Bad Company (2002 film)

Infobox Film
name = Bad Company

---

image_size =
caption = Movie poster for "Bad Company"
director = Joel Schumacher
producer = Michael Browning
Jerry Bruckheimer
Mike Stenson
writer = Gary M. Goodman
David Himmelstein
Jason Richman
Michael Browning
narrator =
starring = Anthony Hopkins
Chris Rock
music = Trevor Rabin
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Touchstone Pictures
released = June 7, 2002
runtime = 117 min.
country = U.S.A.
language = English
budget = $70 million
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0280486

"Bad Company" is a 2002 action-comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. The film is rated PG-13.

Plot

When a mission to retrieve a stolen suitcase bomb goes bad, CIA agent Kevin Pope is killed. Pope was working undercover as an art dealer under the name Michael Turner. The CIA, who is desperate to complete the mission discovers that Agent Pope had a twin brother, Jake Hayes (Rock), from whom he was separated at birth. Hayes hustles chess games, scalps tickets and works at small clubs to make ends meet. Meanwhile Hayes’s girlfriend, Julie (Washington) grows tired of waiting for him to grow up and decides to move to Seattle, Washington.

As the CIA begins to train Hayes for a mission that is to take place in Prague (Czech Republic), they are initially dismayed by his lack of refinement. Agent Oakes (Hopkins) confronts Hayes telling him he doesn't trust him. When Hayes begins paying attention, the CIA sets him up in his old apartment to test him and try to bait the men who killed his brother. Hayes is attacked, but escapes unharmed. Looking for a way out, Hayes goes to his foster mother only to be tailed by Oakes who persuades him to finish the mission.

After arriving in Prague, Hayes meets with the men selling the suitcase bomb posing as his dead brother. The seller, Adrik Vas, is an ex-KGB agent with ties to the Russian Mafia. When they return to their hotel, Hayes is greeted by his brother's ex-girlfriend Nicole. Believing that Hayes is his brother the two have dinner and return to the hotel only to be ambushed by rival buyers. Nicole figures out Hayes isn't his brother and returns to her assignment covering the Balkans for CNN.

Moving forward with the plans, Hayes and Oakes meet up with Adjanic and are able to steal the arming codes. But before they are able to close the deal, only to have Vas's men double cross him with rival buyer and terrorist. When the rival dealers, who are part of a terrorist organization, learn they can't detonate the bomb because of the missing codes, they kidnap Julie. Hayes gives himself up trying to save his girlfriend and the terrorist get the codes back and arm the bomb.

Now the race begins to find Hayes and the bomb. After interrogating one of the captured terrorists, they track the bomb to Grand Central Station. With the clock ticking, they locate the bomb and Andre who has started the countdown. Oakes rescues Hayes by killing two terrorists. As Hayes starts to enter the codes to disarm the bomb, Andre holds Julie hostage. In order to distract Andre, Hayes shoots Oakes and Oakes kills Andre. Hayes is able to disarm the bomb just prior to detonation.

Box Office and Reception

In the theaters, Bad Company did poorly at the box office earning only $30.1 million in the US and $35.1 million outside the US for a total of $65,977,000. The film was originally slated to be released November 2001. Because of the attacks of September 11 2001, the film was shelved, especially given the fact the movie was about a terrorist attack on New York City.

The film was also generally poorly received by film critics. On film review compilation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film is given a 10% "rotten" rating. Seattle Post Intelligencer review William Arnold calls the film "wildly overproduced, inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one (and no one)." Roger Ebert remarks in the Chicago-Sun Times that the movie "jams too many prefabricated story elements into the running time."

However, David Hunter of Hollywood Reporter noted the film as having "all the familiar Bruckheimer elements, and Schumacher does probably as good a job as anyone at bringing off the Hopkins/Rock collision of acting styles and onscreen personas."

Cast

* Anthony Hopkins as Officer Oakes
* Chris Rock as Jake Hayes/Kevin Pope/Michael Turner
* Peter Stormare as Adrik Vas
* Gabriel Macht as Officer Seale
* Kerry Washington as Julie
* Adoni Maropis as Jarma/Dragan Henchman #1
* Garcelle Beauvais as Nicole
* Matthew Marsh as Dragan Adjanic
* Dragan Micanovic as Michelle 'The Hammer' Petrov
* John Slattery as Roland Yates
* Brooke Smith as Officer Swanson
* Daniel Sunjata as Officer Carew
* DeVone Lawson Jr. as Officer Parish
* Wills Robbins as Officer McCain
* Marek Vasut as Andre

Details

* Rock's character makes a reference to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was removed from power the following year by the US invasion:

"Hey, I'm the one with the dead brother, I'm the one who misses his girl, and I'm supposed to put up with your shit 'cause you're a spy? Big deal! Every woman on the planet's a spy! Man, you guys can't even find Saddam Hussein! You know, if you told a woman, right now at 8:00 in the morning, that her husband was sleeping with Saddam Hussein, she'd be able to find Saddam by 8:00 that night, and say "Saddam, don't you ever come around my house no more!" Hey, I did you a favor, OK? You called me! Now, if you ever talk down to me again, I will beat your ass so bad you'll be the only guy in heaven with a wheelchair. You better act right before you get smacked right, bitch."
* Anthony Hopkins and Brooke Smith both previously worked together in "The Silence of the Lambs".

References

External links

*
*
*