Bon Cop Bad Cop Review

The body of a man connected to the Canadian Hockey League is found on the Quebec/Ontario border so two cops, Quebecer David Bouchard and Ontarian Martin Ward have to unwillingly team up to find a crazed serial killer out to murder people responsible for selling Canadian hockey teams to the US. The action brings them to opposite worlds, Quebec for Ward and Ontario for Bouchard who is the tough guy of the bunch and Ward the straight guy in a turtleneck.
It’s a pretty typical buddy cop movie in the sense that we have seen most of this stuff all before and know pretty much how it will go. But while the movie is one cliché after another it’s incredibly entertaining with actors Colm Feore and Patrick Huard who play wonderfully off each other and play each character’s prejudice against his partner up to eleven. The action is fast and furious, enhanced by great cinematography from Bruce Chun and Canuel keeps the story moving forward, stopping once in a while for a good breather and then plunge straight in to the next scene.
In a film made about a US cop and a French cop one would immediately think that the US cop would be the “lose canon” of the team and his French partner would be the one sticking to the book and behaving like a civilized person. In this film it’s the opposite, Bouchard is the reckless, hard hitting manifestation of all things macho while Ward, in his turtleneck, is shocked by his partner’s ruthlessness with suspects but who also has a few things up his sleeve as well.
Is this original? Not really but it does work for the film and the audience and if I can laugh and get excited over the action I really don’t give a shit what they do with a film like this. This movie isn’t trying to be original in any way. It’s trying to be entertaining while playing with people’s perception of each others state or province or what ever the hell it’s called. In the end the classic Rodney King words of wisdom “Can’t we all just get along?” prevail and the two personalities learn to live with and appreciate one another. Plus a shit load of stuff gets blown up.
I have seen very few Canadian films and even fewer French Canadian films if any. My Canadian film diet has consisted of Cronenberg, Maddin ,Strange Brew and that’s about it, well Ginger snaps also, let´s not forget about that little gem. I thought this movie was a fantastic buddy cop movie and did not seem tired as the genre is in the states. It reminded me of the first Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills cop, when it was fresh and out to prove itself. Eric Canuel has directed some genre stuff before, mostly for TV but he has a good eye for action and comedy and handles the actors well. So this is a surefire hit in terms of good times and I hope people will try to track this down. Amazon has a VERY expensive import for sale but I don’t think people are willing to throw down almost 50 bucks for this flick. So I suggest you go check out dvdboxoffice.com for a better deal.

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