Reading posts on IMDb's Film Noir board (RIP) I saw a post that mentioned a buddy cop/Crime flick which had broken Porky's 24 year reign as the most successful Canadian film at the Canadian box office. Searching round,I was sadly unable to find a DVD at a good price. Joining in on a Canadian viewing challenge on ICM,I went on another search,and found the bon cop and the bad cop on Netflix UK.
The plot:
Finding a body right in the middle of the Ontario-Quebec border, Ontario cop Martin Ward and Quebec cop David Bouchard fight over keeping the corpse being pushed to their side. During the fight,the body splits and lands on both sides,which forces Ward and Bouchard to team up. Forced to work round the language barrier,the cops learn that the corpse was a hockey executive. Searching the house of a suspect,they find another dead hockey executive,which leads to Bouchard and Ward suspecting that someone wants to cover the hockey pucks in blood.
View on the film:
Freely skipping between French and English exchanges,the screenplay by Leila Basen/ Alex Epstein/ Patrick Huard and playfully uses the lost in translation dialogue to build Ward's and Bouchard's odd couple relationship, with their initial, spike-driven exchanges being hammered down by the realisation that they can both score the winning goal on the case. As Bouchard and Ward break the ice,the writers keep the case spinning with a wonderfully odd murder/mystery Thriller,with the "buddy cop" set-up allowing the writers to give the murderous thrills a black comedy streak,as Bouchard and Ward burn their hands when witnesses go up in flames,and the motive for the killing taking a sly, satirical shot at foreign ownership in sports.
Standing in the middle of the culture clash line between Bouchard and Ward,director Erik Canuel & cinematographer Bruce Chun give the mismatched pair a stylish,glossy Thriller appearance,with slick camera moves for the tense action scenes and neon red for the murders, being well balanced by a lingering which allows for the punchlines to hit. Bouncing off each other, Colm Feore and Patrick Huard both give excellent performances as Ward and Bouchard,thanks to Feore making Ward a calculating, thoughtful force of calm, against the explosive pack of bon bons that Huard wonderfully delivers for Bouchard,which the bad cop and the bon cop soon get a taste for.
The plot:
Finding a body right in the middle of the Ontario-Quebec border, Ontario cop Martin Ward and Quebec cop David Bouchard fight over keeping the corpse being pushed to their side. During the fight,the body splits and lands on both sides,which forces Ward and Bouchard to team up. Forced to work round the language barrier,the cops learn that the corpse was a hockey executive. Searching the house of a suspect,they find another dead hockey executive,which leads to Bouchard and Ward suspecting that someone wants to cover the hockey pucks in blood.
View on the film:
Freely skipping between French and English exchanges,the screenplay by Leila Basen/ Alex Epstein/ Patrick Huard and playfully uses the lost in translation dialogue to build Ward's and Bouchard's odd couple relationship, with their initial, spike-driven exchanges being hammered down by the realisation that they can both score the winning goal on the case. As Bouchard and Ward break the ice,the writers keep the case spinning with a wonderfully odd murder/mystery Thriller,with the "buddy cop" set-up allowing the writers to give the murderous thrills a black comedy streak,as Bouchard and Ward burn their hands when witnesses go up in flames,and the motive for the killing taking a sly, satirical shot at foreign ownership in sports.
Standing in the middle of the culture clash line between Bouchard and Ward,director Erik Canuel & cinematographer Bruce Chun give the mismatched pair a stylish,glossy Thriller appearance,with slick camera moves for the tense action scenes and neon red for the murders, being well balanced by a lingering which allows for the punchlines to hit. Bouncing off each other, Colm Feore and Patrick Huard both give excellent performances as Ward and Bouchard,thanks to Feore making Ward a calculating, thoughtful force of calm, against the explosive pack of bon bons that Huard wonderfully delivers for Bouchard,which the bad cop and the bon cop soon get a taste for.