Bait (2000)

After leaving the theater that had just played Bait, I had but one question. Did I snore? No, really, I want to know. I'd hate to think that I disturbed the four other souls who ventured out to watch this movie that night. It would pain me to learn that I might have distracted them from a movie so engrossing that I opted instead for a nap.

For the record I was not overly tired. In fact I was in rather a foul mood that night, which usually means that I can't sleep until I've finished fuming. This movie put me to sleep simply because it was entirely too long for the story it had to tell. I'm not one of those critics that starts whining when a movie's running time extends past two hours. If there is enough story to hold my interest I'll sit and watch it happily all day long. This movie had about thirty minutes too much movie for the story.

It revolves around a computer genius (Doug Hutchinson) who manages to steal $42 million in gold from the government. Unfortunately for him his partner (Robert Pastorelli) drives off with the gold, leaving him behind. The driver gets nabbed by the cops and dies from a heart attack in jail. Before going though, he gave a clue to where he hid the gold to his cellmate Alvin (Jamie Foxx). Alvin is in jail because of a bungled attempt to steal prawns. Yes, you read that right.

Treasury agent Clenteen (David Morse) interrogates Alvin to find out what he was told to no avail. He then hatches a plot to have a tiny transmitter implanted in Alvin that will allow them to track him and hear everything around him. He is then released from jail to serve as bait for the mastermind behind the whole theft.

What immediately follows is easily the most interesting part of the movie. Clenteen and his agents sit around in an impossibly overstyled computer center and listen to Alvin's life unfold. The have to serve as his guardian angels, making moves to keep him out of trouble, slipping him cash without making him suspicious and generally worrying that he won't straighten his life out. They essentially get sucked into the whole reality show thing that has captivated television audiences lately. Probably the movie's best scene is one where Alvin and his estranged girlfriend enjoy some quality time beneath the sheets. Meanwhile, back in the computer center, our stone faced agents are suddenly struck with a severe case of discomfort at having to listen to this.

Far more of the movie should have been spent on this aspect of the movie. Instead we have way too much set up of characters that aren't exactly well rounded to begin with. Let's take a look at Alvin. He's a wisecracking small time crook. He plays dumb a lot. That's about it. Move on. Agent Clenteen? He's gruff but means well. Done. Next! Evil computer genius? He's a quiet brilliant evil genius always two steps ahead of the cops. Was that so hard? We now know everything we need to know about these guys so get to the good stuff. By the time things started happening any hope of restoring my interest was gone and I was busy discovering that the theater's seats were far more comfortable than I had initially given them credit for.

I've heard other critics gripe about the movie's ending but I can't really comment on it as I only caught it in fragments as I dozed off and on. Off course even half awake I was able to spot some action movie cliches in it.

I won't blame any of the actors for putting me to sleep. Foxx was quite funny but either didn't have much to work with or wasn't given enough freedom to expand on the role. Hutchinson is effectively creepy as the evil genius no matter how paper thin the character was. Morse did a solid job as well.

I really see the problem as being one of style over substance. Director Antoine Fuqua shows off an impressive array of camera tricks. But much like his previous movie, The Replacement Killers, the camera tricks and visuals are used instead of plot and character development. Killers was filled to the brim with shots of Chow Yun-Fat spinning around in slow motion. Bait was filled to the brim with just about everything, cameras included, spinning around in fanciful manner. This stuff looks cool but does nothing to advance the plot. Fuqua is clearly very talented in the technical aspects of directing but now needs to learn how to advance a story.

This movie isn't awful by a long stretch. It's simply not very interesting.

- John Shea