(rated PG-13, 111 mins.) Teaming Anthony Hopkins with Chris Rock is about as bizarre an image as imaging the words “Mr. Jim Carrey. Mr. Merchant and Mr. Ivory would like you back on set.” Unbelievable but true, comes the story of Gaylord Oakes (Hopkins) a veteran CIA agent who must transform sarcastic, street-wise punk Jake Hayes (Rock) into a James Bond-ish spy to replace his identical twin brother recently murdered in a botched scandal. This is almost impossible given Oakes has only eight days to whip Hayes into shape as the dead CIA Hayes. Similar in flavor to Nolte and Murphy in “48 Hours” the movie’s chemistry works namely because Hopkins displays his usual echelon of sophistication in dramatic skills while Rock is simply all over the place funny. It’s well written, well delivered and the surprise comes from the fact that Rock actually steals the entire film away from Hopkins who almost seems fine with letting him bounce off his superb acting. The problem comes from only the ending being a little too over the top but certainly entertaining. The other problem is an emotional one, the premise. While hard to understand – there are Russian Mafia, Afghani guys and Yugoslavian terrorists, it is quite clear what their mission is: Blow up all of Manhattan by planting a suitcase with a nuclear bomb inside Grand Central Station. One can only hope it won’t give any real life terrorists food for thought. Overall an unusual though recognizable Jerry Bruckheimer produced summer big-blow-em-up and it works.
