Bad Company

Anthony Hopkins (Gaylord Oakes)	Chris Rock (Jake Hayes/Michael Turner)
Kerry Washington (Julie)	Peter Stormare (Vas)
Directed by: Joel Schumacher	Story: Mick Garris
Screenwriters: Jason Richman/Michael Browning

It begins with a polished Kevin Pope (Chris Rock) negotiating a deal for an atomic bomb with a Russian arms dealer Vas (Peter Stormare) under the assumed name of Michael Turner. Michael Turner is bringing in a buyer, played by Anthony Hopkins. Both are actually CIA agents on a mission to trace the bomb and recover it. A rival buyer wants to eliminate competition and Turner is killed in an ambush while saving Oakes' life. The competition and the seller do not realize this. Oakes has nine more days to produce Turner for sealing the deal or else the CIA loses the bomb.

They chance upon Jake Hayes (Rock), a street-smart New York guy who is also exceptionally bright. He looks like a carbon copy of Turner and Oakes and his team discover that he is actually the twin brother of Turner who was separated at birth. They bring him in and tell him half-truths about the mission, while omitting certain critical facts, like if there is a problem, Hayes is expendable.

In just a few days, Hayes is transformed from his New York street dealer image to that of a stylish Harvard-educated person with a taste for classical music and exquisite clothes. Hayes is then taken by Oakes and his team to Prague where Hayes, as Turner, attempts to seal the deal with the arms dealer. The deal turns sour at the end as the arms dealer is double-crossed by his right-hand man, who in turn is double-crossed by......In this medley of confusion, the bomb, kept in a suitcase, is stolen and taken to New York city. But the terrorists are unable to arm the bomb as the codes for it are available in a laptop that can only be accessed by Turner's retina.

The movie then jumps to New York where the terrorists capture Hayes' girl friend Julie (Washington), realizing that Turner is actually Hayes and get Hayes to open the suitcase. They send the CIA on a wild-goose chase with a decoy and arm the bomb. Finally, however, the movie ends with some exciting scenes at the Grand Central Station in New York.

There are other elements, forced into the plot like that of introducing the gorgeous Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon as the CNN Reporter (with no reporting at all) and a girl friend of Turner while in Europe.

How many times in India have we seen this saga of twins separated at birth and the carbon copy imitating the original? And how many times have we seen a village idiot or a street-smart hustler transformed into a suave and elegant personality in just a matter of a few days?

In the post 9-11 era, many spy films are being released that are being modified to bear in mind the 9-11 disaster. But the modifications aren't enough. The story has to have a basically firm plot to provide a firm foundation or it has to have Sean Connery as the charismatic James Bond.

Coming close on the heels of "The Sum of All Fears" (just a week later in fact), "Bad Company" lives up to its name, it is bad company indeed. Schumacher should have realized that the script had too many holes in it and should have jazzed up the movie with at least good dialogues and some convincing action. Instead, he lets the movie meander. It's so silly to see just two people, Hopkins and his partner, saving the life of Rock when the CIA has a whole team in the hotel.

And, of course, an atomic bomb stored in a suitcase and being thrown about is one of the silliest things ever seen on screen. And terrorists, clever enough to steal a bomb aren't clever enough to break into the laptop or find some computer geek clever enough to do it.

What is happening to all the senior actors today? Why are they so intent to play only the wise men now? At least Morgan Freeman had a good script and some neat lines in "The Sum of All Fears". Poor Anthony Hopkins has none. To watch a man who has delivered some of the most riveting performances of all times ("Silence of the Lambs" and "Meet Joe Black") pathetically trying to act as the gun-totting Gaylord Oakes makes you realize that sometimes great actors make great mistakes.

Chris Rock, from whom expectations were high after "Down to Earth", manages to get a few laughs, but fails to deliver too because of the poor script. In other words, Chris just does not Rock. One more such bad film and Chris Rock will have to go back to his television shows where he is admittedly one of the best ever.

Kerry Washington ("Save the Last Dance") is wasted in this film as is Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon ("NYPD Blues).

The biggest lesson is that to make a spy film you must do so from a best-seller. At least the script will be tighter. Hopefully, "Bourne Identity", with Matt Daemon as the lead, should be a decent one since it is based on a Tom Clancy best seller.

Meanwhile, this movie is just passable because of the presence of established stars and directed by an established director. If you have an afternoon on which you have nothing else to do, you can do with "Bad Company".