The Rock as Agent 23 and Steve Carell as Agent 86 in Get Smart (Warner Brothers)
By Raymond Mai
First off, I would like to say that I walked into the movie not knowing anything about the original series. It was on TV way before I was born. So I will not be doing any comparisons with the old TV series just to be fair.
Get Smart is an adaption of the 1960s TV series. The new film starts off with Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) as an analyst for CONTROL, a spy agency. After numerous attempts to be what he's always dreamed of -- a Field Operative -- he scores extremely well on his most recent test. Unfortunately, Chief of CONTROL (Alan Arkin) does not promote him because Smart is too valuable as an analyst to be promoted. After coming back to CONTROL, he finds out that agents from KAOS, under the leader Siegfried (Terrence Stamp), have just broken in and destroyed everything. Smart and the rest of CONTROL then figure out that KAOS stole information that places existing agents in danger. With the lives of agents all over the world at stake, Smart is promoted to being a Field Operative and is partnered up with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) to complete the mission of figuring out who's supplying KAOS with nuclear weapons. After destroying a factory in Russia, Agent 23 (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) has reported that there is no radioactivity within the collapsed building, which casts suspicion on Smart of being a double agent and he's locked up. Siegfried on the other hand has something else cooked up for destruction and its up to Smart to foil it.
I thought that the foreshadowing and the twist in Get Smart were great. As the movie goes on, you start to predict and assume things, but towards the end, you'll find out that the movie does a good job of surprising you. Get Smart starts out a little slow, but I would assume only because it needs a little character building since most of the people my age have not seen the original series. The comedy usually comes from doing something stupid or saying something stupid. But it wasn't so stupid that you think this movie sucked. It was just the right amount of stupidity you would find in movies with Will Farrell in it. Carell did an exceptionally good job of acting in this movie, though some actors, like The Rock playing Agent 23, could've done way better. What didn't bothered me but might bother others is the fact that Carell's performance has a bit of the personality of Michael Scott,the character he plays in the U.S. TV show of The Office . Carell seems as if he can't shake off this personality, like it's built into his acting.
Overall, Get Smart (rated & PG-13 for some rude humor, action violence and language) is a great movie to start off the summer and it's pretty good at giving you chuckles. It'll be worth the money you will spend on your ticket and for that I would give Get Smart 4 stars out of 5.
Raymond Mai is a soon to be sophomore at Mount Miguel High School where he's on the football and baseball team. When he is not studying or playing a sport, he loves to have fun, whether it's watching movies or just kicking it behind the TV with his Nintendo Wii. He enjoys the opportunity to voice his opinions about movies.
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