Buying my ticket to Bon Cop Bad Cop at the beginning of November I was sure that I was the last Canadian to see this film. Not getting there too early I thought I would have a wide selection of seats to choose from. After walking into the theatre I was surprised to see that it was practically sold out! There are not that many American films that can have a run this long, so it gave me a sense of pride that Canadians, particularly Quebecers are embracing this film.
The film’s premise is simple, make a Lethal Weapon type film but with an English cop and a French cop. The jokes write themselves and there was no shortage of them. English Canadians having an axe to grind with Quebecers had their fair share of insults towards Quebec and vice-versa.
The film’s opening was quite innovative. It was shot entirely in close-up with a hand held camera. There are no credits before this to give any indication that the film is starting. At first I thought it was a commercial or a preview to a horror film. It was dark, edgy and a little frightening. The “killer” was tattooing his victim before the kill, but the all close up style to avoid seeing the killers face was influenced from the horror genre. After two minutes of this I assumed I was watching the main feature.
The film had familiar themes and showed viewers that there aren’t just English or French problems. For example both cops were divorced and have some sort of communication problem with their child or spouse. The two main actors do a great job in the acting, however the villain is not believable when we finally see him. He should have kept his hockey mask on the whole time. He looks like a 17 year old kid. I find it hard to believe that either cop had a fair fight with him at the end when a child is beating the crap out of a trained police officer. The end was also quite predictable when the villain manages to kidnap the French cop’s daughter. It’s the basic recipe for a cop movie; for the final confrontation, kidnap a member of the cops family to get him to confront you in a final showdown. Also this recipe calls for the “by the rules cop” to break the rules at the end. In this film the English cop attaches a bomb to the villain; an act that we would expect from the French cop.
All in all it was a typical American inspired movie with Canadian themes. Worth watching and paying money for, but just once.
1 comment:
Well, you certainly weren't the last Canadian to see the movie...I only got around to watching it last night although I had been wanting to watch it for quite some time.
I enjoyed it as far as Canadian films go, the predictable nature of the plot was offset by the somewhat hilarious dynamics of the English and French cop. Quite funny, I enjoyed it!
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