For a long time, fans assumedChuck Norrishad retired from acting. The action star had been missing in action ever since he joined his fellow ‘80s and ‘90s legends inThe Expendables 2. Norris only had a brief role in the 2012 ensemble movie, but impressed audiences with his hilarious “Cobra died after biting me” line. He briefly resurfaced on television via cameos inThe Goldbergsin 2012 andHawaii Five-0in 2020, only to disappear again.
Agent Recon
For over a decade, there was no word about Chuck’s big-screen status. He simply kept quiet, neither confirming nor denying whether he had quit knocking the teeth out of the mouths of miscreants. Then, in 2024, the direct-to-streaming sci-fi movieAgent Reconwas released, starring the iconic action star. It is a solid, flavorful entry for Chuck-as-a-master-punisher fans, boasting a ‘slam bang’ finish. Unfortunately, there was little to no buzz surrounding the movie, which is a shame, considering that it has a better script than most of his past work.
Chuck Norris Is an AI-powered Android in ‘Agent Recon’
Addressing the never-ending fictional collision between aliens and humans, as well as the differences in strategy for those tasked with handling the conflict,Agent Reconis a buoyant, multifaceted work that’s as thoughtful, weighty, action-packed, and visually appealing asChuck Norris’ past hits. Directed by Derek Ting, it isthe third film in theAgenttrilogy, which began in 2017with Agent Intelligence,followed byAgent Revelationin 2021. There’s no need to watch the previous two movies since there is a quick voiceover that summarizes what happened.
The film series revolves aroundnefarious aliens called Kinians, a super-secret organization that is dedicated to fighting them, and a mystery red dust that can either cause the aliens to control you or give you special abilities. The latest installment thus opens with a botched raid, resulting in a helicopter crash that kills Alastair. The filthy rich character (portrayed byStar Trek: The Next Generation’s Michael Dorn in the previous installment) had been experimenting with numerous forms of advanced tech.His people were thus able to take a copy of his brain’s consciousness, upload it onto a cloud, and then download it into an android body labeled Colonel Alastair, which looks like none other than Chuck Norris.
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Colonel Alastair nowleads a covert military task force on a high-stakes mission to investigate an energy disturbance at a secret base in New Mexico. Authorities suspect that experiments with alien technology are being conducted at the facility, so Alastair joins forces with Colonel Green (Marc Singer) and recruits the super-powered rookie Jim Yung (Derek Ting) to ensure the mission is a success.
The team’s fears are confirmed when they arrive at the isolated base. Someone is indeed messing with alien biology, and the camera angles that we get here are particularly effective at conveying a sense of lurking menace. But before they can do anything about it,the gun-totting heroes are attacked by a mysterious entity with extraordinary speed and strength. The figure alsocontrols an army of faceless, drone-like warriors in dark jumpsuits. Movie aliens have never looked cooler, even if their plans are quite bonkers and destined for failure, they remain menacing. These enemy forces quickly overwhelm the commando unit, leaving them in a fight for their lives.
‘Agent Recon’ Feels Like an Amalgam of ‘Predator,’ ‘Terminator,’ and ‘Universal Soldier’
Chuck Norris' decision to go the sci-fi route so late in his career is interesting, considering thathe wasn’t as experimental as his fellow legendary action starsduring his glory days.Silent Ragewasthe only sci-fi film he had madebeforeAgent Recon,and there’s only about three minutes of science theory in it. The rest is action. Norris also dove into the supernatural and fantasy arenas viaHellboundandForest Warrior, but that was just about it.
During this period, his peers were busy trying out everything. Arnold Schwarzenegger hadTerminator, Running Man, Predator, Conan…. The list goes on. Stallone had Judge Dredd andDemolition Man. Jean-Claude Van Damme hadCyborg and Universal Soldier.Among the era’s leading men,Steven Seagal is perhaps the only one who shares in Chuck Norris' lack of versatility.
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Did Chuck Norris experience some form of awakening while hanging out with some of his fellow stars on the set ofThe Expendables 2?Since then, he has jumped from a sitcom to a sci-fi movie. He is also set to appear in the Australian zombie movie,Zombie Plane, later in 2025.
Chuck alsoappears to have drawn inspiration from the work of some of his peers with his new movie. The movie’s alien-themed plot places it in the same vein as Arnold Schwarzenegger’sPredator. The only difference is the presence of more attackers instead of one. Additionally, Norris’ film is notable for the aliens' point-of-view angles, which provide some of the most frightening moments (and are way more emotionally effective than the overly-long shots of the extraterrestrial). Beyond that, having the actor play an android instead of a human also brings back memories ofthe Terminator. Let’s not forget the presence of super-abled soldiers, which feels like a nod to Jean-Claude Van Damme’sUniversal Soldier.
Agent Reconthus comes off as acocktail of many great action films that we’ve seen before. It feels low-budget, but it delivers similar thrills. Even better, it achieves its objective while still subverting theone-man-army trope.
‘Agent Recon’ Could Have Been Better, But It Still Ticks All the “Chuck Norris Movie” Boxes
Agent Reconis amazing, despite its dearth of proper special effects and glaring budgetary limitations. There are no heavy themes or ground-breaking plots either, but no Chuck Norris fan walks into a Chuck Norris movie expecting it to be an Oscar contender.
Most of the actor’s films are littered with flaws, hence they have poor Rotten Tomatoes scores, yet they sit comfortably inthe so-bad-its-good category. Most critics weren’t impressed with the comeback flick either, and their concerns are understandable. It is a shame that the sci-fi intrigue, so deftly handled in the film’s first half, has to play second fiddle to the endless action in the second half, but true fans won’t mind, since they’ve always been more enthused with this side of the equation. And even though we haven’t seen Chuck Norris as an android before,this particular action flick has all the usual trademarks.
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The first thing you’ll notice is the tough-guy dialogue. Remember lines like “I’m going to hit you with so many lefts you’ll be begging for a right?” There are a few of those. Despite all the chaos unfolding, the character never shows any form of vulnerability. Norris also tends to play a vet, an active serviceman, or a lawman in his movies. Here, he leads a special military unit, just like he does inDelta Force.
As is always the case in Chuck Norris movies,the lines between good and evil are clear. The villains are plain and simple (only that they are from outer space in this scenario), and the heroes are here to kick and shoot. The plot doesn’t meander too much either. The objective is stated quite early, and everything gets wrapped up decently by the closing minutes.
It was often presumed that Chuck acts better when he is a lone wolf, but it turns out that he is even more interesting when he has company. AfterThe Expendables 2, he must have realized that he tends to shine even more when he is part of an ensemble, hence the reason he signed up for a movie that had a few other protagonists.
Movies like this always feature a few characters that can be airbrushed out of the proceedings without anyone noticing, but everyone is well utilized here.Chuck’s character is mostly involved in the strategy and coordination. It isn’t until the third act that he goes full adrenaline, pulling moves that echo back toInvasion USA.Hop into Hulu when you can, and check outAgent Recon.
