmoon). The high speed chase is filled with vehicular mayhem and bullets flying and at one point Kaylor jumps from the back of a truck onto the hood of the car Rykker is driving and things get physical between the two. The chase ends abruptly when Isis shoots a rocket at Rykker’s car (while Kaylor is still on the hood!) Both Rykker and Kaylor survived the blast, but Kaylor is not long for this world as Rykker takes him out. One down, two to go. This opening action sequence was great and did exactly what it should have done, it hooked me.

• Nothing’s Finer Than Being in Your Diner: The next time we see Rykker he is having some coffee at the Hayes Diner as he plans his next move in his mission to stop Isis from carrying out her mission. That is where Rykker meets Julie, a young woman who is at a crossroads in her life as she works at her aunt and uncle’s diner to save up money for college. Rykker sees first hand one of the downsides of being an attractive waitress, dealing with obnoxious male patrons looking for more than a refill on their coffee. In this case, Tom (Billy Zane, The Phantom) who crosses a line with Julie and finds himself dealing with Rykker, who steps in and teaches Tom and his buddy a lesson. But that’s not the worst thing that is going to happen to Tom today…
• Close Encounter: Tom and his buddy go down by the lake to lick their wounds and shit talk Rykker and that’s about the time Isis and Sartek show up and Tom ends up with his neck snapped and dead… I thought it was odd that they’d hire Billy Zane for such a small, inconsequential role but then another wrinkle is revealed… the aliens require host bodies on Earth and Tom’s dead body will now become the host for the leader of the renegade movement, Saylon. Now that’s good use of Billy Zane! I am not sure if I missed something about the science concerning the travel between planets and the host bodies on Earth and original bodies in stasis back on the dying planet… but after giving it a few seconds of thought, I moved on and just enjoyed the movie.

• Intergalactic Tag Team: I’m also not sure I caught exactly why Isis and Sartek go to the diner and kill everyone, with the exception of Julie who managed to survive, unlike her aunt and uncle. But it led Julie right into the arms of her knight in shining armor from earlier, Rykker. And while he tries to fight it, Rykker eventually caves in and allows Julie to tag along on his mission and assist where she can (but he doesn’t let her in his pants). Julie was the make or break character for the movie, she could have dragged down this movie so quickly, but she does quite the opposite. I was a fan of the Julie character and that was even before her unexpected shower scene! That kind of emotional investment makes it all the better when Isis uses Julie as bait to lure Rykker in for the final confrontation between the Alien Agent and the Alien Renegades!

For a low budget movie that until recently I didn’t even know existed, Alien Agent was surprisingly good. It probably helps that I am a Mark Dacascos fan, which admittedly may skew my opinion a bit, but I can honestly say I enjoyed the movie and I would watch it again.

I can also honestly say I enjoy sharing Bonus Bullet Points…

• Familiar Face: Kim Coates plays the creepy Carl Roderick, an engineer who is recruited by Isis to assist in building the interplanetary portal. Carl is more than happy to sell out his fellow humans because he is absolutely smitten with Isis. Coates has been in his fair share of action movies over the years, but I always associate him with Officer Downe.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see a shirtless Mark Dacascos bust through a wall, and then be thrown through another wall, Alien Agent is the movie for you.
• Alien Agent 2: The ending of the movie seemed to be teasing a possible sequel. That ship has likely sailed at this point, but I would have been down for more adventures of Rykker.