Agent 15: Volume One
By John Oak Dalton • Jan 23rd, 2004 • Category: NewsBond-flavored Agent 15’s wryly improbable adventures make the transition from web series to DVD in six snippet-sized but entertaining episodes.
Each short follows the same format; back at the secret HQ, we learn Agent 15 has just survived one death-defying mission, only to be dispatched on another. We then join Agent 15 in medias res as she deploys her formidable skills, in every subject from disguises to butt-whipping, to complete her assignment.
The storylines are almost archetypal, riffing on Emma Peel and Modesty Blaise and others made from that mold, all set in a swinging-60s milieu but chromed out with postmodern feminist sensibilities. The all-too-brief shorts are fun without being overly memorable, except for a beach umbrella-and-samurai-sword outing at the seashore and an obligatory “kitten with a whip” scene.
What carries Agent 15 is a very charismatic turn from Paget Brewster as the title character. Brewster did a spin on Andy Richter Controls the Universe and now is in the acclaimed new series Huff, so it’s possible that more attention may come to this DVD, and rightfully so; her magnetic performance makes the disc worthwhile.
Although there is a great attention to detail in costume and production design, post production falls a little short at times, especially in editing. The post is polished without being overly accomplished, but is serviceable enough.
I hope to see a second batch of shorts from the Agent 15 crew; or better yet, a feature that can capitalize on the foundation glimpsed in the shorts.
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John Oak Dalton is a Community Television Station Manager by day, and a DIY acolyte by night. In the 80s he made Super-8 movies and his own basement mix tapes. In the 90s he hosted a cable-access show and made his own zines and minicomics. In the 21st Century he began working with grassroots video and microcinema and writing b-movies, and has more than a dozen projects on the shelf, on screen, in development, or in production.
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