Bad Company | |
---|---|
Directed by | Joel Schumacher |
Screenplay by | Jason Richman Michael Browning |
Story by | Gary M. Goodman David Himmelstein |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Dariusz Wolski |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Trevor Rabin |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 116 minutes |
Countries |
|
Language | English |
Budget | $70 million [1] |
Box office | $66 million [1] |
Bad Company is a 2002 American action-comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. Based on the script for a cancelled sequel to Blue Streak , the film became somewhat famous for its connections to the September 11th terrorist attacks; amongst other things, it was the last major production to film inside the original World Trade Center. The film plot, written years before the attacks, involved a variety of Serbo-Balkan extremists (including a man from Afghanistan) planning a huge attack in New York City. The film's release date was moved out of its late 2001 spot and into a summer 2002 release, similar to several other films with terrorism or violent crime-related stories, including Collateral Damage .
When a mission to retrieve a stolen suitcase bomb goes awry, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent Kevin Pope is killed. Pope was working undercover as an antiquities dealer under the name Michael Turner. The CIA, which is desperate to complete the mission, discovers that Agent Pope had a twin brother, Jake Hayes, from whom he was separated at birth; their mother died giving birth and Hayes suffered from a severe lung infection that prompted the doctors to separate them because they felt that Hayes was unlikely to live for very long. Hayes hustles chess games, scalps tickets, and works at small clubs in Jersey City, New Jersey to make ends meet. Meanwhile, Hayes's girlfriend, Julie grows tired of waiting for him to grow up and decides to move to Seattle, Washington.
After the CIA successfully persuades Hayes to participate and 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 Gaylord Oakes confronts Hayes, telling him he does not trust him. When Hayes begins paying attention, the CIA sets him up in his brother's old apartment in Manhattan 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 found by Oakes, who persuades him to finish the mission.
After arriving in Prague, Hayes - posing as his dead brother - meets with the men selling the suitcase bomb. The seller, Adrik Vas is an ex-Russian Army Colonel with ties to the Russian Mafia. When they return to their hotel, Hayes is greeted by his brother's ex-girlfriend Nicole. Believing Hayes is his brother, she dines with him and returns to his hotel, where the couple is ambushed by rival buyers. Nicole figures out that Hayes is not his brother and returns to her assignment covering the Balkans for CNN.
Hayes and Oakes meet with Vas and are able to steal the arming codes. Just as they close the deal, Vas' men double cross them with the rival buyer. When the rival dealers, who are part of a multi-national terrorist organization, learn they cannot detonate the bomb because of the missing codes, they kidnap Julie. Hayes gives himself up trying to save his girlfriend, and the terrorists get the codes back and arm 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 the terrorist leader Dragan Ađanić, who has started the countdown. Oakes rescues Hayes by killing two terrorists. As Hayes starts to enter the codes to disarm the bomb, Ađanić holds Julie hostage. In order to distract Ađanić, Hayes pretends to shoot Oakes, and they kill Ađanić by shooting him repeatedly. Hayes is able to disarm the bomb just prior to detonation.
Hayes visits his brother's grave. Later, Oakes approaches Hayes at his wedding to Julie and warns him that a dangerous criminal has escaped from prison and is seeking revenge on Kevin Pope, but since Kevin is dead and Hayes was impersonating him, the criminal thinks Hayes is Kevin. Hayes begins to panic and demands that Oakes protect him, but Oakes laughs as he reveals that it was only a joke and he really just came for the wedding.
In September 2000, it was announced action-comedy then titled Black Sheep had been greenlit with Jerry Bruckheimer to produce and the script written by professional musician turned screenwrtier Jason Richman in his first studio job. [2] Richman was hired to re-write Black Sheep after executives were impressed with his spec script Revolver with Richman's re-writes credited with getting the film greenlit. [3] Jon Turteltaub was announced as being interested in directing. [2] In January 2001, it was announced Joel Schumacher would direct the film. [4] When questioned about the unusual pairing of leads Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins, Bruckheimer stated:
We always try and have an interesting and unusual pairing of actors, and this is about as creative as you can get [5]
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Rock said the title change from Black Sheep to Bad Company was to avoid confusion with the 1996 film of the same name. [6] Rock also jokingly referred to the film as Beverly Hills Spy. [6]
Bad Company was partially filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as the World Trade Center in New York. The scene where the suitcase bomb was handed over was filmed at Chotěšov Abbey. [7]
Bad Company only collected a total of $11 million at the box office in its opening weekend, putting the film in fourth place below The Sum of All Fears , Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones . [8] In the United Kingdom, the film made an opening weekend gross of just $593,059, ranking in sixth place behind Scooby-Doo , Minority Report , Spider-Man , Resident Evil and Devdas . [9] It failed to recoup its budget at the box office, earning only $30,160,161 in the United States and $35,817,134 outside the US for a worldwide total of $65,977,295. [1] [10] The film was originally slated to be released on December 25, 2001, but because of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the film's release was postponed given that the film was about a terrorist attack on New York City. [11] [12]
Bad Company was panned by critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 10% approval rating based on 135 reviews, with an average score of 3.90/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins fail to generate the sparks necessary to save the movie from a generic and utterly predictable script." [13] Metacritic gave the film a score of 37 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [14] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B" on scale of A+ to F. [15]
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reviewer William Arnold calls the film "wildly overproduced, inadequately motivated every step of the way and demographically targeted to please every one (and no one)." [16] Roger Ebert remarks in the Chicago Sun-Times that the film "jams too many prefabricated story elements into the running time." [17] On their review show, Ebert and Richard Roeper gave it two thumbs down, [18] arguing it "might have been considered original, had it been made before 48 Hrs. , Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour and every other action movie about a racially mixed pair of partners who initially despise each other, but learn to, well, you know the whole drill." [19]
David Hunter of The 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." [20]
A soundtrack containing hip hop, alternative, and R&B music was released on June 4, 2002 by Hollywood Records. It peaked at number 98 on the Billboard 200 and number 11 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. [21]
John Patrick Ryan Sr. (Hon.), nicknamed Jack, is a fictional character created by author Tom Clancy and featured in his Ryanverse novels, which have consistently topped the New York Times bestseller list over 30 years. Since Clancy's death in 2013, five other authors, Mark Greaney, Grant Blackwood, Mike Maden, Marc Cameron and Don Bentley, have continued writing new novels for the franchise and its other connecting series with the approval of the Clancy family estate.
Spy Game is a 2001 action thriller film directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. The American–French–German–Japanese co-production grossed $62 million in the United States and $143 million worldwide on a $115 million budget and received mostly positive reviews from film critics.
Freddy Got Fingered is a 2001 surreal black comedy film directed by Tom Green in his feature film directorial debut and written by Green and Derek Harvie. The film stars Green alongside Rip Torn, Marisa Coughlan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Julie Hagerty.
The Sum of All Fears is a political thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on August 14, 1991, as the sequel to Clear and Present Danger (1989). Main character Jack Ryan, who is now the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, tries to stop a crisis concerning the Middle East peace process wherein Palestinian and former East German terrorists conspire to bring the United States and Soviet Union into nuclear war. It debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
Bad Boys is a 1995 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay in his feature directorial debut and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. The film stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey, two Miami narcotics detectives who are investigating the $100 million stolen packs of heroin and must order to protect a murder witness from an international drug dealer.
Bad Boys II is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and the sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys, in addition to the second film in the Bad Boys film series. Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Theresa Randle, and Joe Pantoliano reprise their roles from the previous film. New cast members include Jordi Mollà, Gabrielle Union, and Peter Stormare. The film follows detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey investigating the flow of illegal drugs going into Miami.
Robert Booker Baer is an American author and a former CIA case officer who was primarily assigned to the Middle East. He is Time's intelligence columnist and has contributed to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Baer speaks eight languages, won the CIA Career Intelligence Medal and is a frequent commentator and author about issues related to international relations, espionage, and U.S. foreign policy. He hosted the History reality television series Hunting Hitler. He is an Intelligence and Security Analyst for CNN. His book See No Evil was adapted by the director Stephen Gaghan and used as the basis for the film Syriana, with George Clooney playing Baer's character.
Invasion U.S.A. is a 1985 American action film produced by Cannon Films, and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. It involves the star fighting off a force of Soviet/Cuban-led guerrillas.
Luis Clemente Posada Carriles was a Cuban exile militant and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent. He was considered a terrorist by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Government of Cuba, among others.
The Siege is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks in New York City. The film stars Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony Shalhoub, and Bruce Willis.
Munich is a 2005 epic historical drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, co-written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth. It is based on the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas, an account of Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre.
Invincible is a 2001 drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog. The film stars Tim Roth, Jouko Ahola, Anna Gourari, and Max Raabe. The film tells the story of a Jewish strongman in Germany. While basing his story on the real-life figure Zishe Breitbart, Herzog uses the bare facts of Breitbart's life to weave fact and fiction to create an allegory of human strength, knowing oneself with honesty and pride in one's heritage.
The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American spy thriller film directed by Phil Alden Robinson, based on Tom Clancy's 1991 novel of the same name. The film, which is set in the Jack Ryan film series, is a reboot taking place in 2002. Jack Ryan is portrayed as a younger character by Ben Affleck, in comparison with the previous films: The Hunt for Red October (1990) starring Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan and the sequels, Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), both starring Harrison Ford in the role.
Get Smart is a 2008 American spy action comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember and produced by Leonard B. Stern, who was also the producer of the original series. The film is based on Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's television series of the same name.
Long Road to Heaven is a 2007 Indonesian feature film about the 2002 Bali bombings, by Kalyana Shira Films. The film was directed by Enison Sinaro and written by Wong Wai Leng and Andy Logam-Tan. It tells the story during three different times: the planning a few months before the bombing, its execution in 2002, and the trials in 2003. The story is not chronologically linear. It starts with the explosion and then moves from time to time until all three plots culminate one after the other. At the beginning of each scene, subtitles give the date and location of the scene.
Body of Lies is a 2008 American spy action thriller film directed and produced by Ridley Scott, written by William Monahan, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Golshifteh Farahani in the lead roles. Set in the Middle East, it follows the attempts of the CIA and the GID of Jordan to catch "al-Saleem", a terrorist. Frustrated by their target's elusiveness, differences in their approaches strain relations between a CIA operative, his superior, and the head of Jordanian Intelligence. The supporting cast features Mark Strong and Oscar Isaac.
Collateral Damage is a 2002 American vigilante action-thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Francesca Neri, Cliff Curtis, John Leguizamo, and John Turturro. The film tells the story of Los Angeles firefighter Gordon Brewer (Schwarzenegger), who seeks to avenge his son's and wife's deaths at the hands of a guerrilla commando, by traveling to Colombia and facing his family's killers.
Contract to Kill is a 2016 American action film starring Steven Seagal. It received a limited theatrical release in the United States, and was released via video on demand.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)