Get Smart, Again!

A former secret agent is called back to service to save the world from the sinister plans of the KAOS criminal organization.

Will he and his team manage to penetrate the ranks of this shady organization, expose its leader, and eliminate him?

According to Agent Smart himself, he is in perfect shape to accomplish the mission, although his body says otherwise due to issues such as hernias and other age-related problems.

After all, the United States and the whole world seem to rely on Smart’s physical ability to return to service, and apparently, Intelligence Agency Commander Drury has no other choice than calling a semi-retired agent to hold the hot potato.

Smart as a wordplay

The title of the movie: “Get Smart, Again!” is some sort of wordplay.

On top of referring to Agent Smart, and reactivating him, it also implies that people, in general, need to get smart, again.

It serves as a prompt for people to regain their lost intelligence, and this is emphasized more through Agent Smart’s blunders and clumsiness.

Resemblance with Inspector Clouseau

In Agent Smart, cinephiles may be able to see some resemblance with the figure of Inspector Clouseau, another movie character famous for his unmatched clumsiness.

Global climate control technology as a threat

A weather machine that threatens the world was pure science fiction back then.

Nowadays, however, with climate change at the heart of global debate and concern, it looks like reality has gone beyond imagination.

Perhaps human activities have done the job that a weather machine could allegedly do in this movie.

Asking $250bn in small bills as ransom

There was a point in the movie that really made me pause for a moment.

The leader of KAOS asks $250bn in small bills as ransom.

After searching online, I found out that, if he is paid, let’s say, in 20 dollar notes, 25 standard shipping containers would be required just to store this huge amount of money.

I guess it is something that adds to the movie’s absurdities.

Secret services before the Internet

The facilities and equipment used by secret agents in the pre-Internet era were primitive compared to today’s.

I mean, there is only one computer available at the headquarters of the Intelligence Agency, while “scientists” play cards in another room!

Talking about technology, when Smart’s shoe phone rings at the funeral, nobody has a mobile phone, and they all trying to find out where the ring is coming from.

Compare this with today’s abundance of mobile devices, and you immediately notice the huge difference in communication technology that has taken place in the last few decades.

A married couple of secret agents

Smart is a secret agent, and his wife, with the code name “99”, is a secret agent, too.

You could say that they keep the business in the family.

They also have a “cone of silence”, which is an anti-bugging device, in their bedroom. How strange is that?

A robot with feelings but no common sense

Hymie is a former spying robot that has now been programmed to be used in car crash testing.

It is a robot that has feelings and complains because his old friends have forgotten him.

On the other hand, he seems to lack simple common sense, as he translates words literally into acts. This is a paradox, isn’t it?

A Sumitomo Bank building in the background

While Commander Drury, Major Waterhouse, and Maxwell Smart are on the roof of a skyscraper for “hover cover” (so that their words are covered by the noise of hovering helicopters), you can see a big Sumitomo Bank sign in the background.

This Japanese bank was one of the biggest banks of the world at the time.

At another point in the movie, Maxwell Smart says that the Japanese have contributed just 100 bucks to help fight the KAOS organization.

Bonus point

Don’t you think that Nicholas Demente, the leader of the KAOS organization, enacted by Harold Gould looks very much like Mansour Bahrami, a former professional tennis player?

Rating: 66/100