Reviews: Bad Company

[JoBlo]

JoBlo's 4/10 review of BAD COMPANY can be found here: http://www.joblo.com/badcompany.htm

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[Moviefreek]

When i first saw the preview for this movie, i thought it looks pretty good. Once I saw the trailer over and over, the jokes got old pretty quick. Me and a friend had nothing to do, so we head to the movies to see BAD COMPANY.

Acting was nothign great. You have Chris Rock, who is loud but often funny and Anthony Hopkins, who i'm not sure why he decided to do this role. Christ Rock was funny. He has many good lines on the way, but could have used better ones in the second half of the film. Hopkins has his serious side, with a few good bits, but Rock was the better actor in this film.

The story was nothing new. You have someone who takes the place of someone else, it helps that he is a twin. As I sat throu the film, I didn't really understand why they were doing what they were, nothing really seemed to fit. When the suspense ending was going on, it didn't feel very suspensful at all.

The action scenes were pretty dull. They weren't anything new and wasn't good eye candy, basiclly somethign you can find in any action film. In one action scene, I found myself looking around the theatre.

See the movie if you like Chris Rock and some laughs. Don't see it for Hopkins, a good story, or good action.

At least i had some good company while watching Bad Company which recieves a 5/10.

[Strider]

Bad Company (2002)

Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequence of Violent Action, Sensuality, and Language

Director: Joel Schumacher

Starring Anthony Hopkins & Chris Rock.

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0280486/img0012b.jpg

When an intelligent C.I.A. agent is killed during an operation, a group of other agents led by Gaylord Oakes (Anthony Hopkins) are sent to find his twin brother, Jake Hayes (Chris Rock) to replace their deceased agent.

Something occurred to me while watching this film, were touchstone pictures and the producer, Jerry Bruckheimer thinking they had a film of the same caliber as, let's say, "48 Hours"? Hmm... I think I would be quite right if I said they were wrong.

This latest batch of popcorn entertainment is basically a mix of many cliche's. I dare anybody to see this film, and not say "I've already seen this a million times". I found myself saying that several times, to be honest. Sometimes I wonder if it would kill today's scriptwriters to come up with fresh and original ideas. I guess it does.

In one scene, the great Anthony Hopkins is having a quiet dicussion with Chris Rock, and says to him... "we can do this mission without you". Right after that, he says "we need you". I could not belive what I was hearing. Hopkins actually contradicts himself due to the mindless script. Since we're talking about the script, I must mention all the plot-holes the film was buried in. And I'm not talking about small plot-holes, I'm talking about plot-holes the size of Grand Canyon! Not once did the film bother to explain itself in a decent manner, instead, it kept on bombarding us with such idiotic things that are completely unexplainable.

The only saving grace, the only people who could make this film work despite all the problems were Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. But unfortunately, they could not save the film. Their chemistry is not as good as I expected it to be. It was decent, but it was also disappointing. On to their acting, Hopkins looked like he was bored to death. It seemed like he was just not into the film. Don't get me wrong, Hopkins delivered a solid performance. But I felt he didn't get much out of this film except for a nice paycheck. As for Rock, he was mediocre at best. Some of his one-liners were hilarious, but the majority of them fell right on their face.

I'm probably being too hard on "Bad Company". Maybe I just should have shut myself up, watch the movie, and enjoy it. Well, I did "enjoy" the movie. I never was bored, it managed to keep me entertained. But still, that doesn't make the movie good. I could have forgiven all the flaws, but when they are so obvious to detect, you just can't.

Running Time: 1 hour 51 minutes

Grade: 4.5/10

Strider

[brandon918]

BAD COMPANY
Actors- Chris Rock, Anthoney Hopkins
Rated- AA

I dont know why so many people hated this movie, i thought it was good. The acting was better then i heard and the movie was really funny. Most of Chris Rocks one-liners were funny and Anthoney Hopkins had some funny moments.

The action was cool and that whole car chase near the end was the best part. Even during the action scenes, Chris Rock was funny.

The acting was pretty good from both stars, espically from Anthoney Hopkins. Lots of people say he just wanted to get paid but i think he did a good job. Chris Rock was his normal self and their wasn't anything wrong with that.

Their were a few a small probalms like the story. It was not very orignal and the whole twin brother thing was pretty much forgotten latter in the film.

Despite the few flaws, it was still a good movie and its worth your money.

I give it ***1\2(out of 5)

[DigityDarKMaN]

How could this movie have been so bad...
i was really looking forward to this movie i was sure it would be packed with a great story and comedy. the story wasnt to bad the whole nuke in a box thing worked i guess but chris rock said maybe one funny thing if even that. ohh well i was looking for comedy more then anything else, am i the only one?
4/10

[REAL_XYZ]

This movie wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either. It was middle of the road.

I can't imagine why Anthony Hopkins agreed to appear in this movie. Did he owe someone a favor? Was his family being held for ransom? Regardless of the reason, he did not perform anywhere close to his abilities. If Anthony Hopkins would have been replaced by a no-name actor (which could have been done very easily in this film) I probably wouldn't have even gone to see Bad Company.

Chris Rock was annoying....just as I suspected. He had one or two good lines, but not much more than that.

Gee, have we seen the ingredients of this movie used before (over and over again). Groan. I liked the movie in the beginning, but I stated to roll my eyes at every scene after the middle. There was enough action to keep you amused throughout the flick (as long as you leave your brain at home).

For this so-so movie, I say.......5/10.

[movieguy1021]

First of all, I would like to say that this plot is too close to real life and 9/11. A bomb about to go off in a public place? I don't think all of America's ready for that. It tried to be a Rush Hour, but came off more as a Showtime (4/10). Chris and Tony never really clicked as friends/enemies until the end, so I wouldn't even call it a buddy flick. Also, the tension wasn't there until the very end. It was very predictable, but then again, it's a comedy. Speaking of comedy-it wasn't funny. Couple laughs here and there, but it tried to hard to make people laugh everytime Chris said a bad word. Most funny parts were in the previews. Also, the running time was too long-about two hours. That's not good for a comedy.

Also, the gun fights were extremely cookie-cutter. The bad guys has machine guns and the good guys has handguns, and guess who always won? They were right in the line of fire, but never got hurt. How amazing! Chris and Tony, as I've said before, never clicked, so maybe it would have been better to choose other people, Joel? I mean, Chris' emotions were over done. When he was crying from the break-up, you could see how fake, and even the eye drops. Tony was fine, but that wasn't the problem. I don't see why he would do a project like this after a great career.

I give Bad Company 4/10

[This message has been edited by movieguy1021 (edited 06-25-2002).]

[QuentinTarantino]

I walked into the theater tonight with a choice of two movies that I hadn't yet seen. They were "Resident Evil" and "Bad Company." I wasn't able to show any enthusiasm towards either film because I hadn't heard good things and wasn't expecting to see anything good.

I finally decided on "Bad Company" and while I can say I didn't *hate* it I can also say that I didn't *love* it. For me this is a mediocre movie at best.

Joel Schumacher is a director whose films I will watch and usualy enjoy on some level. I enjoyed his previous films such as, "Falling Down" and more recently "Tigerland", although I think the reason I enjoyed the latter was more down to Collin Farrel's acting.

The script, while not *bad*, was not great by any means. We've all seen a million and one movies about a bomb and the guys have to find it before it goes off, right? Yes! We've all seen those movies and usually they turn out to be very average or even terrible. It's a formula used all the time, but it's one that is very rarely done right.

My biggest problem with the film was with what the film wanted to be. It seemed like part of it wanted to be a serious thriller and part of it wanted to be a movie like "Rush Hour" and when it comes down to it they just don't mix.

Chris Rock is a very funny man, but he just didn't feel right in this role. And Anthony Hopkins, who is a great actor also didn't fit in. I never felt the buddy connection between him and Rock.

This movie would have turned out a lot better if it had have been more in line with the "Rush Hour" style. They could still use the terrorist theme but also get the comedy going.

With all that said I think there is a certain place for movies like this. Not everyone can make "Pulp Fiction", "Magnolia", "Goodfellas" or any of the other greats you can think of. I have great respect for Schumacher because he is out there making movies for a living. He enjoys it and is putting movies on the screen that entertain him and pay the bills.

The average person will see this flick on a Saturday night with a few friends, enjoy it or hate it and walk out of the cinema and forget about it. It's entertainment. And I think that's what the movie is supposed to be.

I am not trying to defend the movie at all becuase it is not a great film. I will not watch it again. But I do not regret seeing it.

"Bad Company" could have been so, so much more, but it will just slip away and end up on a dusty video shelf with so many other films like it.

Watch it, enjoy it/hate it and forget about it.

--QT

[mattjk_17]

mattjk_17's review of "Bad Company"

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0280486/01-CT-4603-4595COMP.jpg

A movie with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins in it? Well it sounded good. Bad Company looked as if it would be a good movie when I first saw advertisements on TV. I expected a fun, enjoyable time, but didn't get what I expected. Sure there are some good laughs, and some good action sequences, but that's about it. After viewing this movie, I felt somewhat let down. I'd recommend waiting for this one to come out to rent.

Score: 5.5/10

[This message has been edited by mattjk_17 (edited 08-02-2002).]

[adidas12185]

Bad Company (2002)

starring: Chris Rock, Anthony Hopkins, Peter Stormare, Gabriel Macht, John Slattery
director: Joel Schumacher
producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Stenson
writers: Jason Richman, Michael Browning
distributor: Touchstone

plot: A top CIA operative Kevin Pope is killed in a covert black ops. mission to keep a rogue nuclear weapon off the black market. Time is running out and the Agency can't think of any other possibilities so they reluctantly recriuit Kevin's long-lost identical twin brother, Jake, to take his place. Jake is the exact opposite of Kevin though and doesn't have any prior government training.

review: "Bad Company" is a typical action/adventure thriller mixed with comedy at certain parts, it doesn't offer much else though. Chris Rock is used fairly well and his funny at times, but the overused jokes come off as being annoying after a while. Not really Rock's fault just poor writing, Rock didn't ruin the movie though. His acting is questionable but to me Rock did a pretty solid job at what he was asked to do, then there is Anthony Hopkins as a secret agent trying to train him in only a few days. Hopkins is very good in this performance which isn't a surprise, although during a few action sequences he obviously seems to be slowing down. Stormare ("Armageddeon", "Windtalkers"... ) plays a tough, gritty secret agent, that ends up being double crossed by his own men. Stormare's talent ends up being wasted in "Bad Company" imo. Rock ends up being trained in a few days as a CIA operative, well not really, he's only suppose to pose as his dead brother. But things go wrong and he is put right into the action and has to avoid the terrible situations he was hoping wouldn't happen. I thought the film started out great but after the first 15 minutes it becomes all too much of the familar action thriller, with very little spy and mystery factor put into it. "Bad Company" is a good choice for a so-so, predictable flick to watch just for pure entertainment, but its not as smart as it could of been imo. Basically the movie could of been great but just becomes the same old action-packed fest that's been done 100's of times before. Even though it is somewhat entertaining, "Bad Company" is the same type of cliched movie that Chris Rock would make fun of.

overall rating: 5/10

[The1TrueFrog]

Bad Company - 7/10

http://us.ent4.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/touchstone_pictures/bad_company/_group_photos/anthony_hopkins6.jpg

Today was just one of those days to watch black movies, I supposed. I caught two of them off premium cable, the first being Juwanna Mann (no place to review it, but 7/10 anyway), then this one. In both cases I wasn't expecting that much, but what I saw here was a very unique casting combination with Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock, several nice shoot-out scenes, some dumb laughs, and mostly just what I wanted to see -- entertainment.

Although not a true laugh riot, Chris Rock fits the part he was given. He actually does succeed in trying to be serious in his role, while still delivering his usual act with such one-liners as "I'm on the corner of f*ck you and eat shit! I'll call you back...". Anthony Hopkins, on the other hand, still isn't smiling much -- Perhaps his Hannibal roles have numbed his funny bones or something.

For the most part I was entertained and the movie went at a decent pace, but what really didn't work for me, though, was the timing of the plot and the way it was dumbed down to the movie's somewhat foolish level -- I mean, 9-11 is an event serious enough that Chris Rock's foolishness may have not been very appropriate with a situation that practically mocks the terrorist attacks. It kinda stunned me that the writers would try to pull off such a brave stunt.

Uhhhh.... popcorn flick! have fun...

[Arathon]

When I saw the trailer, I thought, hey this looks like a cool popcorn film. But much to my disappointment it ended up being a bland comedy/cop film. It's interesting to see that many buddy cop/comedy films are with a black and white guy. E.g Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour etc. In fact, it's happening so much, it could be genre itself. But anyway back to the film, Anthony Hopkins seemed to just walk through the film, producing a pretty good performance, while Chris Rock humour was a hit and miss. Chris use to be so funny, but now in each movie he's in, he's less funny. But there are some good parts like when Jake (Chris Rock) talked back to the head of the CIA head of the operation, with a really cool comeback. All in all the film doesn't flow well, and most of the time I yawned through the film.

4/10