Bait

Think of Antoine Fuqua's grandiloquent action thriller as a subpar redux of Enemy of the State -- it's just as thunderous, jittery, and ridiculously preposterous as its 1998 Jerry Bruckheimer-produced predecessor. Subbing for Will Smith's likable, imperiled hero under the microscope of big brother is Jamie Foxx. His Alvin Sanders is a petty criminal who gets busted for stealing prawns (yep, the big shrimp). While cooling his heels in the slammer, he learns where 40 million in gold bricks stolen from the New York City's Federal Reserve is hidden. David Morse fills the Gene Hackman role as a tough Treasury agent who in the end can't help feeling for his unwary pawn. He implants a homing device in Saunders's jaw, using him as "bait" to lure the homicidal perpetrator of the heist (Doug Hutchison doing a lame ripoff of John Malkovich's soft-spoken psycho in Con Air).

Fuqua demonstrated some flash with The Replacement Killers, but here he can't generate a thrill -- only the sweeping cityscape shots laid to a hip-hop techno beat scintillate. Foxx does all right with the action, but his forte, the comedy stuff, mostly falls flat. The most engaging element is Morse's control room full of FBI geeks. Be wise and don't take this bait. At the Harbour Mall, Hoyts Providence Place 16, Showcase, Starcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.
-- Tom Meek