Eight years. That is a long time to wait for a sequel. In fact I can’t believe how much has happened since just 1995. Martin Lawrence has gone from star of his own TV show through personal and legal problems and now back to being a star in Hollywood (not a big star). Will Smith really used the first Bad Boys to go from the Fresh Prince and Six Degrees of Separation and launch an action film career that just gets bigger and better (plus he married pretty damn well). That is to say that Smith is now the bigger star of the two by far.

As to what happens in the film, detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith last in MIB2) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence, National Security) are back busting drug dealers in Miami, only now the times have changed and they are trying to bust an international ecstasy ring. The gentleman at the top of this crime organization is the unscrupulous Cuban Johnny Tapia (Jordi Mollà, Blow), who will viciously kill anyone in his path. But before Mike and Marcus can bust Johnny they must first gather the evidence and figure out how Tapia’s people smuggle the drugs into the US. Plus those two have some personal issues to work out between them. Along for the ride is their old boss Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano, Daredevil) who implores the two to not do so much damage to Miami. Then for a bit of a twist director Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor) throws in the lovely Gabrielle Union (Cradle 2 the Grave) as Marcus’ sister Syd who works for the DEA, and whom Mike is seeing on a personal level, just to spice things up. Anyway, Mike and Marcus explode, crash, and argue their way through Miami to find what they need to go after Tapia, only Syd is after him too. So now you have a little sibling rivalry to go with the standard buddy cop mantra, and it all equals some pretty good laughs.

Others in the film are Theresa Randle, Jon Seda, Yul Vazquez, Jason Manuel Olazabal, Oleg Taktarov, Antoni Corone, Otto Sanchez, and Peter Stormare (The Tuxedo) as the Russian mobster Alexei. Ron Shelton and Jerry Stahl are responsible for the screenplay.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really remember too much from the first film other than it was funny and had a great scene at the end at the airport hanger. This one is funny, and has plenty of action and explosions, however with today’s action films as explosive as they are, Bad Boys II doesn’t really standout. Granted most of this stuff is real and most of the stuff in The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded is computer generated (which is why Bad Boys II looks more real), but still they don’t do much to differentiate themselves from the plethora of other action packed films out there. It really is the comedy that carries the film, and Smith and Lawrence have great chemistry together, almost like brothers. As to the final analysis, I give it seven couches out of ten.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:46:31 AM

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