This chilly Canadian thriller appears to have been influenced by the plot of ENEMY OF THE STATE (and ERASER!) and the atmosphere of THE X-FILES in its hi-tech tale of a murky witness protection scheme, secret assassinations, and characters who are never what they seem. It's one of those films with far too many characters, many of whom get mixed up in the brew and don't have much of a part to play anyway. Characters are never introduced and motivations are never made clear. In addition the plot is so darned complex that you'll spend the running time stressfully trying to keep up with the action and working out who is trying to get who. This saps enjoyment from the movie. The final nail in the coffin is the action, MTV-stylised stuff which is deeply disappointing considering the film's star.Dolph Lundgren, action hero of the '80s, found himself in a decline during the 1990s like all the big names from the golden decade of screen action. The dawn of the new millennium found him slogging away in straight-to-video fare alongside former cinematic chums like Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Although Lundgren isn't the world's greatest actor, he always puts in a solid if unexceptional performance and his turn in HIDDEN AGENDA is no different, neither a disgrace nor an Oscar-winner. In fact if anything it may be one of his stronger roles. A shame, then, that his famed martial skills are hardly put to the test as he only gets to show off a couple of kicks and engage in some poorly-staged gun battles.This is one of those films where the director tries to disguise the lack of budget by shooting the action scenes in the dark, where you can't quite see the cheap bullet squibs. It's obvious with the flashy camera-work that he aspires to be the next John Woo or David Fincher, but Marc S. Grenier has little of the skill these directors possess. Similarly, he fails to make the plot line very intriguing, leaving the viewer feeling a little bored and out of touch with the uninspiring leads as the film progresses. No sympathetic characters are built up and instead we get far too many inserts of traffic travelling through a city (with the film sped up). The effect is cool the first few times but quickly wears off, sadly it happens twenty more times through the movie. Generally disappointing, this has little to recommend it beyond Lundgren, the opening chase (the only excitement in the whole film), and a guy who keeps a key glued to the inside of his toupee (!).

I admit up front I'm not a fan of this genre. I have never seen a Jean Claude van Damme film, only saw a couple of the Rocky movies, I've seen one Schwarzenegger and one Stephen Segal. Though I knew who Dolph Lundgren was, I'd never seen him or one of his movies.Tuning into what I thought was a different film called "Hidden Agenda," I got a look at all 6'5 of Dolph Lundgren, the high cheekbones etc., and thought I'd give this "Hidden Agenda" a try.This film is apparently different from other Lundgren films according to other reviews, but I can't judge it on that basis.In the story, Lundgren plays Jason Price, a former government agent. His job is to help people disappear. However, it appears that a hit man called The Cleaner has somehow infiltrated Price's group and is knocking off people the FBI wanted to protect. It's up to Price to find out who it is.This is one of those films where you can't tell the bad people from the good, so everyone is suspect. There were lots of things blowing up, car chases, and fights, but I found it entertaining and involving.I wasn't familiar with the other actors in the film except for Francis X. McCarthy, but they were all good. The only strange thing was the film had a "dubbed" sound to it, even though it wasn't dubbed. Perhaps they had to re-record the sound in a studio - don't know.Anyway, not bad for my first Lundgren foray. He's quite good at what he does.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsIf you're an avid action fan,you'd have to have been living on planet Mars for about the past month and a half not to have heard newspaper rumours that apparently Dolph Lundgren,our favourite DTV action star,is quitting acting for 20 years.If this abhorrent rumour is proved to be true (and pray to God it isn't!) ,then HA is a fine movie to depart on.The plot is basically a spin on Arnold Schwarzenegger's Eraser,with Dolph as Witness Protection Agent Justin Price,who must put a face to a mystery assasin who's bumping off his people.It is truly as hard-to-follow as M:I-2,and way too jumbled for a movie of this sort.The action scenes,however,are brilliant,working on both the fight scenes,the gunfights and the explosions.This delivers the goods Dolph fans have ordered with their rental fare,and the Swedish man will always be the king of DTV action movies,no matter what the outcome.Speaking of the fans,don't let his previous film Agent Red put you off from seeing another movie with him in it,let's just say this is a much more,er,PROFESSIONAL effort.***

This was a pretty good thriller, top acting, fights and some stylish direction. Dolph Lundgren puts in a great performance. The storyline was interesting and I like the fact that some time and effort was put into researching some rather cool devices. The music was pretty good too.