Bad Company is basically the neo-noir version of Deep Cover, released three years earlier; both films star Laurence Fishburne (reminding us that his best work came before The Matrix) as an undercover agent who infiltrates a criminal organization on behalf of a federal agency , only to have the line between the two sides blur, if not downright disappear. The biggest difference between the two movies is that in Deep Cover the hero's inner conflict is what drives the plot, while Bad Company is all surface — which is exactly what a noir should be like. Former CIA agent Nelson Crowe (Fishburne) is hired by Vic Grimes (the ever-effective Frank Langella), who runs a company he calls "The Tool Shed." Grimes' firm employs people with intelligence backgrounds to sell their talents for extortion and corporate espionage to domestic and foreign corporations. Grimes's second-in-command, Margaret Wells (Ellen Barkin), begins working with Crowe and seduces him, luring him into a plot to assassinate Grimes so they can take over the company. During a secret meeting, it’s revealed that Crowe is a CIA mole, albeit against his will. Crowe was fired from the agency on suspicion of stealing a $50,000 bribe intended for an Iraqi colonel. Crowe's former boss, William 'Smitty' Smithfield (Michael Murphy), threatens him with jail for the missing bribe as leverage for Crowe to infiltrate the Tool She…

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