“Agent Zero” (2025) or “Badh” is a no frills, all thrills international spy action film. It is one of the rare films that has a woman protagonist who never becomes a honey pot making it gender bending at its finest. In 2018, the French Intelligence agency, DGSE (General Directorate for External Security within the Ministry of the Defense), sends BADH (Marine Vacth) to Raqqa, Syria on a mission, and BADH almost dies. She calls it quits, finds love, and lives in Essaouira, Morrocco with her husband, Ilias Siracine (Salim Kechiouche). Seven years later, Ilias, a cop, investigates Manour Khoury (Slimane Dazi), who wants Ilias dead and is under DGSE’s protection. BADH will stop at nothing to protect her husband and discovers that she has crossed Manour’s path before.
For people saying that the plot of “Agent Zero” is pretty standard, absolutely not. Other than franchises, most spy movies end up being metaphors for the spy’s personal problems. “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” (2012) was about men with relationship issues taking it out on the world stage. The sexy “Black Bag” (2025) used spycraft to examine the health of romantic relationships. Even with remarkable talent, movies like “A Most Wanted Man” (2014) falls short because a fictional story with made up elements never resonates as strongly if the plot feels crafted, not grounded. In contrast, “Agent Zero” feels authentic soup to nuts except for the near fridging. A foreign country’s intelligence agency interferes with other countries while propping up criminals who are playing both sides and helping forces that are against the foreign country. The entire story is as satisfying as a puzzle that is possible to solve, but without having the cover on the box for guidance. Do not take for granted the elegance and complexity of cowriters Alexandre Coquelle and Matthieu Le Naour’s work.
“Agent Zero” may be available in two formats: dubbed or French with subtitles. I chose the latter. Yes, no one wants to read while watching a movie, but the actor’s emotion gets conveyed in the original language whereas in voice over, not so much. There will always be a disconnect between the physical and vocal performance so if you want the movie to start at lower quality, then give it grace in equal margin when you think it sounds cheesy. Also, there is not a lot of dialogue though when there is, it is essential so maybe it is possible to toggle between formats depending on your reading speed. These actors are great so get more bang for your buck and level up.
Vacth is so cool and collected in her performance as BADH. She only shows emotion in her private life, but whether she is under attack, seeking revenge or reeling from loss, that agency training kicks in. There is a scene where BADH is fighting, and someone that she knows and cares about is losing the fight. Instead of trying to save this person, she realizes it and flees to fight another day. Her strategic mind echoes in the physical performance, and second time director Guillaume de Fontenay and editor Mathilde Van de Moortel convey the tone and thinking behind each fight with camera movement, composition and frequency of cuts.
While I would prefer the Fred Astaire method of seeing the entire body throughout the fight with no cuts, the people behind the scenes do the next best thing as if the camera is a highlighter or part of the fight following the movement of the fight with as few cuts as possible while it involves physical grappling until it is time to notice an element outside of the fight just before it becomes a factor. Vacth was a model and is a convincing fighter. If she appears in more action, please notify me immediately. There were not a lot of obvious adjustments to the fighting scenes because she is a woman, and it made the story better.
Watching the logistics of spy communication was fun because they message using innocuous local business websites. BADH apparently has a surfing business front, and one scene confirms that she is a great swimmer. These little logistical details are nice, world building touches. Whenever the action returns to Paris, it is dull as dishwater. The capacity for real world relationships based in love, not fear and violence, are only depicted in the places that other movies ordinarily would denigrate with the Middle East yellow filter.
In “Agent Zero,” even in a war zone, families are shown. In BADH’s life, family is not only shown in terms of heteronormativity, but friendship that rises to the level of family with Nora (Ilham Ammar), who treats the Siracine couple as if they are her personal responsibility. The reason for her love is never explained. “Agent Zero” implies that even among the underworld, the capacity for functional relationships depends on how far they are from alleged civilization even for the one hunting BADH.
Khoury is not on screen as much as his henchmen. His introduction is countercultural from a Western perspective because of the way that his right-hand man delivers bad news and the shared tenderness of the moment between two men. I just finished watching the second season of “Daredevil: Born Again,” and such emotional and physical intimacy between two men would never be considered, forget depicted. It is a great scene until “Agent Zero” gets one demerit for having Khoury kill the only visibly Black appearing man on screen. Seriously!?!
The real bad guy is Joana Walter (Emmanuelle Bercot), who is behind the shadiest DGSE machinations. Normally I get annoyed when the real villain is a woman if it feels misogynistic or used as an excuse for only women to fight on screen, but Joana and BADH’s battle of wills is another beast all together. The higher ups cosign Joana’s methods, and BADH is the outlier though her mentor, Sam (Grégoire Colin), is a wild card since he approved the Raqqa operation but clearly was horrified at the moral implication. I will tentatively sign a waiver over having the only two women be enemies because it is not personal, and it is resolved perfectly.
Behind all the action, “Agent Zero” is about the struggle for the soul of a Western nation for not practicing what they preach on the international stage and thus betraying people at home. BADH becomes a symbol of the people at home and abroad. The story is not a metaphor about personal issues. Personal and professional relationships become a metaphor for international politics and morality. This movie may have tropes, but it is not stupid.
It is a shame that “Agent Zero” never showed on the big screen and is only available on streaming. Like many international spy thrillers, it features multiple locations, and one motorcycle chase scenes unfolds in a gorgeous location with a terrific, dangerous stunt that segues back into the conspiracy story line. While it may feel familiar, do not confuse similarity with derivative and dismiss a solid film.
