Bad Boys II (2003) Review

"Bad boys for life."
-Det. Mike Lowrey




After being wounded during a raid, Det. Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) no longer wants to be partners with Det. Mike Lowrey (Will Smith), but doesn't know how to tell him.  Lowery has started dating Burnett's sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union) and doesn't know how to tell him.  Soon, all three of them wind up in an explosive case to bring down drug kingpin, Johnny Tapia (Jordi Mollá).


What Works:

The action sequences are all pretty solid and entertaining.  The best one happens fairly early in the movie where Syd is being chased by hitmen who are being chased by Mike and Marcus.  It's an exciting and crazy sequence that starts in vehicles, goes on foot, and back into vehicles.  It's wildly over-the-top, but, unlike many Michael Bay movies, I can tell what is going on and can feel the tension.  All of the rest of the action sequences are also well done, but that one is my favorite.

I love the cinematography in the standoff in Blondie's (Kiko Ellsworth) house.  It's a really cool shot that circles around Mike and Blondie as they have a shootout with a wall between them.  It's a well crafted sequence and pretty creative.

The dark humor is pretty excellent.  I love the sequence where the detectives are chasing a van full of corpses and they start falling off the back.  And Marcus' reaction to a stiff's head falling apart in the morgue is hilarious.

Finally, Smith and Lawrence definitely have chemistry, even if it does get old watching them constantly fighting.  The best element of their relationship this time around is the stuff involving Syd. I like watching Mike struggle to tell Marcus the truth.  It's an interesting dynamic.


What Sucks:

First off, this movie is way too long.  It's nearly 2 and 1/2 hours when it should be 1 and 3/4's at the most. There is a ton of stuff that could be cut out.  We didn't need to go to Cuba and we didn't need Peter Stormare.  We just needed a tighter script and better pacing.

There is a lot of humor in this movie that just doesn't work.  The racial jokes and gay jokes have not aged well and are rarely funny.  It gets too over-the-top with its humor and definitely feels like a Michael Bay film.  That isn't a compliment.

There is one scene in particular that rubbed me the wrong way.  Watching Marcus and Mike intimidate the boy who is coming to take Marcus' daughter on a date was pretty awful.  The stuff they say is super messed up and Mike holding a gun in his face isn't funny at all, but it's supposed to be.  I thought we were supposed to like these guys.  This scene made me want to see them get suspended from the force and seriously bummed me out on the rest of the film.


Verdict:

While the action sequences are solid, the corpse humor is great, and the addition of Syd is an interesting element, Bad Boys II is way too long, with some terrible humor, and poor writing.  While it's better than the original, it's not really worth your time.

 5/10: Meh 




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