''Bad Company'' is a 2002

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

directed by

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. H ...

, produced by

Jerry Bruckheimer Jerome Leon Bruckheimer (born September 21, 1943) is an American film and television Film producer, producer. He has been active in the genres of Action film, action, Drama film, drama, Fantasy film, fantasy, and Science fiction film, science fi ...

and starring

Chris Rock Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...

and

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

. The film became somewhat famous for its connections to the

September 11th terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

; amongst other things, it was the last major production to film inside the former

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

. The film plot, written years before the attacks, involved a variety of Serbo-Balkan extremists (including a man from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

) planning a huge attack in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. 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 Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

or violent crime-related stories, including ''

Collateral Damage Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts. Since the development of precision guided ...

''.

Plot

When a mission to retrieve a stolen suitcase

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

goes awry,

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(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 Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

, 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 Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. After the CIA successfully persuades Hayes to participate and begins to train Hayes for a mission that is to take place in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, they are initially dismayed by his lack of refinement. Agent Oakes confronts Hayes, telling him he doesn't trust him. When Hayes begins paying attention, the CIA sets him up in his brother's old apartment in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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 Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...

. 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 isn't his brother and returns to her assignment covering the Balkans for

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. 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 can't 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 Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

. 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.

Cast

as CIA Agent Oakes *

as Jake Hayes / CIA Agent Kevin Pope / Michael Turner *

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film '' Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television ser ...

as Adrik Vas *

Gabriel Macht Gabriel Swann Macht (born January 22, 1972) is an American actor and film producer, known for portraying Harvey Specter in the USA Network series '' Suits'' (2011–2019) and the title character in the 2008 superhero film ''The Spirit''. Early ...

as CIA Agent Seale *

Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fi ...

as Julie Benson *

Adoni Maropis Adoni Maropis (born July 20, 1963) is a Greek-American actor. Maropis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the middle of three sons. He is best known for playing Quan Chi in '' Mortal Kombat: Conquest''. He also played General Hassan in '' Co ...

as Jarma / Dragan Henchman #1 *

Garcelle Beauvais Garcelle Beauvais (, formerly Beauvais-Nilon; born November 26, 1966) is a Haitian-American actress and television personality. She is best known for her starring roles in the sitcom ''The Jamie Foxx Show'' and the crime drama series ''NYPD Blue' ...

as Nicole * Matthew Marsh as Dragan Ađanić *

Dragan Mićanović Dragan Mićanović ( sr, Драган Мићановић; born 30 September 1970) is a Serbian actor. He had roles in the films ''Layer Cake'' (2004), ''The White Countess'' (2005) and '' RocknRolla'' (2008). Mićanović played his first role ab ...

as Michelle "The Hammer" Petrov *

John Slattery John M. Slattery Jr. (born August 13, 1962) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Roger Sterling Jr. in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–15), for which he was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award fo ...

as CIA Deputy Director Roland Yates * Brooke Smith as CIA Agent Swanson *

Daniel Sunjata Daniel Sunjata Condon (born December 30, 1971) is an American actor who performs in film, television and theater. He is known for his role as Franco Rivera in the FX television series '' Rescue Me''. Early life and education Sunjata was born a ...

as CIA Agent Carew * DeVone Lawson Jr. as CIA Agent Parish * Wills Robbins as CIA Agent McCain *

Marek Vašut Marek Vašut (born 5 May 1960 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech film, stage, and television actor, best known for his appearances in ''Solomon Kane'' and ''Blade II''. He voiced the character Tommy Angelo for the Czech version of the video ga ...

as Andre *

Irma P. Hall Irma Dolores Player Hall (born June 3, 1935) is an American actress who has appeared in films and television shows since the early 1970s. Hall often played matriarchal figures in films including '' A Family Thing'', '' The Ladykillers'' and ''Soul ...

as Mrs. Banks *

Dan Ziskie Dan Ziskie is an American actor and photographer. Ziskie portrayed the character Frank Niggar on a popular sketch on '' Chappelle's Show''. He was on '' Treme'', where he played a politically connected banker in Post-Katrina New Orleans. He had a ...

as CIA Agent Dempsey *

John Aylward John Aylward (November 7, 1946 – May 16, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for playing the former DNC chairman Barry Goodwin on the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' and for playing Dr. Donald Anspaugh on the NBC televisio ...

as CIA Agent Ferren *

John Fink John Fink (born February 11, 1940) is an American film and television actor. In the 1970–1971 the NBC sitcom '' Nancy'', Fink was cast as an Iowa veterinarian, Dr. Adam Hudson, who marries the daughter of the President of the United States. ...

as CIA Agent Fink *

Michael Ealy Michael Brown (born August 3, 1973), professionally known as Michael Ealy, is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Barbershop'' (2002), '' 2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003), ''Takers'' (2010), ''Think Like a Man'' (2012), ''About Last Ni ...

as "G-Mo" *

Shea Whigham Franklin Shea Whigham Jr. (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor best known for portraying Elias "Eli" Thompson in the drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He also appeared in the first season of ''True Detective'' and the third season of ' ...

as CIA Agent Wells (uncredited) *

Charlie Day Charles Peckham Day (born February 9, 1976) is an American actor, writer, producer and podcaster. He is best known for playing Charlie Kelly on the FX comedy ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), which he co-created with Rob M ...

as Stoner (uncredited)

Reception

Box office

''Bad Company'' 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. The film was originally slated to be released on December 25, 2001 but because of the

attacks of September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...

, the film's release was postponed given the fact the film was about a terrorist attack on

Critical response

The film was panned by critics. Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a 10% approval rating based on 135 reviews, with an average score of 3.87/10. The site's critical consensus states hat both"Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins fail to generate the sparks necessary to save the movie from a generic and utterly predictable script." Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade of "B" on scale of A+ to F. ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

'' 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)."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

remarks in the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' that the film "jams too many prefabricated story elements into the running time." On their review show, Ebert and Richard Roeper gave it two thumbs down, arguing that it: David Hunter of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' 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."

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing hip hop, alternative and R&B music was released on June 4, 2002 by

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label focuses in pop, rock, alternative, hip hop, and country genres, as well as specializing in mature recordings not suitable for the flagship Walt Disney Records l ...

. It peaked at number 98 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 11 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

Filming locations

''Bad Company'' was partially filmed in

. The scene where the suitcase bomb was handed over was filmed at

Chotěšov Abbey Chotěšov Abbey ( cs, Klášter Chotěšov) is a former Premonstratensian nunnery in Chotěšov (Plzeň-South District), Chotěšov, about 18 kilometres southwest of Plzeň in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. History Premonstratensian nu ...

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Films about the Central Intelligence Agency 2002 films 2002 action comedy films 2000s spy films American spy films American buddy films American buddy cop films 2000s English-language films American action comedy films 2000s spy comedy films Films directed by Joel Schumacher Touchstone Pictures films Films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films about terrorism in the United States Films about nuclear war and weapons Films postponed due to the September 11 attacks Films shot in the Czech Republic Films shot in New Jersey Films set in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Films scored by Trevor Rabin Czech action comedy films Czech spy films Buddy comedy films 2000s buddy cop films American action thriller films English-language Czech films 2002 comedy films 2000s American films