Plot: An unemployed spy goes to work for a clandestine security outfit and soon learns it’s survival of the fittest.
Disney didn’t know what to do with the twisty, erotic thriller Bad Company. The film had already missed several release dates in 1994 prior to its 95 release — due to the House of Mouse’s indifference to the material — but I’ve always had a soft spot for this underrated pic.
For starters, it’s got Laurence Fishburne in it and he’s aces in my opinion. He’s ultra suave and cool as an out of work spy with an axe to grind. Fishburne should’ve gone on to be a more substantial leading man. As it stands, he’s been very successful as an impeccable character actor, but still, he’s the man!!
Ellen Barkin steams up the screen as Fishburne’s morally dubious boss. She and Fishburne have a couple of insanely hot scenes together. And their chemistry sears the screen.
The always watchable Frank Langella plays the head of the spy agency the pair work for, and he’s suitably slick and slimy, but that doesn’t make him immune to deception.
The pic is well directed by Damian Harris (Deceived, Mercy), and like Fishburne, he should have gone onto bigger and better things. His pic is handsomely mounted and beautifully photographed and scored. Gone are the days when studios spent good money on marginal fare like this. It’s a shame.
Although BC isn’t an action movie per se, it’s got some nasty moments of violence and sex and the closing Mexican standoff/gunfight is well shot and executed. And bloody.
More of a moody, European style action/thriller than something Simpson and Bruckheimer would’ve pumped out on the 80’s, Bad Company is literate and sexy and tough. It’s also uncompromising. Although the folks at Disney were scared off by its content, I for one like it’s complexity and shade.
