Film Reviews

Bad Company

• Director: Joel Schumacher.
• Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Matthew Marsh, Gabriel Macht, Peter Stormare, Brooke Smith, Kerry Washington.
• Details: US / 111 mins / (12PG).

One would suspect that Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins isn't short of a few bob. But even if he was that couldn't excuse his participation in a project like Bad Company, a movie so devoid of any craft, ingenuity or good humour that it's almost laughable. Almost. After his twin CIA operative brother (who he never knew existed) is killed, small time hustler Jake Hayes (Chris Rock in loudmouth mode) is recruited to the agency by head honcho Oakes (Anthony Hopkins). The reason for this switch? His deceased brother was in the midst of trying to stop arms dealer Adrik Vas (Peter Stormare) from selling on a nuclear weapon to ne'er-o-well sorts, and since Jake's twin was after infiltrating his operation, a replacement is needed and sharpish. One of those shoddily etched blockbusters that Jerry Bruckheimer made his name (and a few billion on); Bad Company is a hideous example of slick Hollywood no-brain 'entertainment' at its very worst. The script is terrible, the action sequences are silly and the gags are terrible. We've come to expect this sort of nonsense from Chris Rock, but Anthony Hopkins really has no excuse. Now, let us never speak of this again.

Review by Garreth Murphy