We expect our governments to employ the best and brightest; Dedicated servants who will sacrifice their bodies and souls for their patriotic duty. Who through careful plying of their craft shouldn’t need to put themselves into considerable harm in the first place. That is, we’d like to think that. In 2010, when the nation was looking for a new breed of hope and change, the most covert of operatives were putting themselves in a very real game of murderous brinksmanship, in Operation: Endgame.

We follow a rookie spy, The Fool, who joins a cabal that operates beneath the bureaucracy of the United States Intelligence Community. They all have Tarot card nicknames, and they all dysfunctionally manage to keep the status quo. That is until their boss is murdered, and his dying actions have triggered a fail-safe consisting of bombs hidden around the facility, the semi-eponymous Operation Endgame. It becomes a race against time to find the murderer and save their lives, but when you can’t trust anybody, only a Fool would want to try.

Five minutes in and the audience has a pretty good rundown on the situation and the players. If it wasn’t for the plot description in the last paragraph, the whole other conceit of the film might not become apparent. The cast’s flippant remarks and constant viewing of camera screens on a big board. It’s a sequence that reminds me a lot of the underground workers from Cabin In The Woods, but there is an entire ordeal of crossing and double-crossing and everything in between. This film was made over a decade ago, you can see some hallmark fashions of the era, in how a film is crafted. You wouldn’t necessarily recognise the project as having anything to do with Sam Levinson, and apparently, the first script didn’t even have his name, so what changes were his, is hard to pinpoint.

Having such a star-studded ensemble to carry on your debut work is a tremendous achievement. Maggie Q is a pretty good choice, especially considering her recent string of no-nonsense government operatives, that will serve her well in future projects like Designated Survivor. For his profanity-spewing introduction, my praises go to Rob Corddry for his hilariously memorable tour of the facilities. Still, they are not alone: Bob Odenkirk, Jeffrey Tambor and are among some bigger comedy names that also manage to draw in for this espionage-laden comedy-drama.

While it might seem both cheap and cheerful, the flagrant vulgarity, and the rapid displays of the distinct style of wit, will put one in mind of a foul-mouthed Josh Whedon. Yet Levinson, Brian Watanabe, and Fouad Mikati offer an entertaining debut that shows off everybody’s talents, both in front of and behind the camera. If you are fresh to Levinson’s career and opt to start at the beginning, you may find that even from the get-go, he has a promising future on his cards.

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