Bad Company

When does a knighted actor collect a paycheck? When he acts benightedly in a cliched spy thriller that is a virtual textbook of Hollywood expectations, right down to the scruffy mid-eastern terrorists and the oversized red digital readout on a nuclear bomb.

Anthony Hopkins plays a CIA veteran who must train a streetwise kid, played by Chris Rock, how to act like a real agent in 9 days. You can guess the outcome; in fact you can guess every scene before it unfolds. Movies like this make me know I couldn't do reviewing for a day job-I'd have to see bombs like this everyday. Did I say bomb again? Did we just have one come to America in `Sum of All Fears'?

I am committed to saying something favorable for all movies if I can. Hopkins is always interesting to watch: he underplays here with a `sang froid' that would make Hannibal Lecter proud. The bad side of `Bad Company' is the bug-eyed, monotone, hysterical Chris Rock, who may have been medicated for this role because I didn't have to cover my ears this time-I just bore up under his boring delivery.

Brooke Smith, who was the captured girl in `Silence of the Lambs', plays Hopkins' partner. `Lambs' this is not.

The film moves rapidly enough for espionage junkies. There, I said 2 good things. The movie still is `bad' company for the serious filmgoer.

7 June 2002. I went into the theater knowing that the critics already panned the movie. But by the time the credits finished, I felt hopeful. The production, cinematography was rich and deep, there was a feeling of seriousness but with a touch of humor. The blending of comedy and spy-thriller is not easy at all to produce and play well. But Anthony Hopkins played a CIA supervisor caught in the middle between someone telling him what to do and Hopkins trying to tell someone else what to do, a rather different angle and change for him. There was a seriousness throughout this movie that made the movie flow with intensity and Chris Rock didn't come across as some super hero. He came across as a serious actor who knows something about humor.

This movie was about relationships, loyalty, about a CIA that was portrayed more real than most movies. The CIA in this movie made mistakes, wasn't invincible, but pressed ahead. I loved this movie, the risks that everyone took on this movie. The critics apparently just didn't understand what they producers and scriptwriters, and what Chris Rock was trying to accomplish here. I don't like Chris Rock usually, but in this movie he really impressed me with his ability to be serious and at the same time funny. This movie was believable, even the bad guy at the end who made a strong statement about "why" there is terror in the world.

But Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins really were the heroes here because what movie really was about was people and what was really important about living. Commendations go to the Director, Chris Rock, and Anthony Hopkins for making a movie, getting out of the box and pushing the envelope by making something real, not superficially dumb. Chris Rock stood up for something that usually gets swept under the rug, and that is respect and devotion. He's not even the hero's hero in this movie and he doesn't try to play a role that's over the top here. And that demonstrates Chris's integrity as a good actor.

In Prague, the CIA secret agent Kevin Pope (Chris Rock) is killed in a mission with Oakes (Anthony Hopkins). They were trying to recover a nuclear bomb from the hands of some mercenaries. In order to proceed with the operation, Jake Hayes (Chris Rock), twin of Kevin, is recruited by CIA to act as if he were his brother. Jake is a rascal ticker scalper and his dead brother was an exquisite man. The CIA agents have nine day to make Jake as refined as he brother was. Although having a plot very predictable and full of cliches, this movie is a funny action movie, almost a comedy. Therefore, it objective of entertainment is accomplished. My vote is seven.

Hayes is a suave, distinguished spy with the CIA who is part of a set up to buy a stolen nuclear weapon and then capture those involved. When he is killed mid-operation, his handler goes to the only man who can replace him, his twin brother. However his brother Jake is a hustler in New York City and not spy material. Oakes has nine days to get him ready to take over his brother's identity and take up the assignment.

Despite the awful reviews, I still decided to give this film a go because I was in the mood for a dumb film that really didn't require me to think even once: this was that film! The film deserved every bad review it got - the only thing you need to worry about is whether or not you can accept the massive weakness or not. The plot is a real shambles and if you think about it logically then it all goes to hell. The idea that this is a reasonable plot, even for this type of film, is absurd. The script backs this up with dialogue that is fitting for a stupid comedy but not for the situations in the plot (`does it play dvd's?' or dialogue about Dr's Dre and Irving while trying to stall terrorists). Some of it is funny, but to be honest, if you dislike Chris Rock then there will be practically nothing for you.

The plot brings the bomb back to the US towards the end in an effort to inject tension and urgency into the action, but it doesn't really work. The action is reasonably slick but it isn't ever really exciting - only polished like a product. The action, like everything else, is quite clichéd and not distinctive enough to really stand out from the crowd of other action movies. The gags about race are subtle but still quite broad in the style of Rock. I didn't find it offensive, but I never really understand why films have to constantly perpetuate racial myths such as all black people listen to hip hop and like certain sports etc. Some of it is funny though.

Rock is the main reason for this; as I said, if you like him then you should enjoy this as most of the comedy is driven by him (even if nothing is anywhere near the sharpness of his act). He is not very funny but he helps the film have an overall comic tone that works pretty well Hopkins is totally slumming it. He manages an air of cool detachment but the material is way below him and his autopilot light is on the whole time. Stomare is poor and none of the villains really bring genuine menace - Eastern European hoods and clichés that they are. Beauvais is sexy - but that is all she is here for, to put on black underwear! Her character breezes in and breezes out with no real reason or consequence, plainly all she is here for is to have a bit of sexy black ass in there - something that Washington doesn't bring.

Overall this is a slickly made film that is clichéd, absurd, undistinguished and not as entertaining as it intends to be. Despite the fact that the film is very average and not really one to stand out, it can be quite enjoyable if you are ready for that. If you can turn off your brain and lower your standards then this can be OK, however just don't expect it to be great no matter what you do.

This film, as far as action films goes, is really not all that bad. I normally don't like the genre too much for it's continuance of formula, but this film was a surprise. The choreography was very well done and there were some good one-liners contributing to some amusement along the way. Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock act well in this film, alongside the twisted Russian mafia boss whom was brilliant, also to be found acting in the superb Guy Richie film 'Snatch'. The photography of Prague was stunning, great camera angles and a dramatic mood portrayed well in this beautiful city.

Regarding the Trevor Rabin track 'BMBBO'... I loved immediately it for its grace and sombre melancholic mood when I heard it in the film, but was so mistaken when finally getting hold of the track... what trickery! The beautiful strings and violin, the elegance and subtlety, gets butchered a minute in by tacky electronica. what a shame to have this masterpiece ruined. In the film obviously adaptations were made for particular scenes and I got the high-octane 'alternative' version, as released on the CD, which by the way, sounds like something from the 80's, a Jean-Michelle Jare lasertropic overdose.