Empire's Bad Boys 2 Movie Review

Bad Boys 2

Plot
Wisecracking cops Mike and Marcus are assigned to stop a drug lord from flooding Miami with deadly ecstasy. Complications arise when Marcus’ sister Syd, an undercover DEA who also happens to be romancing Mike, gets caught in the crossfire.

Review
Whether the original Bad Boys merited a sequel is a moot point - with worldwide takings of over $180 million on a $23 million budget, it was inevitable.

However, a gap of eight years - an age in cinematic terms - means that the hardly indelible characters have fallen off the movie-going radar and need to make quite a noise to recapture an audience now more enamoured with CG, kung fu and fantasy than bullets and fireballs. While not wanting for bangs, as a film Bad Boys II makes more of a dull thud.

Smith and Lawrence are an agreeable comic pairing when given the right material and a reason for their incessant bickering - otherwise their sniping is irritating rather than hilarious.

The 'killer ecstasy' plot (which causes precisely one fatality and seems to do very nicely for Lawrence in one jarring comedy sequence) on which their antics are hung might have passed muster in the '80s, but seems a little 'so what?' now - like warning against the perils of CFCs.

The pair do have their moments (especially an amusing interrogation of Marcus' daughter's terrified date), but much of what's here is offensive (corpse tossing, anyone?) without being funny.

Smith in particular, though a master of the buddy comedy genre, could do with being pickier with his material, having starred in nothing consistently hilarious since the original Men In Black.

Even in the face of leaden material, Michael Bay still manages to pull some impressive directorial tricks out of the bag. The first car chase down a Miami highway beats the overloaded freeway free-for-all of The Matrix Reloaded hands down, and his use of the camera is occasionally dazzling. But for what?

Circling a shootout in one continuous tracking shot looks jaw-dropping, but when the villains have no apparent motive or relevance, you might as well watch it with the sound off.

By the time the film hits the two-hour mark, with a needless trip to Cuba and yet another car chase/shoot out, what was once invention has long since dulled into pointless repetition.

Verdict

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Your Reviews

Average user rating for Bad Boys 2

“What ya gonna do… this time?”
Whilst the first outing of the Bad Boys shocked me by how good it actually was, this one left me a little disappointed. I was hardly expecting an Oscar winning deal here, as this was always going to be a Michael Bay adrenalin rush, but for a film with a two and a half hour running time, the adrenalin came in too short a bursts. Bad Boys was Bay’s first film and was but a taster of his over the top film making, which first arrives in The Rock a year afterwards, but this made eight years lat... More


Posted by neopol at 11:18, 12 March 2012 \| Report This Post



Abysmal
Michael Bay + Martin Lawrence = shitfest. QED. ... More


Posted by Spacegoat at 10:29, 13 August 2010 \| Report This Post



2 stars? A bit harsh
When you go to see a film like this its not for a serious insight into life, its to be entertained. This film has some insane action scenes mixed with funny mioments, granted its not the greatest of movies, but, like transformers, it does what it was meant to do very well - entertain. ... More


Posted by mrb irl at 22:22, 10 September 2009 \| Report This Post



2 stars? A bit harsh
When you go to see a film like this its not for a serious insight into life, its to be entertained. This film has some insane action scenes mixed with funny mioments, granted its not the greatest of movies, but, like transformers, it does what it was meant to do very well - entertain. ... More


Posted by mrb irl at 22:21, 10 September 2009 \| Report This Post



Fairly Enjoyable
Much better than the first one, and I did enjoy it. Smith and Lawrence are great. ... More


Posted by blaud at 15:03, 23 April 2008 \| Report This Post



Fairly Enjoyable
Much better than the first one, and I did enjoy it. Smith and Lawrence are great. ... More


Posted by blaud at 15:03, 23 April 2008 \| Report This Post



Good action From the Bad Boys but the rest is cruel, harsh and ugly.
. ... More


Posted by David G at 14:42, 24 December 2007 \| Report This Post



Only to be enjoyed by the not so die-hard film buff
I thought I'd go back and re-edit this having revisited BB2 a few weeks back just to watch something mindless on the TV Regardless of the flack that Bay was getting over Transformers 2, I still think his work on The Rock was very good, and that film IMO remains one of the best action movies of the '90s. The slo-mo of Smith shooting the KKK guy in the neck at the beginning, and even later on when Smith is putting on a jacket, was simply the mentality of a lot of film and TV in the 2000s of... More


Posted by bedraggledfox at 15:31, 18 October 2007 \| Report This Post



How dare you!!??
Empire how harsh can you get? what's happened to your sense of humour? there were countless hilarious moments especially when joe pantoliano has his BF! the action scenes were great...what more do you want? You all need to chill and find you long gone sense of humour. ... More


Posted by mozzy_gal at 20:59, 07 September 2007 \| Report This Post



Best movie ever
what is wrong with you people, this movie is/was a 5 star CLASSIC, I loved it, Martin Lawence and Will Smith are so funny, and the action scenes were great too, 5 stars,-without a doubt ... More


Posted by Fade to Black 411 at 16:28, 27 July 2007 \| Report This Post



Harsh Review!
I love this film! And for your infomation Empire, it is not a killer ectasy plot as he died from an overdose! the plot was just about a large increase of ectasy! Duh! ... More


Posted by JokerJr at 18:07, 01 June 2007 \| Report This Post



RE:
L: Conan_2000 This is probably the funniest film I have ever watched and I've still not met anyone who has watched it and hasn't liked it. Whoever did the empire review should be sacked immediately! You obviously haven't met me, as i think it's utter shite! It could do to have been a 40 minutes shorter, having Martin Lawrence's paranoid, wittering chararcter killed within the opening 10 minutes and with out the stupid A-Team style trip to Cuba at the end of the movie. Even then... More


Posted by shifty_powers at 13:48, 22 February 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: Bad Boys 2
On viewing Bad Boys 2, one logical question springs to mind; why was it made? Was it an inevitability due to the massively successful and influential original? Was there an unfinished storyline to tie up? Was there a hot-shot scriptwriter looking to showcase some screenplay gold? Were there character arcs left incomplete? Unsurprisingly, it’s a no, no, no and no. Now you could argue that I’m looking too deeply into it, that this film is not designed to be taken that seriously and d... More


Posted by Biggus at 13:45, 22 February 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: Bad Boys 2
I paid 50p for it on video and I got my moneys worth. Just. It was mostly just a lot of smug noise (although i've forgotten most of it already and it was only a couple of months ago) with little charm. But throw enough talent and money at anything and some of it will stick, and that's what it felt like in it's better moments. It certainly gained a lot from my low expectations. Anyone see The Last Boy Scout the other night, that was much funnier. ... More

Posted by enemysprout at 17:04, 21 February 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: Bad Boys 2
It is easy to see why many people hate this film because if you were to sit and pick holes in a 2 hour Michael Bay film, you really wouldn't manage to see much of the film! I took this as it is, a 2 hour action packed man film and it didn't disappoint. It was pretty hard to ignore Martin Lawrence's extreme lack of ability though... other than that good enough for a Friday night! ... More

Posted by jimbojofre at 16:17, 21 February 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: Bad Boys 2
i like it personally,and any film that the Hot Fuzz boys refence cant be all bad. Sometimes its great to leave your brain in a bin for 2 hours and just have some fun ... More


Posted by filmburner30 at 15:45, 21 February 2007 \| Report This Post




just forget everything and let yourself be enterntained ... More


Posted by MaxiHogea at 01:19, 01 July 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
For me number 1 was bad. Number 2 was really really bad! ... More


Posted by ~Angel~ at 21:57, 06 May 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
Yeah, okay. It's not nearly as great as the first, but this is still a very fun saturday night dumb action flick. The bickering is hilarious, Joe Pantoliano is fantastic (woosa... woosa) and Peter Stormare is in it. Yay! ... More

Posted by AgentGoth at 09:29, 28 April 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
Amounts to two equally great films. the bigger budget for bad boys 2 may even have made it better as a sequel. ... More


Posted by p1r4te at 21:14, 27 April 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
I loved the original bad boys but hated this, Martin Lawrence has gone from fresh and funny ito repetative and annoying. This film felt like one long commercial, with Will smith acting as though the film was beneath him (I think he has a point). It also seemed to drag on 1/2 hour too long and I actually turned it off out of shear boredom before the end credits. ... More


Posted by jesseLujack at 14:42, 11 April 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
I watched this bad boy last night and it was as good as ever, but their bickering got on my nerves for the first time (so not really as good as ever really). It's got so many great action scenes I can't see how fans of the genre can't at least ] it. ... More

Posted by Castor Troy at 20:34, 10 April 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
bloody HIGHlarious although not quite as good as the first one (but heh the first bad boys is pretty hard to beat ... More


Posted by miss_phoenix at 17:34, 10 April 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: RE:
By no means as good as the first but still an enjoyable action flick. My only problem is that Gabrielle Union can be a bit irritating at first and definately does not have the same comic timing and delivery as Tea Leoni. ... More

Posted by Desperate Teenager at 14:37, 10 April 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Bad Boys 2
Its not a particularly amazing film but its enjoyable enough! Will Smith is funny in it and while him and Martin Lawrence's bickering does get a bit grating it can be quite funny. It surprisingly doesn't drag too badly considering its ridiculous running time, thanks to some very good action scenes. In fact, I'd say it was maybe a bit better than the 1st one! ... More

Posted by Super Hans at 12:41, 10 April 2006 \| Report This Post



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