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HOOK,
LINE...HUGE SINKER...
Written
by Phil
M. Van
Cast::
Jamie
Foxx, Doug Hutchison, David Morse, Robert Pastorelli,
Micheal Epps, Nestor Serrano, David Paymer
 Premise:
After a 40-million-dollar heist from the Federal Gold
Reserve, Edgar Clenteen (David Morse), an investigator
with the U.S. Treasury Department is put to the task
of finding the culprits and getting the money back.
He starts with John Jaster (Robert Pastorelli) an accomplice
in the crime who was caught, arrested, and jailed. However,
when Jaster suddenly dies of a heart attack, Clenteen
turns to his cellmate, Alvin Sanders (Jamie Foxx), who,
entrusted with a secret message to deliver back to the
criminals, becomes the "bait" to reel in the sharks.
Overall
Rating:
(out of 4)
Rated R
for
language, violence and a scene of sexuality.
The
waves of big budget, quick cutting, canted shot filled,
technology obsessed films have been hitting American
cinema with progressive indignation over the last half-decade.
They've fallen under every description from relatively
insightful (Enemy of the State) to completely frivolous
(Independence Day). The industry's latest effort in
this apparent trend, "Bait", leans more towards
frivolity. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and featuring Jamie
Foxx as a petty thief placed in the high-tech crossfire
of a secret operative division of the U.S. treasury
department and a sociopathic bank robbing hacker played
by Doug Hutchison (The Green Mile, Con Air), "Bait"
shows us little that we haven't seen before.
When
Bristol (Hutchison) and his partner in crime, Robert
Pastorelli (Dances with Wolves, Eraser) have a falling
out over the use of guns while stealing forty million
in gold bars from a national bank, Pastorelli takes
the bars and flees from Bristol. Picked up later for
a DUI and incarcerated under suspicion of the robbery,
Pastorelli shares a cell with Alvin (Foxx), who was
arrested for robbing a prawn factory. "One prawn
is at least four or five shrimp," Foxx answers
when asked why he chose prawns. Pastorelli dies of a
heart condition before he confesses to the U.S. treasury
where he has hidden the bars, leaving them with the
task of retrieving both the bars and arresting Bristol.
Thinking
at first that Alvin might have been told about the location
of the gold, but quickly realizing his ignorance in
the matter, David Morse (The Rock, Contact) who portrays
the government agent leading the investigation, decides
to use Alvin as bait to lure Bristol into custody. This
is done in the most typical of conspiracy theorists'
ways: by implanting a tracking chip in Alvin's jaw while
he is unconscious and thereby unaware. Alvin is released
from prison and followed by Morse's newly assembled
operative team (i.e. supposed techy geeks looking Hollywood
sheik), and by Bristol, who still believes Alvin knows
where the gold is hidden.
"Bait"
is littered with conspicuously fictitious technical
references and cliched lines. Morse, who acts out his
hardened agent role with forced conviction, attempts
to describe Bristol at one point: "We're talking
world class loner here, a guy…in front of the computer
in the dark, thinking about nothing but math, nothing
but numbers." The two dimensional description of
the role is disappointing dialogue, but fits Hutchison's
performance, which is not truly his own. Instead Hutchison
serves up a bull's-eye impersonation of John Malkovitch
in "In the Line of Fire," complete with icy
monotone speech and distant gaze.
This
was by no means the only noticeable element borrowed
from another film. Stylistically "Bait" strongly
parallels "Enemy of the State" in its pace,
shot selection, and in its often chaotic, music video
oriented use of imagery. The movie also borrows a scene
almost directly from "Speed" in which Bristol
has cuffed an agent, played by David Paymer (Amistad,
Quiz Show), to a chair and rigged the front door to
make the room explode when it opens. In another, "Truman
Show-like" moment, the chip in Alvin's jaw begins
transmitting his voice through a car radio. Writing
and directing material with hints of recent pop culture
influences is acceptable, but "Bait's" overly
conspicuous borrowing gives the film a weak identity
of its own.
Similarly,
Foxx's portrayal of Alvin is less acting and more a
demonstration of his own character. However, he brings
to his first leading action film a unique and genuinely
humorous perspective. His "random gibberish"
as described by Alvin's girlfriend, actress Nestor Serrano
(Lethal Weapon 2) has an innocent fibbing quality to
it that makes it universally comical. After being arrested
for prawn theft, an officer questions, "Your partner
was a midget on a skateboard?" Alvin responds "Yeah,
they've got this whole midget underworld. The crazy
thing is they're selling us out because they're selling
everything half price." Although Foxx has room
for growth in acting in dramatic contexts, his humorous
and genuine display of emotions grants him an undeniable
appeal.
Ultimately,
"Bait" struggles poorly to rise above mannered
dialogue and cliched depictions of new technology. Despite
Foxx's additions of unique comedy and humanity to the
film, "Bait" competes in a stylistic arena
that it has neither helped create nor innovated upon.
If you're only in the market for a few laughs, perhaps
this is worth seeing. But if you're looking for a film
that rises above the minutia of "techy" action
flicks, wait for this one on video.
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Warner Bros. No other uses are permitted without the
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