Review: Bad Company (2002)
Norm Schrager
A film review by Norm Schrager
Copyright 2002 filmcritic.com
For the second consecutive weekend, the movie industry's biggest release
involves the CIA dealing with a rogue nuclear weapon that's landed in the U.S.
via American-hating zealots. Is Hollywood tapping into our worst terrors or
distancing us from them by placing them on that giant screen of fantasies? Last
week it was political potboiler The Sum of All Fears; this week's entry is a
comedy. A comedy about terrorism?! No wonder Touchstone twice delayed the
release of Bad Company.
Even when subject matter strikes an uncomfortable nerve, folks are still going
to show up for a movie that stars Anthony Hopkins as a cold, emotionless career
CIA man and Chris Rock as an unsuspecting agent-in-training, so it's necessary
to discuss whether or not the film works. Sometimes Bad Company does, but
often, it does not.
The problems with Joel Schumacher's action/comedy/espionage/spy/bomb thriller
are varied: The comedy isn't edgy enough and never grabs hold, the spy operation
never gets detailed enough to be fresh or interesting, and too many plot hole
problems need to be ignored in order to enjoy the movie.
That last point is a tough one, especially in a film about a nuclear weapon.
How can we be extremely troubled by the possibility of a bomb entering New York
City if we're also supposed to believe that the CIA's only hope is a helpless
huckster who must learn how to save the world in nine days? This is the CIA's
only option?
That option is Jake Hayes (Rock), a hustler who can zip through 20-dollar games
of speed chess while selling scalped tickets to Knicks matches. Unbeknownst to
Jake is that he has an identical twin brother, a brilliant CIA operative who's
just been killed while undercover in the Czech Republic. A CIA team, led by
Hopkins as the mysterious Gaylord Oakes, urges Hayes to leave his life behind
and learn to become his brother. And convince terrorists of his new identity.
And complete a deal for a nuclear weapon. And keep his cool. Uh huh.
Not only is Rock never convincing as his more refined twin brother, but his
overall performance is sub-par. Hopkins, who can act exquisitely, is given a
role that he can (and does) sleepwalk through; conversely, Rock is given a meaty
part and doesn't have the skills to pull it off. Whenever he's asked to show
extreme emotion -- like fear -- it gets glossed over by his trying too hard and
simple lack of acting chops.
So Schumacher (reviled for Batman Forever; redeemed by Tigerland) and the
screenwriters rely on Rock's strength, which is in getting the laugh. Some
jokes are broad and goofy but many are sly and more conversational; those
natural ones work better not only for Rock's brand of street-smart delivery, but
also for the overall feel of the film.
Schumacher also provides some deft direction for an action scene or two -- a car
chase through some grassy fields is a particular standout -- but Bad Company
really comes down to the stereotypical standoff between overplayed baddies and
one-dimensional good guys. And in a movie that could have taken advantage of
Hopkins' skills, the inner workings of a CIA operation, and an exciting
fish-out-of-water scenario, getting by on just the minimal stuff is pretty
weak.
It must be noted that while an action-comedy about a potential terrorist attack
can be touchy in these times, some may find one incident unusually harsh. While
a bomb lurks in one of the busiest areas of New York City, an announcement to
evacuate the building comes over the film's soundtrack, delivered with an audio
effect that momentarily sounds like it's coming over the movie theater's PA (if
there is such a thing). It's not terribly scary, but it's cheap, unnecessary,
and out of line with today's atmosphere. Perhaps better judgment will be shown
in the sequel, for which the script has easily left room.
RATING: **1/2
[* = lowest rating / ***** = highest rating]
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Joel Schumacher
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Stenson
Writer: Jason Richman, Michael Browning
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Gabriel Macht,
John Slattery, Peter Stormare
---
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Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
So are you ready to laugh at a movie about nuclear weapons in the hands of
terrorists in the United States? Disney apparently thought you would be, so
they made not one but two films about the subject. The latest, BAD COMPANY,
directed by Joel Schumacher (8MM and BATMAN & ROBIN), is admittedly much better
than the first one, Barry Sonnenfeld's BIG TROUBLE, which was released just two
months ago. Personally, I don't find atomic bombs and terrorists in our midst
funny. Taken seriously, as THE SUM OF ALL FEARS does, the subject can be an
extremely powerful and quite appropriate movie topic.
Unlike BIG TROUBLE with its slapstick, BAD COMPANY tries to wrap a perfunctory
thriller around a tired buddy comedy. Anthony Hopkins plays Gaylord Oakes, a
wise and taciturn CIA leader, and Chris Rock plays Jake Hayes, a street hustler
who is drafted into The Company when the twin brother he never knew he had is
killed on a mission. The plot gives Gaylord nine short days to turn the
smart-mouthed Jake into a suave and sophisticated antiques dealer, which was his
twin's cover.
Rock, as always, can cut-up with the best of them, and Hopkins adds class to any
production with which he is associated; but the chemistry between them is a bit
labored. Although Rock is clearly in his element, Hopkins is getting a little
old to play an action hero.
The story and screenplay, by the writing committee of Gary Goodman, David
Himmelstein, Jason Richman and Michael Browning, needlessly strains credulity.
The most glaring example of this occurs when a nuclear bomb is about to level
New York. Hopkins doesn't call for any backup when he goes to where he knows
the bomb to be. Other scripting problems are less preposterous. The bad guys
-- there are two complete sets -- are carefully chosen not to be of any
nationality of real terrorists who are currently a threat, lest we offend their
sensibilities. The villains are all clichéd slime balls who might as well have
"Scums 'R Us" tattooed on their foreheads.
And then there is my favorite ridiculous part to the movie, a flaw shared with
other such pulp pictures. Why is it that the bad guys can afford lots of
machine guns, but our guys keep getting stuck with just pistols?
BAD COMPANY runs 1:55. It is rated PG-13 for "intense sequences of violent
action, some sensuality and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 11
and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, June 7, 2002. In the
Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
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Harvey S. Karten
Rating out of 4 stars: 2.5
Reviewed by Harvey Karten
Touchstone Films
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writer: Jason Richman, Michael Browning, story by Gary
Goodman, David Himmelstein
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Matthew Marsh, Gabriel
Macht, Kerry Washington, Adoni Maropis, Peter Stormare
Screened at: Kips Bay, NYC, 6/4/02
What do people look for when they go to a thriller that pairs a
comic actor with one who is deadly serious? My guess is
probably laughs and the proverbial roller coaster ride. Does
"Bad Company," which links the versatile Anthony Hopkins with
one of the best of today's American comics, deliver? In part,
yes. "Bad Company" is hip and works quite well during its first
half when its title could have been "Pygmalion Meets Run
DMC," but falters when the gunplay and car crashes become
cookie-cutter and Chris Rock's lines, penned by Jason Richman
and Michael Browning, run to corn instead of popping.. "Bad
Company" is on the whole an entertaining popcorner with just
the right chemistry between Hopkins and Rock, but once you
can predict that the CIA people with their semiautomatic pistols
will easily outgun the Russian mafiosi and the Yugoslav
terrorists with their submachine guns, you're out of Prague and
into Generic City.
Filmed by Darius A. Wolski in Europe's prettiest city and also
the world's most exciting one--and directed by Joel Schumacher
under the production stamp of Jerry "12.5 billion dollars"
Bruckheimer-- "Bad Company" opens in the Czech Republic
where Kevin Pope (Chris Rock in a double role) gets
assassinated while saving the life of Agent Gaylord Oakes
(Anthony Hopkins) during a CIA sting operation involving the
purchase of a suitcase-enclosed nuclear bomb from a Russian
mafia lieutenant (Peter Stormare). To conceal Pope's death the
CIA brings his twin brother, Jake, into the fold, promising
him enough money to allow him to marry his sweetheart, Julie
(Kerry Washington).
The plot's conceit is that while the $20 million offered by
American would-be terrorists cannot be matched by militant
groups in other parts of the world, particularly the Balkans, the
Yugoslavs must steal the bomb while getting rid of both the
Americans and the Russians. (This is in a way similar to the plot
of "The Sum of All Fears" which focuses on how a neo-Nazi
group, hating both the Russians and the Americans, work to
provoke a nuclear war between those two major powers.) The
story itself offers no surprises, replete with a kidnaping and a
little romance, though "Bad Company" is practically an art house
indie when compared with the far more explosive ventures of
Mr. Bruckheimer ("Armageddon," "Blackhawk Down").
Given the nature of the film as a comic thriller, director Joel
Schumacher whose ability to amuse an audience with flat-out
hilarity is best exemplified by his penning of "Car Wash" might
have spent more time on the Pygmalion aspect of the tale.
When we first meet the streetwise Jake, he's making hash of
opponents in speed chess while simultaneously scalping tickets
to sporting events on his cell phone. The CIA must make a man
of culture and wealth from this raw material in order to pass him
off as his unfortunate twin brother, giving him a knowledge of
classical music to replace his love of hip hop and an
appreciation of fine wine to substitute for his affinity for gulping
Chateau Lafitte as though it came from a fraternity keg party.
Shaved, coiffed and acculturated, Jake is given the names of
the people he will meet at Prague's finest hotel.
Poking fun of a violent movie style by teaming actors like
Jackie Chan with Chris Tucker is one way of subverting the
genre. Pairing a serious performer like Anthony Hopkins with a
comic partner is a better one. Schumacher puts us in good
company for a while, only to run out of steam when Rock relies
more on his signature wide-eyed surprise than on the Shavian
wit that could have made this an impressive piece of work.
Rated PG-13. Running time: 117 minutes. (C) 2002 by
Harvey Karten, film_...@compuserve.com
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JoBlo
RATING: 4/10
http://www.joblo.com/badcompany.htm
For more reviews and movie trailers, visit http://www.joblo.com/
PLOT:
The CIA recruits a down-and-out ticket scalper to help them foil some
international arms dealers, after the scalper's twin brother (whom he didn't
know existed) gets killed in the line of duty. It's the job of an older, wiser
agent to turn this hipster into a sophisticated spy over the next nine days.
Hilarity is supposed to ensue.
CRITIQUE:
Serviceable entertainment if you don't mind plot holes, don't mind completely
forgetting about your movies the minute that you walk out of the theater, don't
mind unoriginality and generic gun fights galore, and don't mind the fact that
it outstays its welcome at an unnecessary two hour length. As for the lame
title...yeesh! Although it is fitting to have such a generic title, since it
does kind of lay the groundwork for the generic proceedings to follow. So is it
a horrible movie? Not entirely. Nobody is going to compare this film to
Schumacher's other major stinkbombs in which he took a cool, masked, dark hero
and turned him into a colorful, bombastic fairy, but I don't foresee anyone
slipping this flick on their X-Mas lists either. It's basically a lazy
conglomeration of many other movies that we've seen before, and with Jerry
Bruckheimer behind it all, nobody should be surprised to discover very little
character development for anyone in the movie. Chris Rock basically plays the
"fish out of water" dude again (didn't you learn your lesson in DOWN TO EARTH,
bro?), tossing one-liners around like nobody's business. Unfortunately for us,
most of them are either unfunny or dated, so you end up snickering at only a
few, and groaning at the rest. Rock has yet to find the ideal cinematic vehicle
to showcase his innate comedic talents, and this film is certainly not a step in
the right direction. Anthony Hopkins, on the other hand, appears to be
sleep-walking through his part so much that if you pay really close attention,
you may just catch him dozing off behind those infernal sunglasses which he
sports through much of the film (maybe he didn't want the crew to notice him
sleeping during the actual filming-not good for morale). This is a "paycheck"
movie if I ever saw one for the man, and even though his character does
apparently have a tendency to put things in his mouth (toothpick, gum...), that
really wasn't enough character background for us to give half a shit about his
aloof persona overall. He actually looked like he didn't care throughout the
whole picture (both as a character and an actor), so why should we? There's also
dick chemistry between the two actors.
As for the rest of the cast, I wish that I could remember even one standout
among the gaggle of no-name faceless extras running about around them, but
sadly...they're all mostly there to create "bussle" around the two uninteresting
leads. Peter Stormare does show up as a bad guy, but all he does is embarrass
himself with a really bad job of hamming it up. As for the action sequences, the
film does actually move at a breakneck pace, but none of it is particularly
memorable, exciting or suspenseful. Granted, I was never really bored through
the movie, but I don't think that I was presented with one original moment
either. It didn't help that the lame story about a bomb in NY didn't add up,
with bad guys apparently falling for the old "transfer of fake money into your
account" trick and assassins showing up in someone's apartment with a knife
(ever heard of a gun, dude?). Plot holes, let me count the ways. Also, as
opposed to THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, whose main narrative was also closely related
to the tragedy of 9/11, I found this one a little insulting being that as such a
sensitive topic was handled with so little substance or thought behind it. Sure,
the film is not gonna make you wanna scratch your eyes out, but it also won't
blow you away with anything creative, tense, funny or memorably action-packed
either, and if you're looking for any surprises...look elsewhere. The best thing
that I could suggest for this lame duck is a cheapie evening run through your
VCR with a plate of nachos making up for the lack of taste in the actual movie.
Whoopee...look, another cliched gun battle! Ugh. Bad Company indeed.
Where's JoBlo coming from?
15 Minutes (7/10) - Armageddon (8/10) - Down to Earth (5/10) - Mission
Impossible 2 (7/10) - Nurse Betty (7/10) - Pearl Harbor (5/10) - Ronin (8/10) -
Rush Hour (7/10) - Rush Hour 2 (7/10) - Showtime (4/10) - Spy Game (7/10) - The
Sum of all Fears (6/10) - Undercover Brother (7/10)
Review Date: June 5, 2002
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writers: Jason Richman, Michael Browning
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Stenson
Actors: Chris Rock as Jake Hayes
Anthony Hopkins as Gaylord Oakes
Peter Stormare
Genre: Action/Comedy
Year of Release: 2002
------------------------------------
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
http://www.joblo.com/
------------------------------------
(c) 2002 Berge Garabedian
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Jon Popick
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2002 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
A few years back, producer Jerry Bruckheimer made a film (Enemy of the
State) in which a sassy Negro (Will Smith) became entangled in a harebrained
government operation and prevailed only with the help of a cranky
middle-aged cracker (Gene Hackman). Bruckheimer is back with another film
in which pretty much the same thing happens, only with far less success.
Originally due in theatres last Christmas but delayed after 9/11 (the
modified ending no longer includes a bad guy specifically threatening to
blow up the financial district in lower Manhattan), Bad Company is the rare
film whose title battles its script for the coveted honor of Worst Idea of
the Month (fortunately, it opens the same day as Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya
Sisterhood). It's pretty sub-par, even for a Bruckheimer summer
extravaganza, despite the inclusion of all of the prerequisites (paper-thin
characters, cringeworthy dialogue, bad music, handfuls of plot holes and bad
guys with bad aim). Bruckheimer & Co. would have saved millions and
millions of dollars had they just used footage from the films they ripped
off to make Company.
Here, our Negro everyman is Jake Hayes (Chris Rock, Down to Earth), a
chess-hustling, ticket-scalping, part-time DJ who finds himself suddenly and
tenaciously recruited by a CIA agent named Gaylord Oakes (Anthony Hopkins,
Hearts in Atlantis). It seems that the twin brother Jake never knew he had
was just killed in a CIA operation to purchase a suitcase-sized Russian
nuclear weapon on the black market (didn't we just see this shit last week
in The Sum of All Fears?). Oakes needs Jake to pretend to be his dead twin
in order to complete the transaction, which is set to take place in just
nine days. If Oakes' attempt fails, the seller (Peter Stormare, Watching
Ellie) will put the weapon into the hands of a group of anti-American
terrorists.
You can practically write the rest yourself. Oakes trains Jake to pass as
his brother (who was a rich, Harvard-educated, classical-music-loving bore)
in the first half of the film, while the second half is the big
action-packed spectacular with the gunplay and the explosions and the "Oh,
Lord, please don't shoot me, Whitey!" It's the kind of thing you'd expect
from a screenplay concocted by Michael Browning (Six Days, Seven Nights) and
first-timer Jason Richman. My favorite parts were the scenes involving a
laptop computer that is somehow able to perform a retina scan through its
monitor, even when the subject's eye is nowhere near it.
Occasionally nailing a zinger or two, Rock often looks embarrassed to be
uttering his poorly written lines, which practically reduce him to the level
of a Stepin Fetchit. His scenes as his character's twin are particularly
awful, with Rock coming across nearly as wooden as any character from Attack
of the Clones. Hopkins too suffers from the script, as his character is
about as fleshed out as a frigging skeleton, which might explain why he
looks about as sleepy as Pacino in Insomnia. The two have so little
chemistry, I wouldn't be surprised to learn director Joel Schumacher
instructed them to never speak to each other unless the camera was rolling.
Schumaker recently regained some street cred after making Tigerland, but
he's still the guy who ruined the Batman franchise and who hasn't had a
non-John-Grisham-inspired hit in nearly 10 years.
The two best things about Company are its Prague setting (for about half of
the film) and the photography by Polish cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (The
Crow, Dark City). When you combine the two, Company is awfully pretty. When
each takes a backseat to the story and acting, Company is pretty awful.
1:59 - PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and
language
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Laura Clifford
-----------
Just as CIA agents Oakes (Anthony Hopkins) and Pope (Chris Rock, "Nurse
Betty") are on the verge of nabbing nuclear arms black marketer Adrik Vas
(Peter Stormare, "Chocolat"), rival bidders kill Pope. The CIA uncover
Pope's twin brother Jake Hayes (Rock), a Brooklyn ticket scalper and chess
hustler about to lose girlfriend Julie (Kerry Washington, "Our Song")
because of his lack of ambition. With only 8 days to be trained to
masquerade as his unknown, sophisticated brother, Jake finds himself in
"Bad Company."
While there's something intrinsically funny about Sir Anthony Hopkins saying
'Get in the car, bitch,' this Jerry Bruckheimer ("Armageddon") production has
little else to offer. Not only is "Bad Company" the latest 9/11 delayed film
to fail, it has the 'distinction' of featuring action involving a live nuclear
device mere blocks from the then-present World Trade Center. Furthermore,
while romantically pairing Lecter with Clarice in "Hannibal" made sense,
putting him together here with the Senator's daughter (Brooke Smith, "The
Silence of the Lambs") is a serious distraction.
After the standard training montage, which over milks Jake's late rising
habits
for laughs, the ghetto lad is poured into a thousand dollar suit with
Manhattan digs to match. 'I think I'm gonna like being Mike Turner (Pope's
cover as an antiques dealer),' he says, changing his brother's classical
station over to loud rap.
Unlike the professional CIA chief of "The Sum of All Fears," here Oakes
is up against Yates (John Slattery, "Traffic"), a miscalculating weasel
who immediately puts the unsuspecting Jake in harms way. After extensive
coaxing, including an appeal to his humanity, Oakes gets Jake back on board
and they travel to a luxury hotel in Prague. 'I think I'm gonna like being
Mike Turner," says Jake, this time surrounded by female manicurists.
After an unfunny comedic segment where Jake gets a surprise visit from
his late brother's sexy CNN reporter girlfriend Nicole (Garcelle
Beauvais-Nilon, "Double Take"), Oakes and Jake bond while a double cross
becomes a triple cross that lands Jake's girlfriend Julie in the hands
of Jugoslavian terrorists while a nuke counts down in Grand Central Station.
Jason Richman and Michael Browning's script is defined by its hoary 'twins
separated at birth' conceit. This is the type of film where all secret ops
are carried out at tourist attractions and five star hotels are shot up
by automatic weapons unbeknownst to its staff and the local police. Rock
is given a couple of funny bits, both involving outsmarting the CIA, but
when he's put up against the real bad guys, he's forced to stall for time
blathering about Dr. Dre and Wu Tang Clan as part of his expertise on nuclear
weaponry.
Anthony Hopkins manages to maintain his humor and dignity throughout.
Gabriel Macht, notable in the horrible "American Outlaws," and Brooke
Smith, recently fine in "Series 7: the Contenders," are both humorless
cardboard cutouts as Oakes' teammates. Stormare chews scenery while Matthew
Marsh ("Spy Game") provides a more stock villain as Dragan Adjanic.
Joel Schumacher's directs in his soulless "Batman and Robin" mode, making
his film "Bad Company" indeed.
D+
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Robin Clifford
A suitcase-sized nuclear bomb is up for sale by a renegade Russian arms
dealer and undercover CIA agent Kevin Pope (Chris Rock) has to get the
device before fanatical Afghani terrorists can lay their hands on it. When
Kevin is killed saving the life of his boss, Gaylord Oakes (Anthony
Hopkins), the plan may be ruined. That is, until Oakes discovers,
unbeknownst to his young partner, that there is a twin brother, Jake Hayes
(Rock), and it is a race against the clock to recruit, train and put Jake
into the jaws of danger in "Bad Company."
"Bad" is how I felt when I walked out of this tedious, overly long spy
thriller that had few thrills and nothing original to offer. Even the
"climax" (involving "The Bomb") is cliché done countless times before -
it's not a case of choosing between the red and blue wire, but pretty
close. There is no soul to the by-the-numbers story that is like the chess
pieces Rock's character Jake moves about the game board as he hustles his
clients. We're being hustled here into thinking we're getting a poignant
contemporary story about world terrorism, love and friendship. We're not.
This manipulative piece of celluloid junk is well made and obviously
expensive, but junk nonetheless. The four credited writers (Gary Goodman
and David Himmelstein for story, Jason Richman and Michael Browning for
screenplay) appear to have formed the story line by committee and must have
negotiated ideas until everyone agreed, sucking any life from the potential
story. As such, any intrigue or excitement is stripped and lots of talking
and Hollywood-conventional gunfights abound. (In true tinsel-town fashion,
the bad guys have immense firepower but can't hit the side of a barn. The
good guys, of course, can shoot the wings off a fly at 100 meters - with
their eyes closed.) If I wore a watch, I would have been checking the time
every ten minutes.
The tale that "Bad Company" tries to tell is the tried and not-so-true
twins-separated-at-birth gimmick that intros Rock as a high-powered antique
dealer, Michael Turner (one of three personas by Rock), living in Prague,
Czech Republic. But, that's just a cover for CIA op Kevin Pope, who is in
the midst of a tricky arms deal with Adrik Vas (Peter Stormare who,
unfortunately, wasn't given enough time to chew the scenery, which may have
helped things a bit). Pope is out to purchase a suitcase size nuclear bomb
and brings in his "partner," Oakes, as the moneyman. The deal looks to be a
done one until a gang of fanatic Afghani terrorists, also bidding for the
bomb, decide to get rid of the competition and Kevin dies in a shoot out
while protecting Oakes.
Now, with only nine days before the deal is finalized, Oakes has to come up
with a plan. Conveniently, he discovers that Kevin has an identical twin
brother, separated at birth, and the CIA honcho enlists the reluctant aide
of street hustler Jake Hayes. In true Eliza Doolittle fashion Oakes
transforms Jake from a seedy, down-on-his-luck street hustler (whose
girlfriend is planning to move to Seattle for a new job and new life) into
the suave, debonair, highly trained Kevin. Yada yada yada, they run around,
shoot a lot of guns and travel between continents.
Sir Anthony Hopkins does it for the money, as far as I can tell, and goes
through the motions of his character, Gaylord. The actor does do his own
action work, to his credit, but you aren't going to see the great thesp do
anything, well, great. Chris Rock has to play three separate characters and
doesn't do any of them all that well. Jake is a subdued, broke guy losing
his girlfriend, Julie (Kerry Washington), and is intelligent (we know that
because, when we first meet him, he's playing chess in Washington Square).
He has to become the brother he never knew, but is a fish out of water,
especially when Michael Turner's sexy girlfriend, Nicole (Garcelle
Beauvais-Nilon), comes on to him. Rock fares better when he is given a
character that capitalizes on his fast-talking, smart-ass demeanor.
There is a strong supporting cast playing the CIA operatives working for
Gaylord. Brooke Smith ("The Silence of the Lambs"), Gabriel Macht ("Behind
Enemy Lines"), Daniel Sunjata and the rest are "The Fugitive" wannabes, but
the writers don't bring the characters into the limelight. None of the
actors is allowed to put any dimension on their roles as everyone is rushed
from one location to another to brandish high-powered guns (mostly in plain
view atop busy bridges and in hotels, but no one seems to notice) and wait
and wait while Jake and Gaylord battle the bad guys and go after the bomb.
Joel Schumaher helms this high-priced fodder, produced by uber-mensch Jerry
Bruckheimer, and the director has a great cast and crew at his fingertips.
Lensing by Dariusz Wolski takes advantage of the beautiful Czech and NYC
locales. Editing, by Mark Goldblatt, carefully shows us a New York without
the WTC, a difficult task. Production design by Jan Roelfs capably handles
the variety of locations. It's a shame that these and the rest of the able
technicians and cast members didn't have a better story on which to ply
their trades.
"Bad" is the operative word for "Bad Company," and I don't mean that in a
good way. I give it a D+.
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Susan Granger
So how bad is this spy thriller? Bad enough to rank as a waste of time
and money. Which is really a shame because one expects so much more of actors
Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock and director Joel Schumacher. Devised by four
credited writers, the plot revolves around a suitcase-sized, high-tech nuclear
bomb that's up for sale by a Russian black-market arms dealer (Peter Stormare).
In order to prevent an anti-American terrorist disaster, the CIA has to get it
before Afghan fanatics do. Only their top undercover agent (Chris Rock) is
killed in Prague while protecting the life of his boss (Anthony Hopkins), whose
only hope then is to find and train the dead agent's separated-at-birth
identical twin (Chris Rock) to complete the mission - within a time frame of
nine days. Predictably, the hip-hop brother is a fast-talking, chess-hustling,
ticket-scalping, part-time DJ from Jersey City who's the mirror-opposite of his
refined, self-sacrificing, Harvard-educated sibling. So can the reluctant
brother then double-cross the bad guys? You can guess whether the hackneyed
fish-out-of-water formulaic ruse works - while watching how easy it is to
transport explosives into America via air freight and ruminating on lines like
"The cold war's over. Terrorism, fanaticism is global." Curiously, producer
Jerry Bruckheimer has lifted elements from his own "Enemy of the State,"
starring Will Smith, and injected them into this slick-but-stale story in which
there's virtually nothing that's original. Remember other twin sets: Jean-Claude
Van Damme in "Double Impact," Arnold Schwarnezegger in "The Sixth Day"? Even the
odd-couple comedy conceit of Hopkins/Rock misfires. On the Granger Movie Gauge
of 1 to 10, "Bad Company" is a bizarre, botched 3. Made before 9/11, it should
have remained on the shelf.
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X-RAMR-ID: 32006
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 323068
X-RT-TitleID: 1114548
X-RT-SourceID: 742
X-RT-AuthorID: 1274
X-RT-RatingText: 3/10