Bait (2000)
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Landing in jail for a petty theft crime, Alvin finds himself sharing a cell with John Jaster, the incarcerated half of the pair of high-tech thieves responsible for the missing gold. His partner, Bristol, is still at large. Alvin wants only to get out of prison and start fresh with his girlfriend, Lisa, and when the Feds, led by U.S. Treasury investigator Clenteen, set him loose on a sketchy deal, he thinks his luck has changed. Alvin has his freedom and the Feds have found their bait.
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What critics compared Bait to
One good thing that can be said about Mark Wahlberg-starring, straight-to-streaming reincarnation derby “Infinite,” in which a special group of humans are fortunate/cursed enough to recall their past lives: It’s the first film from Antoine Fuqua since “Bait” to clock in under two hours.
It's not like you're wallowing in mean-spirited drivel, as in "Bait" (2000) or "Tomcats" (2001).
With grudging nods now and again to familiar elements of the Arthur myth--the sword is called Excalibur, there's a character named Merlin, the table is round--what emerges is a dour, fatally inconsequential story of brotherhood under fire, stock war-movie characterizations, and the sense that Fuqua isn't so much a social provocateur (as his Training Day and Bait might suggest) as just another mainstream shoehorn.
The only facts I can see about this Arthur narrative is that it's based on a single archaeological theory--mostly conjecture, supposition, and guess work--and the vivid imaginations of screenwriter David Franzoni ("Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Amistad," "Gladiator"), producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," "Pirates of the Caribbean"), and director Antoine Fuqua ("Bait," "Training Day," "Lightning in a Bottle").
Having just lost his job as a substitute teacher and his unsupportive wife Sharon (Lola Glaudini), Vince has been reduced to borrowing money from his blue collar dad (Kevin Conway, "Gods and Generals") when his buddy Tommy (Kirk Acevedo, "Bait") encourages him to attend the unprecedented open tryouts announced by the Eagles new coach, former UCLA man Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear, "Little Miss Sunshine") in Disney's newest sports flick, "Invincible."
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Even if the sparring relationship at its center is a wash, at least writer-director Rob Reiner and co-writer Andrew Scheinman (2000's " Bait ") somewhat accurately portray what it is like to be thirteen?an…
Cowriter (with Andrew Scheinman, "Bait")/director Rob Reiner began his career with such notable films as "The Princess Bride," "This Is Spinal Tap," "Stand By Me" and "The Sure Thing" but has been limping along lately with meager fare like "Alex & Emma," "Rumor Has It..." and "The Bucket List." "Flipped," adapted from the Wendelin Van Draanen novel, is a partial return to form.
Let’s review: Back in 2000, he made Bait, featuring Jamie Foxx as a hustler who outwits both the feds and the criminal underworld.
Tears Of The Sun, written by Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo, directed by Antoine Fuqua ( Bait , Training Day ), and starring Bruce Willis, is an action movie with surprisingly little action in the first two-thirds followed by lots of violence in the final reel.
Rather than victims of Vietnam, Iraq or Somalia, however, Fuqua ("Training Day," "Bait") and screenwriters Alex Lasker ("Beyond Rangoon," "Firefox") and Patrick Cirillo ("The Surgeon," "Homer & Eddie") have set their tale of bravery and sacrifice in the jungles of Nigeria.
With this film, it is hard to believe that the Training Day director is the same man who also made the lukewarm The Replacement Killers and the derivatively idiotic Bait .
His first two movies, The Replacement Killers and Bait, were almost too flashy and action-packed - while his last film, Training Day, contained showy visuals without sacrificing story and characters.
Training Day was the Denzel Washington show regardless of any shootouts, but compared to the choppy messes of King Arthur, Replacement Killers and Bait (and the dry boredom of Tears of the Sun), this thing flows and rocks.