In Bad Boys II, it has been eight years since detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey got to the bottom of a $100 million drug theft (as seen in Bad Boys). Having moved up the police ranks the pair are now working on a new investigation involving drug trafficking in Miami.
The investigation leads Marcus and Mike to a Ku Klux Klan meeting, which results in a shoot-out. During the shoot-out Mike accidentally hits Marcus in the ass, injuring and angering him accordingly.
As Marcus recovers from the gunshot, he starts to re-evaluate his partnership with Mike. Meanwhile, Mike is dating Marcus’ sister, Syd, but is keeping it a secret from his best friend.
Unbeknown to both of them, Syd is also keeping a secret. She is working under cover as a money launderer and is caught up with the Russian Mafia.
As tensions mount between Marcus and Mike, things also get tricky for Syd. But can the trio overcome their tribulations to deal with the job in hand?
Directed by Michael Bay, Bad Boys II is an action comedy which stars Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Joe Pantoliano, Gabrielle Union, and Peter Stormare. The movie is the second entry in the Bad Boys movie series, and is bigger and ballsier than its predecessor.
But is bigger and ballsier better? Sadly not, and not only is Bad Boys II nowhere near as enjoyable as 1995’s Bad Boys, it’s also quite irritating.
The film is too loud, too long, and too lost up its own arse for its own good and is frankly annoying. It fails to recapture the magic of the first movie, and in an attempt to be more explosive than what came before, it quickly descends into a series of tedious and often incomprehensible stunt sequences.
The highlight of Bad Boys was the chemistry between Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, and while some of this is still present in Bad Boys II, too many of their interactions get lost in a cacophony of chaos. The film can’t seem to go five minutes without throwing something at the screen, and as a result it takes its eye off the key selling point of Bad Boys, i.e. Lawrence and Smith.
The first film wasn’t a hit with fans because of endless explosions, it found its audience because it gave its lead actors the freedom to work their magic and bounce off of each other. Sadly Bad Boys II doesn’t grant Lawrence and Smith the same freedom and instead tethers them to an overabundance of unnecessary spectacle.
It’s pure and utter ‘Bayhem’. Director Michael Bay may have held back first time around, but he certainly doesn’t for this sequel, and everything he puts on screen is a lot to take.
But is this the worst thing? Nope, that would be the script.
Although I didn’t think it possible, Bad Boys II has a weaker script than its predecessor and it shows. In fact, the script is so poor it includes a scene involving two shagging rats.
Yep, Bad Boys II features a scene where two rats have sex. I don’t know why, but it happens.
Presumably Michael Bay thinks rat sex is humorous, but for the record, it’s not. It all feels juvenile, and very much like filler material in an already bloated picture.
And this is just one of the many problems the film has. If I was to list all of its issues I would be here all day, but to provide an overview, Bad Boys II is tonally all over the place, the gags are flat, the dialogue is trite, the action is excessive, and EVERYONE KEEPS SHOUTING!
While Lawrence and Smith are still great value, Bad Boys II is simply exhausting stuff. If the first half of the movie doesn’t knock you senseless and make you lose interest, the second half surely will, and at almost two-and-a-half-hours in length it sure feels relentless.
Like an out of control juggernaut, Bad Boys II starts off on the wrong path, creates a lot of senseless havoc as it judders along, and is ultimately a destructive force. In an attempt to do something more expansive, the film jettisons the goodwill established by the first movie and tramples all over the great chemistry between Lawrence and Smith.
In short: Bad Boys II is misjudged.
Should you wish to take a look (and I’m not sure why you would), Bad Boys II is currently available on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital.
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