The new Chris Rock/Anthony
Hopkins buddy cop (or should I say "buddy agent") film
isn't as corny as it looks in the previews. This is not to
say it's anywhere near magnificent, but it's fun and
easy-to-take. You simply have to take it with a grain of
salt.
Chris Rock plays a dual role. He starts out playing CIA
agent Kevin Hayes, A.K.A. Michael Turner. During a botched
operation, he ends up getting shot and killed. Now, the
CIA's only hope is Hayes' twin brother, Jake. Jake is a
ticket scalper/expert chess player/bad deejay. Now his
life is in the crapper: his girlfriend wants to move to
another state to land herself a dream job and he gets fired from
his job as a deejay. And just his luck, he gets called in
from Oaks (Anthony Hopkins) and his fellow CIA cronies to
immediately take his brother's place in their 9-day operation.
The CIA pays him a total of 100,000 dollars (10,000 to start;
90,000 after the operation is done). And the training
begins! The CIA trains him to walk and talk like his
brother, and fluently perform all CIA endeavors. They
fly to Prague to make a deal with a group of
Czechoslovakian terrorists. The terrorists have designed a
suitcase bomb, and the undercover CIA agents promise to pay them
a large sum of (counterfeit) money to retrieve the bomb.
My number one fear going into this movie was Chris Rock himself.
Now, I like him as a comedian. I own his "Bigger and
Blacker" CD, and it's hilarious. But, like some other
comedians who make the transition to film, Chris isn't clear on
when he's supposed to be a comedian and when he's supposed to be
an actor. Well, he shows an amazing amount of discipline
in this role. I still don't think he's a great actor, but
he does fine job...until the third act when he loses it.
That's when he's caught in a high-speed car chase, and starts
screaming silly lines like "I wanna watch Oprah!"
It's lines like that which decrease the tension of the otherwise
spectacular action sequences.
Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorite actors, but I can't say I
was blown away by his performance in this film. Then
again, he wasn't exactly playing Hannibal Lecter or Richard
Nixon. Honestly, his role could've played by any
fifth-rate actor, but that would just screw up the marketing,
wouldn't it? "Hopkins-Rock" looks great on the
billboards, and that's all that counts. But the two guys
have an odd chemistry, and I can tell they enjoyed working
together, even though they're complete opposites.
I didn't appreciate Joel Schumacher's dim use of lighting, but
that's one of my minor criticisms. There are a few dull
moments, and as I said earlier the action scenes would've been
more exciting without Rock's comic interludes. Tightness
definitely would've helped. But I can say I was
entertained through about 80 % of the film. Lots of
action, lots of humor and even some character development.
This isn't the best action flick of the summer (then again, it's
too early to judge), but it serves its purpose.
"Bad Company" will not satisfy the arthouse crowd.
So if you're a member of the arthouse crowd, no one's forcing
you to see this movie! But they'll probably go ahead and
see it, just so they can write a bad review afterwards and
spread negative criticism. I'll admit that this isn't brilliant
filmmaking, or even brilliant entertainment, but it could be a
lot worse. Just so no one gets their hopes up, if
you're looking for shallow entertainment along the lines of
"Armageddon" or "Independence Day," this is
the film for you. And another reason why I liked this
movie: part of it was shot right here in Jersey City!
Of course, I would've been more excited if I was informed about
the shoot and was able to be an extra in the scene, but what can
you do?
