Sylvester Stallone’s latest film, Mission Alarum, has been panned as a dreadful spy thriller that shames American cinema. The action movie, which stars Stallone as a grizzled former agent, was shot in Ohio pretending to be Poland, making it a so-called runaway production that undermines Hollywood’s film industry.
The plot follows secret agents Joe (Scott Eastwood) and Lara (Willa Fitzgerald), who meet in Prague and fall in love before marrying. Five years later, Joe has retired from espionage, but Lara still works for an independent agency called Alarum. While on holiday near Gdańsk (the Ohio version), a plane crashes nearby, and Joe retrieves a thumb drive from a dead pilot. Soon, a group of soldiers led by Orlin (Mike Colter) attacks, separating the couple.
Joe seeks help from Chester (Stallone), a former colleague who can barely move his facial muscles. Chester pretends to be friendly but carries syringes of deadly toxins. The film features frequent gunfights with unconvincing hand-to-hand combat and disposable extras. DW Moffett appears as the agency director, delivering exposition in an empty warehouse. Even the quips are dismal, and the visual effects are limited to small clouds of blood when characters are shot.
