If you can’t stand the heat, get out of Miami. Detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey of the Miami Narcotics Task Force are tasked with stopping the flow of the drug Ecstasy into Miami. They track the drugs to the whacked-out Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia, who is also involved in a bloody war with Russian and Haitian mobsters. If that isn’t bad enough, there’s tension between the two detectives when Marcus discovers that playboy Mike is secretly romancing Marcus’ sister, Syd.
Written by Dean Zarbaugh II
The Bad Boys are back in town, and this time everything is dialed up to the max. Maximum thrills, maximum explosions, maximum car chase sequences. Bad Boys II puts the pedal to the metal and turns the city of Miami into its very own playground.
Michael Bay, Martin Lawrence, Will Smith and Joe Pantaliano all return for the next chapter in the Bad Boys series. This time they’re joined by Gabrielle Union playing Syd Burnett, sister to Martin Lawrence’s Marcus and secret girlfriend to Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey.
Bad Boys II picks up 8 years after the first film and finds our favorite detectives in a much different point in their lives. Marcus is looking to transfer to a new department after getting fed up with constantly being put in danger due to Mike’s reckless disregard for their safety, and Mike is shedding his ladies man persona, after discovering feelings for Marcus’s sister, Syd. The only problem is that they’re both keeping those things from each other. This underlying tension between them bubbles underneath the first two acts before coming to a head in act three.
Michael Bay ups the ante this time around, and turns in a worthy successor to one of the best action movies ever made. Bay puts the audience firmly in the driver’s seat this time around. It feels like we are right there in the middle of the action, watching cars and bullets fly past our heads. He brings back the 360 degree camera tracking shots, highly saturated colors, shots of helicopters flying towards the frame against a picture-perfect sunset, and enough lens flares to make J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek jealous. These are all things that are widely panned and countlessly parodied in many films, but, it’s that same unbridled commitment to over-the-top action and aesthetic that brings people back to theaters for more. He knows what people expect from him and he consistently delivers. The film is visually stunning, utilizing gorgeous colors and actors to maximum effect. While the film does reach new heights compared to its predecessor, it does so at the cost of the substance that made the first film so special. Bad Boys II is nowhere near as contained as the first film, which hurt its chances of eclipsing the first film. That’s not to say it’s not entertaining, it absolutely is, but in a way that makes me wonder what could have been if someone kept Bay a little more in check. This time around, Michael Bay teams up with cinematographer Amir M. Mokri who cut his teeth on films like Coyote Ugly. Bay uses Mokri to maximum effect, bringing out the rich color scheme of Miami in the summer. The colors pop on the screen and it’s one of the best looking action films ever lensed.
Much like the first film before it, Bad Boys II doesn’t take a single moment to breathe, jumping from one scene to the next. The fast pace fits the tone of the script, and sucks you into their world. The story has some incredulous moments like Mike non-chalantly digging through dead bodies to look for drugs or the entire final showdown in Cuba and the inclusion of Guantanamo Bay at the height of its news coverage over claims of abusing detainees in custody. I know these movies aren’t meant to be analyzed that deep, but the fact that Mike and Marcus weren’t shot dead the instant they drove into the base is hand waving at its finest. Somehow the guards in the tower fifty feet in the air just know these guys are American and therefore “good” and that Johnny Tapia is the bad guy they should shoot at. In reality they’d all be dead. It also suffers from being about 25-30 minutes longer than it needs to be, but for a movie that doesn’t require you to use your brain, an extra bit of explosions and chaos isn’t going to break the bank. The real disappointment story wise this time around was in how they uncharacteristically treat humans, both living and dead. When you look at the cavalcade of writers brought in to do rewrites or punch ups, it begins to become clear why. Way too many cooks in the kitchen produces mixed results.
While Bad Boys pushed the boundaries a little bit in regard to the work real life detectives do, Bad Boys II throws the boundaries out with the bath water, having ordinary police acting more like paramilitary soldiers. It’s an issue the tv show Hawaii Five-0 ran into a few times when Steve McGarrett and company would perform black ops missions in North Korea or South America. Way out of their jurisdiction. There’s no way Mike and Marcus and their team could pull off what they did in the last act without serious consequences. Are these ultimately small squabbles with the story? Yes. Does it make them detract from the story any less? No. I know what you’re thinking. It’s a blockbuster Michael Bay film, Dean. It was never going to be up to the Academy Award standard I get that but, I would merely prefer it to be consistent with the characters set up in the first film. What it does well though is fully embrace its identity and does so in style.
Martin Lawrence and Will Smith are at the top of their respective games yet again, delivering a couple of fun performances Miami police department detectives that we’ve come to know and love. Their chemistry drives the entire franchise and wouldn’t be the same with anyone else. Joe Pantaliano also returns as their foul mouthed Captain and is in rare comedic form, especially in the scene where Mike and Marcus visit the captain at home, and Marcus is rolling on ecstasy.
Gabrielle Union was a fantastic addition to the cast. She seamlessly slides right into the chaos and mayhem that is Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. She has terrific chemistry with both of them, and effortlessly conveys the rollercoaster of emotions Syd rides throughout the movie. She’s tough and strong, or scared and vulnerable when she needs to be as an undercover DEA agent and hits all the emotional beats with pinpoint accuracy. I loved the sequence where she’s involved in her first shootout. She’s blasting fools away with a shotgun while driving a car backwards down a parking garage, handling her business to stay alive. The next scene, she’s trembling and on the verge of a panic attack when it’s revealed that it’s the first time she’s fired her weapon. Union crushes all of it.
Jordi Mollà plays the crime lord Johnny Tapia, and he plays it as over-the-top as possible, wildly swinging from one emotion to the next, while hiding this lack of stoicism behind fancy suits that belie his unpredictability. Mollà makes you absolutely hate Johnny Tapia, which makes it all the more sweeter when you get to the end. He may be a cookie cutter villain, but Mollà brings a level of charm and ruthlessness to the role that makes him a blast to watch. He chews through the scenes he’s in with unmatched delight, making the role wholly his own.
One of my favorite actors that doesn’t get as much love as he should, Peter Stormare brings his usual level of magnetism to the role. He’s absolutely wild to watch in every one of his scenes. He’s one of the most fun actors to watch, crushing roles like Lucifer in Constantine and a misunderstood criminal in my favorite tv show, Psych. He can do anything he wants and crushes every role.
While I’ve slagged the story a bit, and my final grade is a C, don’t think I don’t enjoy rewatching it for the nostalgia and the full throttle thrills I want and expect from a Michael Bay film. It’s the perfect film when you want to turn your brain off and just watch things blow up and bad guys get 86’d.
FINAL MARKS: C
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