To
showcase San Antonio as potentially a third American “coastal” center of film
production, executive producer Armando Montelongo (of A&E’s Flip this House) has shepherded to movie
screens a tale of the city’s ruthless drug lords and corrupt cops. There’s also the Alamo. Viewers will see plenty of the cinematic city
when two FBI agents go undercover to bust their childhood friends in Bryan
Anthony Ramirez’s Mission Park (trailer here), which opens
tomorrow in New York.
When
they were about middle school age, Jason shot and robbed the owner of their
favorite neighborhood restaurant, with Derek pretending to help, as Bobby and
Julian stood around hoping he wouldn’t.
The quartet split in the duos, with Bobby and Julian going on to college
and eventually the FBI academy and their former mates heading into a life a
crime. Upon graduation, the bureau
capitalizes on those past friendships, sending first Bobby and then Julian out
to infiltrate Jason’s operation. Going
home is strange for the undercover agents, particularly Bobby, who finds his
old never-quite-got-over-her girlfriend, Gina, is now hanging on Jason’s expensively
tailored arm.
Granted,
the past weighs heavily on these characters (for good reason), but Ramirez
takes over a third of the film establishing their backstories. At least half an hour goes by before there is
any real undercover business. However,
viewers get an in-joke cameo from Vivica A. Fox as Special Agent Montelongo.
Even
when it finally gets going, Mission is
pretty standard gangster stuff. However,
a consistently strong cast does its best to enliven and elevate the
material. Jeremy Ray Valdez makes a
strong cop-on-the-edge, while Walter Perez matches him nicely, projecting Jason’s
cool cunning. However, Joseph Julian
Soria (also a standout in the relatively okay All She Can) really brings some pop to his scenes as the insecure
and resentful Derek. While her character
is not especially well delineated, Fernanda Romero (who showed some legit comic
chops in Ghost Team One) still makes
an impression as Gina, the deeply flawed ex.
For added cult film appeal, Boondock
Saints’ Sean Patrick Flannery also shows up as the Captain.
