A more unlikely pairing in a buddy-film thriller is hard to imagine, and yet the combination of Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock actually works, and not entirely because Hopkins is always so reliably great. The plot is suitably complex, with intrigue and Czech and New York settings and rival groups of bad men and a stolen suitcase bomb and triple-crosses and all that sort of thing. The ostensible mismatch of Rock with a serious part is covered by a complex plot twist in which his unknown identical twin brother is killed and he steps in to save the day. Often amusing and pleasantly complex and frequently tense, the film is entertaining enough. There's quite a bit of post-September 11 mythology going on here, with the CIA reckoning the human cost of terrorism, an extremely well-coordinated emergency response, wonderful technology, and people in charge who mostly know what they're doing. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking?
Review of Bad Company
