Bad Company Film Review

If you told me that you had seen a brilliant action film starring Chris Rock as a secret agent and Anthony Hopkins as his boss, I would have laughed I your face!

But this turned out to be one of the best films I have ever seen.

The plot

The plot centres around the death of Kevin Pope, an undercover CIA agent trying to buy a deadly explosive device on the black market. Their only hope is the identical twin brother that didn't even know that Kevin ever existed. They must train him and turn him from a smart mouth con man to a well-spoken, educated CIA operative and they have just two weeks to do it.

Oakes wants to save the world from the bomb, he wants Jake to be able to do it, but he doesn't think he can. When he eventually has a little faith in Jake, he is frustrated at his cheek and smart mouth calling him a "little punk". Whilst he wants Jake to be able to pull it off, because of what happened with Kevin, he is reluctant to put Jake in any real danger, he feels responsible for his safety and when things go wrong, he feels guilty.

I had never seen Chris Rock acting in anything before so I had no idea what to expect from him. But his performance as Jake Hayes playing Kevin Pope playing Michael Tuner (it will make sense in the end) is outstanding. He is brilliant as all three characters, but he is cocky yet likeable as ticket scalping hustler Jake Hayes.

The characters

Sir Anthony is as fantastic as ever as Officer Oakes, a cynical CIA agent lumbered with the job of turning Jake into Michael. He feels guilty because he believes that Kevin's death was his fault. He is witty and with the air of authority that the role requires, it's not all about the job though, he has a soft spot for officer Swanson played by Brooke Smith. He is a calm, level headed man, but he is pushed to his very limits by Jakes attitude.

Chris Rock is amazing as Jake Hayes, he is confident to the point of cocky as Jake. Jake is clearly and understandably scared when he is taken in by the CIA and this causes him to be even more sarcastic and rude, but Oakes wont stand for any of his nonsense.

He also manages to be confident and classy as Michael Turner, transforming completely from Jake Hayes. He has such an amazing screen presence, easily holding his own with the likes of Sir Anthony. It would be easy to be outshone by a huge presence such as Hopkins, but Chris Rock is the only one in this film that isn't.

The setting.

Set largely in Prague, the backdrop is elegant and beautiful and a huge contrast to the clinical CIA headquarters in Langley.

The problems.

I am aware that the twin thing is a little on the nose and a bit convenient, and the transformation seems to happen a bit too quickly, but it is handles so well by the directors and the actors, you can overlook that.

The only trouble with the whole movie, and I don't really call it a problem but others might, is that with such huge screen presences as Sir Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock, the other characters tend to be a bit overlooked. They could have had some other well developed characters in there, but instead, the focused mainly on the Oakes/Hayes relationship.