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A DVD Review of...
  
Images (C) Buena Vista, 2002 |
Genre: Action/Comedy
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Gabriel Macht, Peter Stormare, Garcelle Beauvais
Synopsis: Directed by Joel Schumacher and Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. CIA operative Kevin Pope (Chris Rock) is suave, brilliant, and right on the verge of completing a top-secret mission to keep a rogue nuclear weapon off the black market when he is suddenly killed. With the clock ticking and no other options available, the CIA reluctantly enlists Kevin's long-lost identical twin brother, Jake (also Chris Rock, of course), to take his place. But since Jake is the mirror opposite of Kevin, a working-class Joe, it's up to veteran CIA agent Gaylord Oakes (Anthony Hopkins) to train him within 9 days before having to negotiate a sensitive nuclear weapons deal with terrorists.
Film Review: Earlier this year came "Showtime", a very ordinary and uninteresting action/comedy teaming a legendary white dramatic actor and highly popular black movie comedian. Well the same description applies here but replace 'very' with 'extremely' and halve the comedy. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's films have been getting progressively weaker over the last five years, today he's hit a new low with this stale and unimaginative action comedy about a man replacing his dead twin who was a spy negotiating a deal with terrorist. Similar concepts have been done before, hell even the same studio Disney made a family TV movie comedy with Michael McKean entitled "Double Agent" with basically the same plot and scarily enough that was more enjoyable. That still doesn't explain why this film was so flat - that can be put down to a simply dull script filled with numerous cliches, poor pacing and over-stylised directing.
Performances are empty, with Rock being the only one to salvage some dignity thanks to some occassionally funny lines, many of which feel improvised to add a wee bit of life but are delivered in situations where in any semblance of reality he would have been shot for the things he says. Hopkins proves very ordinary and I hope he got a good paycheck out of it because this is a real 'phoned in' performance, even still it leaves more of an impression than his various CIA assistants who remain blank one-dimensional extras throughout (shame as Macht had potential). Garcelle Beauvais appears and then disappears after being used simply to show off some scanty lingere, whilst Kerry Washington as Rock's love interest is utterly forgettable. Scenes which seem setup for character building such as the training scenes at CIA HQ are wasted on gags involving fine wine and ice water, whilst all the cutting to nameless assistants shouting out orders over voice mics gets very tired very quickly.
The action is also very ordinary, despite a fun car chase through a forest & high grass field (its kind of exciting to see Hopkins in 'leaning out the window shooting' action mode) and a hotel shootout leading to a laundry chute freefall. Other things like when an assassin jumps off a building looks so 'wired' its not funny, and a twist involving the baddie leaves no impact whilst visual FX wise there's so little adrenalin on screen it can hardly be called a Bruckheimer movie. The ending effectively begins to build suspense with a tense scene in the 42nd St Grand Central station, but little things such as the bad guys intentions about why he is doing what he's doing falls back on the stereotypical Hollywood East European/Middle Eastern terrorist explanations. Despite the occasional gag from Rock, the humour is practically non-existent leaving the production feeling very serious and dark for a Chris Rock movie, yet simply too featherweight for a film dealing with matters of terrorism - especially towards the end as things turn darker and more desperate.
Schumacher gives a competent if uninspired effort which looks flashier and more Tony Scott in style than his usual, and cinematography makes decent if not great use of the various locations in Prague and around New York/New Jersey. Rabin's score proves way too intrusive throughout and sounds like its trying to outblare the action rather than help build pace or tension - the former of which is uneven, the later appearing way too late in the proceedings to have any impact. There's a few enjoyable moments to be sure but they're few and far between. - Garth Franklin
"Bad Company"
DVD Details In Brief (Region 1)
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 117mins
Versions: 16:9 Enhanced Widescreen, 4:3 Letterboxed
Aspect Ratio: 2.35: 1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Language & Sub-Titles: English, Spanish, French
Clips: "In Bad Company: An Inside Look" Featurette, Trailers
Region 1 vs. Region 4: No Region 4 Available. |
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DVD Review: The lacklustre mid-summer actioneer from Disney was a big disappointment, consequently the disc
set has proven to be not much of anything really. Its only strength lies in its transfer - the anamorphic widescreen video holds up superbly through the various scenes of the film subjected to some severe filtering and colour adjustments. The blacks and contrast, although a little high, look fine - as does the colour whilst edges are nice and smooth with barely any sign of grain or aliasing. The audio is also bang on target with a kicking soundtrack which makes lots of use of its surround sound with a heavy score, loads of gunfire and surprisingly quite legible dialogue throughout the many loud action scenes. However those who like the transfer will pretty much have to live with just that, the only real extra here aside from some other Buena Vista trailers, is a 12-minute featurette with cast & crew principals who admittedly laugh about the film's silliness but still this seems somewhat lacklustre for such a major release film. Sadly a disc set only for those most loyal Rock or Hopkins fans. - Garth Franklin
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