Bad Boys II is far from perfect, but I also had a lot of fun watching it. It isn’t exactly Lethal Weapon, in fact far from it, but I would certainly enjoy a second go ’round.
With over $50 million more spent on the sequel than was on the original movie it is not hard to find where the money went. Bad Boys II is bigger and badder than the first film with three car chases, guns galore and even promiscuous rodents (a scene that really doesn’t work, but somehow I laughed).
Oh yeah, did I mention the bodies?
Yeah, you have live bodies, dead bodies, chopped and bleeding bodies, exploding bodies and the beautiful Gabrielle Union’s body. This movie takes the cop comedy that was revolutionized by the Lethal Weapon series and makes it a little more glossy, a little bigger, a little more ridiculous and altogether fun. Where Lethal Weapon is reality, I would say the Bad Boys franchise is an ultra-reality where pretty much anything can happen, which gives it a somewhat unique quality.
Bad Boys II takes us back to the streets of Miami reuniting narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) assigned to a high-tech task force investigating the flow of designer ecstasy into Miami. Their inquiries inadvertently lead them to a major conspiracy involving a vicious kingpin (Molla), whose ambitions to take over the city’s drug trade have ignited a bloody turf war.
With the stress of the case and the nature of Mike’s cop work Marcus considers changing partners and their relationship is threatened when Marcus learns that Mike has developed feelings for Marcus’ sister Syd (Union).
To make sure the audience doesn’t miss a punch line or an action sequence involving guns, rockets, cars and drugs the running time of this flick is over two and a half hours, and while it begins to wear on you it is for the most part worth it.
