Bad Boys II (2003)

 

The first 'Bad Boys' was a fun flick. Sure, it had a paper thin story, but the action was well done, the dynamics between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence were thé reason to watch this and somewhere it had Tea Léoni, whom I can appreciate.

This one is okay, but not as much fun, for a couple of reasons. It has some decent stuff too, though.

Smith and Lawrence are still narcotics police officers in Miami, but this time it has to do with XTC-smuggling by a Cuban gangster. Also, Martin Lawrence's character has a sister who is now involved in this smuggle (undercover). And that's basically it. 

How's that for a plot, ey? 

My main gripe with this one, is that it is way too long. At 2 hours 20 minutes, you could cut almost an hour and it would not suffer for it. I am dead serious.

The banter between Lawrence and Smith is still the main reason to watch this one, by far. They are genuinely funny and work well off each other. But everything else is pretty bland. 

Remember how the first one had a boring, almost non-present villain? This one has a villain who is in the picture a lot of the time, but he is so cookiecutter predictable that he is awful. Jordi Molla's overacting doesn't help the part either. The best sidecharacter is Peter Stormare as a Russian mobster, but he steals the show in whatever role he is in, just like Jean Reno. 

Also, this one has an overabundance of lame Michael Bay-jokes. Yes, get ready for butt- and poopjokes, gay jokes and more, only desperately unfunny. Bay tends to do that in sequels he directs and it is never - I repeat: NEVER - an improvement. The lowest point is the ratfuckery (literally). Trust me, you'll know it when you see it and your eyes will roll over backward so hard they will fall out of your ass. 

The point blank lasciviousness with which Bay lets his camera linger on ladies' undersides during the dance club scene was too much even for me, and I don't have problems with gratuitous shots of sexy ladies. But this made even me uncomfortable, just to point out that he went overboard. There are nice butt-shots or wankshots. This is the latter, by far. 

Have I mentioned this one is way too long? I feel I should say it at least twice.

Is it all bad? No. The way the smuggling is set up, is actually pretty clever and interestingly done. A shame they waste it on jokes and dead fake boobs. 

Again, if this sounds bizarre, watch the film and you'll get it. 

Like the previous one, the car chases are again top notch, as this is something Michael Bay knows how to do. There is also a pretty nifty 360-shot during a shootout that is still cool to this day. 

Also: Joe Pantoliano as the captain is a treasure, as he makes even the worst of his dialogue work. Such an underrated actor. 

All in all, I wouldn't say this is bad. It is one of those Michael Bay-films that is quintessentially Michael Bay. You get cool visuals and a nice style, mixed with decent action, but interspersed with pointless humour and overlong exposition and bullshit. Especially bullshit this time around. Fun with your brain in the "Off"-setting.