This movie, which has been hyped and advertised in theatres for quite some time now, was just released on Friday June 7, 2002. As a theatre employee, I was able to see a special showing of this movie.
The movie is true to Chris Rock style, with lots of the comedian's usual style of humor. It follows a somewhat predictable storyline, leading through a series of events that aren't all that suspenseful or action-packed.
The movie starts in Prague, like all movies of this sort do for some reason. Anyway, we find that Chris Rock as a CIA agent named "Kevin" is brokering a deal for Hopkins under the identity of "Michael". Within the first 30 minutes, Kevin is killed. Then, Hopkins and the rest of his team find the OTHER Chris Rock who becomes Kevin and also Michael. The movie is about Hopkins and Rock then buying a black market suitcase nuclear weapon and trying to keep it from being used in a major american city.
The true winner in this movie is the casting and pairing of Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock as co-stars. These two are a pair that I would have never DREAMED I would see on the silver screen together, and yet I am rather glad I did. While their general acting styles are quite different, and they come from two very different genres, they work quite well together.
While I would usually like to give credit to the casting director for this movie, the leads of Rock and Hopkins somehow seem more like they were choosen by Bruckheimer to me. He has been doing pairings like this lately, including Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie (or to a lesser extent Giovanni Ribisi). Therefore, good job Jerry!
I was quite amused when Hopkins took on a few of Rock's traits during the film.
All in all, I would give this movie a B+ for its humor and the simple fact that it has Hopkins in it.
