After landing in jail for stealing prawns (larger than shrimp), Alvin Sanders (JAMIE FOXX) is ready to go straight. If he can just get out and patch things up with his girlfriend Lisa (KIMBERLY ELISE), maybe he can start over and finally lead a normal life.
His first night in the slammer, Alvin shares a cell with John Jaster (ROBERT PASTORELLI), who was captured after he and his partner, Bristol (DOUG HUTCHISON), pulled off a high-tech gold heist from the Federal Reserve. With a weak heart and not long to live, Jaster gives Alvin a coded message for his wife - a message U.S. Treasury investigator Clenteen (DAVID MORSE) believes will lead to the location of the stolen gold.
In an attempt to draw Bristol out of hiding, Clenteen quickly arranges Alvin's early release, implants a tracking device on him and tips Bristol off that Alvin is about to make a run for the gold. Oblivious that he has now become bait for the feds, Alvin attempts to salvage his relationship with Lisa. However, between Alvin's brother, Stevie (MIKE EPPS), the devious Clenteen and the mysterious and very dangerous Bristol, he has little hope of staying out of trouble and is soon far worse off than if he'd just stayed put in jail.
(10 votes)
2.
Antoine Fuqua's follow-up to 1998's THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS is a tense action-thriller with a healthy dose of comedy. Jamie Foxx stars as Alvin Sanders, a petty thief who ends up serving jail time after he is caught stealing prawns from a seafood warehouse. His cellmate, John Jaster (Robert Pastorelli), is one of two men who pulled off a miraculous heist at the Federal Gold Reserve in New York City. Just before Jaster dies of a heart attack, he gives Alvin vague instructions to share with his wife, which may or may not reveal the location of the stolen gold. U.S. Treasury Department chief investigator Edgar Clenteen (David Morse) is convinced that Alvin is the only link to Jaster’s invisible partner, Bristol (Doug Hutchison). In order to locate Bristol, Clenteen implants a state-of-the-art tracking device into Alvin's jaw and releases him from prison without telling him the real reason why. When Alvin reunites with his girlfriend, Lisa (Kimberly Elise), he finds that she now has a son to which he is the father. He soon learns the genuine cause for his release, thrusting him into a dangerous world of mystery and murder. In order to save his wife and child, Alvin must cooperate with the evil Bristol and help him locate the gold.
(8 votes)
3.
Alvin Dean Sanders doesn't get it. He doesn't know why his conviction for small-time theft is wiped from the record -- piff! -- just like that. Or why $11,500 in walking-around money is laid on him. Alvin doesn't know he's the bait in a snaky government scheme to capture a killer. But he's starting to grow suspicious.
Jamie Foxx (Any Given Sunday) plays Alvin, reeling in laughs and heroics in a high-tech action comedy, directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Replacement Killers) and also starring The Green Mile's David Morse and Doug Hutchison, Set It Off's Kimberly Elise and Jamie Kennedy (the Scream trilogy). The style is cutting-edge cool, the humor is crazy as a Foxx. Bait is a caper that -- hook, line and sinker -- just might grab you.
(8 votes)
4.
When petty thief and hustler Alvin Sanders (Jamie Foxx from Any Given Sunday and The Wood) gets arrested for stealing shrimp, the worst of his problems would seem to be going to jail. Unfortunately, he ends up sharing a cell with a guy who, while stealing $42 million in gold from the Federal Reserve, double-crossed his partner--a partner with a knack for computers and a long memory. While being interrogated by a hardball Treasury agent (David Morse from The Green Mile), the double-crosser dies from heart failure. All the feds have are an incomprehensible message that was left with Alvin, so they decide to release him and use him as bait to catch the partner by secretly implanting a combination tracking device and electronic bug into Alvin's jaw. From that moment on, a surveillance team can follow Alvin's every move and hear his every word. Unfortunately, Alvin has a talent for getting into trouble--which means that the feds have to become his guardian angels so that he can serve his purpose. Bait certainly has its problems (there's a lot of fancy editing for no good reason, a few plot holes you could drive a truck through, and the actor playing the bad guy really wishes he was John Malkovich)--but even though it's nonsense, it's not predictable. The clever story moves along with surprising efficiency and has some successful comic bits. The characters can't be called well developed, but they aren't clichés; the movie doesn't require any great acting, but the cast is consistently engaging. In fact, Bait is one of the more enjoyable action movies of the past few years. --Bret Fetzer
(7 votes)
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