Jack
Begosian went from cover-ups to bottom-feeding.
The former CIA agent now hosts a conspiracy theory driven radio program
in Toronto. He claims the new gig eases
his conscience. However, he will have
the opportunity to atone for past sins with more direct action in Damian Lee’s A Dark Truth (trailer here), which opens in
Miami this Friday.
To
be fair, Begosian is not trafficking in space alien rumors, but he gets plenty
of those calls on his late night talk show.
Although his backstory is never fully spelled out, Begosian left the
Agency under scandalous circumstances. A
Congressional hearing was involved.
Trying to live quietly with his frustrated wife and emotionally
withdrawn son, Begosian is not looking for freelance gigs. Nevertheless, one comes his way.
Heiress
Morgan Swinton suspects Clearbec, her family’s industrial water filtration
company, is up to no good in Ecuador.
She needs an independent hardnose to go down there and check things
out. For Begosian, it represents karma
coming full circle. According to reports,
environmental activist Francisco Francis has incriminating evidence on Clearbec. That would be the same Francis who served
time in a rather unpleasant Latin American prison thanks to Begosian’s
behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Now his
assignment is to get Francis and his wife safely out of the country and into a
courtroom, despite the efforts of the Ecuadoran military and Clearbec’s
enforcers.
Dark Truth largely recycles
Hollywood’s standard issue corporate villainy plot, but Lee’s screenplay is
less morally simplistic, portraying the culpable Swinton brother in relatively
sympathetic terms. Yet, it is Andy
Garcia who truly dominates the film as Begosian. He still has plenty of credibility in the
adequately staged action scenes and brings the appropriate gravitas for
Begosian’s “that’s the way it is” radio pronouncements.
Garcia
is still one bad cat and so is Kevin Durand, who is coolly hardboiled as the
unpredictable hitman, Torrance “Tor” Mashinter.
Unfortunately, Forest Whitaker and Eva Longoria do not fare so well as
the Francises, awkwardly trying to look noble as the scramble through the
jungle. In contrast, Kim Coates makes an
intriguingly human villain, nicely conveying Bruce Swinton’s guilt and
desperation.
