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| Bait |
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  (5/10)
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Runtime: 119 |
| Public Rating: 7.67 (6 votes) |
Director: Antoine Fuqua |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Action/Comedy |
Year: 2000 |
| Writer(s): Andrew & Adam Scheinman and Tony Gilroy |
| Distributor: Warner Home Video |
| Reviewed by: Movieman |
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Bait is. for all intents and purposes, your generic action thriller, but it does offer some good action sequences and a likeable main character.
One night in New York, two heists are going down. One mastermind by criminal genius (and John Malkovich look-alike) Hutchison to steal $42 million dollars worth of gold, but is botched when his partner in crime runs off with the loot, leaving Hutchison behind. While in Brooklyn, another heist is happening, this one "masterminded" by Foxx (Any Given Sunday) at a shrimp factory. Foxx gets caught and goes to Riker Island Prison. With Foxx in his cell is Hutchison's partner played by Pastorelli (Eraser). He tells Foxx where the gold is and he dies before the Treasury Department head agent (Morse) could find out. In order to find out they place a transistor in Foxx's jaw which then he can be tracked through satellite and also they can hear everything he says. This provides some comedy throughout the thriller/action.
The acting is minimal considering it is an action flick, but Foxx makes the most of his talent. Unlike other rising stars (such as Giovanni Ribisi), Foxx had no trouble carrying the film by himself. He is funny and can handle the action and the generic, but well written, screenplay.
I found the supporting cast to be wasted. Academy Award nominee Paymer has little to do as the sidekick for Morse, Pastorelli as the inept sidekick for Hutchison, and Kennedy (Scream 3) as the decipher for the government.
As I stated before, Hutchison seemed to play his character like John Malkovich. His tone is quiet but when getting mad goes overboard, much like Malkovich's performance in In the Line of Fire.
I did enjoy, though, one my favorite, and often underrated, actors in Morse. He has starred in such movies as The Rock. Although I enjoyed his character, I did not get the sense of the two of them (Foxx and Morse) having any connection. There were a few scenes adding more character to Foxx and making him more likeable to the same man who once wanted to kill Foxx.
But what I did not like at all, and it really brought down my overall rating for the movie. What am I talking about? The awkward camera work. There is no continuity to it. Every scene has some sort of different angle, some so fast you have no idea who the actor is in the scene. It's a really bad idea because it distracted from the overall feeling for the film. Director Fugua does not stick with a certain angle or angles but instead seemed like he was testing out to see which were the best and forgot to reshoot the other scenes.
But overall, I was impressed with the well-written screenplay, the talent of Jamie Foxx and the well coordination of the action. It is right up there with Mission: Impossible 2, not quite, but still good enough.
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