I Spy
(2002)
|
Special agent Alex Scott and middleweight world champion Kelly Robinson are reluctantly paired for a dangerous mission to recover the Switchblade, the U.S.'s latest and most technologically sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft. The prototype spy plane has fallen into the hands of a nefarious arms dealer, Arnold Gundars, who plans to sell it to the highest bidder - a rogue terrorist with access to nuclear warheads. After the U.S. government fails to retrieve the plane through the normal undercover channels, the president asks Robinson to provide civilian cover for agent Scott to find the stealth aircraft before the terrorist transforms it into a delivery system for weapons of mass destruction. Scott needs Robinson to penetrate Gundars' palatial headquarters in Budapest. An avid boxing fan, Gundars is staging a championship bout between the undefeated Robinson (57-0) and the reigning European titleholder. The real contest takes place outside the ring, however, between the cocky Robinson and the put-upon Scott. After a series of near disasters, the two men finally bond in the depths of the Budapest sewer system. Robinson, the womanizer, coaches the shy, insecure Scott in the art of seduction so he can woo Rachel, the beautiful agent who is on assignment with them. In turn, Scott introduces Robinson to the dazzling world of espionage and high-tech spy gadgetry. |
This routine reworking of the 1960s Robert Culp/Bill Cosby TV espionage series has US secret agent Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) going undercover as the assistant to boxing champion Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy). Scott uses Robinson to get close to a billionaire industrialist (Malcolm McDowell), who is intent on selling an invisible plane to the highest bidder. The laid-back Wilson and the motormouthed Murphy have an engaging on-screen chemistry — the movie is at its best during their obviously improvised bouts of bickering — and there is some fun spy gadgetry on display. However, the likeable twosome are sold short by witless writing, predictable plotting and bog-standard action sequences that fail to spark this action comedy into any sort of life.