BAD COMPANY
A film review by Raymond Johnston
Copyright 1995 Raymond Johnston
Starring Laurence Fishburne, Ellen Barkin, Frank Langella, Spalding Gray Written by Ross Thomas Directed by Damian Harris
It takes guts to come straight out and put the word 'bad' right in the title. It's like waving a red flag in of a bull. It challenges wags such as myself to come up with witty bon mots about how the film is aptly named, list the bad parts of the film and compare it to other self proclaimed 'bad' films. The problem is that BAD COMPANY isn't really bad so much as it is simply mediocre. It's not great cinema, but it is halfway decent trash.
The story is some nonsense about renegade ex-secret agents and a murder/blackmail operation run by Frank Langella. It never quite manages to generate any interest. The double and triple crosses are simply by the book plot twists. Since there is no reason to expect that anybody is playing an honest game, the double crosses are never a surprise. At least BAD COMPANY manages to be a post cold war thriller without demeaning stereotypes of Latin American drug lords. It's not about drugs, the new universal threat. What it is about, well that unfortunately is never very clear.
Since the plot is a wash what the film is about, by default, is style. There is more tension created by the clash between Laurence Fishburne's saturated primary-color apartment decor and the unfinished bomb shelter chic of Langella's corporate office than there is tension created by any of the characters themselves. Well-realized sets, a good pace and some spiffy costumes dress up the goings on.
Supporting the sets in the film are several performances full of attitude. Laurence FIshburne's character doesn't have nearly the depth of his professor in the still current HIGHER LEARNING, but it is a very slick performance. He gives his ex-secret agent man a cool strut and a tough demeanor. Ellen Barkin has a BASIC INSTINCT type role, the heartless femme fatale, a sexual manipulator using her charms to advance her agenda. Barkin makes her character seem to be at least fairly intelligent. She manages to bring a decent amount of allure to her stock character, and tries to match Sharon Stone's notorious BASIC INSTINCT scene. Frank Langella and Spalding Gray create smarmy amoral rich characters, complementing their costumes nicely with solid performances of their routine lines.
The film, however, ultimately is completely forgettable. It is all wrapper and no candy bar. Strip away the window dressing and the story is nothing more than a thin excuse to stage a few well-choreographed gun play scenes and some fairly explicit sex scenes. There is no development of any themes, no attempt to raise political or moral questions. The film is about absolutely nothing except sex and gun play.
Better films of this type include THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (based on the novel SIX DAYS OF THE CONDOR), THE PARALLAX VIEW, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and WINTER KILLS. All four of these manage to offer some tight suspense and some food for thought as well.
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