Nerds That Geek Movie Review - 'Agency of Vengeance: Dark Rising'

Written by Scott Edwards

Working with a team can be a delicate balance of attitude and professionalism. When the stakes get higher to perform miracles, you have to rely on everyone to get their portion of the job done and if one falls short, then the team will fail as a whole.  It does not matter who the team is made up of, you can have the smartest, dumbest, strongest, or weakest. If the team works together, they can accomplish their goals, but if they do not, no matter how awesome they look on paper, they will fail. If you are ever put into a team situation, make sure to keep them in check, since there is nothing worse than failure that you could not control.

Jason Parks and his team are on the hunt for a sand slug that is tearing its way through town when they see that it is heading towards the wedding of one of their own. Summer Vale has found the man of her dreams, but before she is able to say ‘I do’, the slug takes her husband to be. Not one to stand on the sideline, Summer jumps back into action, wedding dress and all and pulls out her double blades and goes to work on the slug. When returning to the surface, covered in slug sliminess, the reality sinks in that she is alone once again and that may be too much for her to bear.

Returning to work the next day, Summer is far from herself and needs to find a way to get her groove back and heading out to a club might be the best way to take her mind off of things. But when her former boyfriend Jason shows up to pick her up from the club, Summer does not seem to care that the night is over. Waking up with a nasty hangover, Summer is greeted by Mr. X, who her team is trying to locate. Blowing out the side of her apartment, Summer is taken by Mr. X and there is nothing that Jason is able to do about it. While investigating the scene, Jason gets a call from his station's tech who says that they are under attack. With everyone but the tech killed at the Agency, Jason is now in charge and with his past history with Summer, he will stop at nothing to make sure that she is all right and returned home safely. 

Waking up in Other World, Summer finds out that the person behind all of the craziness and her kidnapping is Renee. Thinking that Renee was dead after the team's last battle, Summer is now going to have her life force drained from her to give Renee the life that she has had taken away from her. Since Summer is far from a mortal, losing her power takes plenty out of her, but it is not enough to kill her and when she gets back to full strength, she will not be pushed around by little Renee ever again. Jason coordinates the attack and with Summer coming back to full strength and his informant Bulo in the mix, the group is ready to take on Renee before she is able to resurrect the ancient evil Mordock to take over the world. Time is a factor, but nothing can stop a well-rounded team, especially when they are properly motivated.

This is just a fun shoot 'em up, demon and monster filled love story that leaves a smile on your face. Now I have never seen the television series that this is from, Dark Rising.  I will need to check it out, it seems like a lot of fun and the cast has a great rapport. I especially liked how Jason is trying to win his way back into Summer’s life, and with the recent loss of her fiancé, he knows he needs to keep it slow, but there is not enough time to beat around the bush when a destroyer of worlds can be released on the planet. With some silliness, a little bit of seriousness, and a lot of fighting, this is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.  Happy Viewing.

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