Review of Bad Boys II (2003) by Olaolu A — 26 May 2012

Not quite as awful as many have made it out to be over the years but it's still a pretty listless, lackluster affair and a definite step down from the original. Now far be it from me to start singing the praises of the earlier film, which wasn't exactly the stuff of cinematic dreams (unless those dreams simply involve a lot of shit getting blown sky high), but at least it had a little energy to it, the pacing was much tighter and there were some good laughs to be had. For me, the 1995 film just missed the label of "guilty pleasure." Unfortunately, the word "pleasure" can't be ascribed to the 2003 sequel; Now as I indicated at the beginning of this review, I wouldn't go so far as to call this an exercise in torture but neither would I say that I really enjoyed myself. One major problem with this installment in the series (and sadly, it looks as though Bad Boys III will be on our radars in the not-so-distant future) is that the proceedings have an unfortunate tendency to drag and the set-pieces lack juice (which, for any action-based film, is the kiss of death), but not for lack of trying on director Michael Bay's part - he certainly attempts to amp things up with all sorts of camera tricks and flashy editing, but all this grandstanding tends to compound rather than solve the problem.

As far as Bay's canon, I'd say this one is on a par with most of his stuff (if not perhaps a slight step lower) but not on the same plateau as the aforementioned original Bad Boys or its immediate follow-up The Rock (arguably the one truly good film on his resume). Basically, this film offers up more of the same including lots of explosions, chases, shootouts and so-called "humor" - only this time with even less zest and energy than on the first go-round (at least, this one has some sex and nudity, something that was noticeably missing from the original despite the presence of an attractive woman). It's clear that the filmmakers wished to outdo the original in terms of outrageousness and perhaps they succeeded but ultimately, it was to the detriment of the film. In this case, less would have definitely been more and with the running time clocking in at nearly 2 1/2 hours there is plenty of fat that could and should have been trimmed. The "comedy", such as it is, involves homophobia, sex jokes (including one gag involving rodents), defilement of cadavers, racial slurs and (of course) plenty of bitching back and forth between our two heroes. It's all very sophomoric and tasteless, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but unfortunately, the filmmakers just leave it at that and don't see any need for the finer aspects of comedy such as timing and wit. It's amazing the rate at which the jokes in this movie fall flat on their asses. That's not to say I didn't laugh at all but most of the successful humor probably wasn't intentional - in particular, there's a pretty lame attempt to incorporate some dramatic elements into the mix that turns out to be funnier than the film's legitimate stabs at mirth (shades of one of Bay's previous films, Pearl Harbor).

As with the first film, Will Smith is easily the best thing in the whole mess and his charisma probably shines through even more on this occasion with everything else crashing and burning (often literally) around him. I wouldn't call this great acting but, relatively speaking, it's the best that this film has to offer. As for the other lead, Martin Lawrence continues to be an albatross around everyone else's neck, dragging the movie down even further this time around. I don't know how this guy continues to get work in Hollywood. Other returning players include Joey Pants (as the title character's abrasive boss, Captain Howard) and Theresa Randle (as Lawrence's onscreen wifey). New to this installment are Gabrielle Union (as DEA agent who we come to find out has close and personal connections to the main characters, which is partially responsible for the film's so-called "drama"), Jordi Molla (as the main baddie) and Peter Stormare (as one of the main baddie's rivals in the drug trade). There is also a very welcome cameo from Henry Rollins near the beginning of the film; granted he doesn't do much more than act and sound authoritative but his presence is definitely a boon. I'm sure you get the point by now so I'll conclude with this thought: this movie definitely knew what it was doing when it included the first word of its title.