THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Michael Bay became a household name of a filmmaker in the mid 90s with the success of Bad Boys. He got consistent at that point, only to fumble early in the 21st century with the Titanic rip off that is Pearl Harbor. Thankfully, he redeemed himself Bad Boys II.PLOT
The 2003 sequel follows Miami PD's narcotics detectives and lifelong friends Mike Lowrey & Marcus Burnett investigating a trafficking of the ecstasy drug "X". After a raid on a Klan meeting, they find out they're only buyers and only distributors. With Mike being reckless with his antics on the job, Marcus starts re-evaluating if they should be partners. His sister Sydney, who Mike is secretly dating, is doing undercover work for the DEA as a money launderer to a Russian mafia branch distributing with Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia. After laundering a large sum, she gets intercepted by gang members of the Zoe Pound. Mike & Marcus follow them thanks to a tip and are able to protect her while also helping her keep her cover, which resulted in significant collateral damage thanks to an extensive car chase/shootout. Both men get reprimanded by Captain Conrad Howard who is already further livid with the fact the DEA is running an investigation without consulting him. When Mike & Marcus later track down the Haitian gang, they tell them Tapia is using a local mortuary as a front. When they pose as exterminators in Johnny's residence, responding to a rat infestation, to gain more intel. They get made but are able to escape with their lives. Tapia also wants to pursue Syd romantically in order to convince her to launder all his money. When linking one of his boats to the Klan raid from before, the cop duo have klansman Floyd Poteet (Michael Shannon) take them and Syd to stakeout a transport set to occur at dawn. During the stakeout, Mike confesses to Marcus that he's been dating Syd, which understandably pisses off his partner because he doesn't think he is good enough for his sister. Before they could go any further, they track down a morgue van from the docks which only leads to another firefight. At the scene however after killing some of Tapia's goons, they discover that the bodies in the van were emptied. Tired of the recklessness, Marcus tells Mike he plans to no longer be his partner after this case. This leads to the protagonist duo to infiltrate the mortuary and from there, they discover the coffins and cadavers are what's been used to smuggle the drugs the whole time. When they reveal the evidence to the captain, he deems it efficient enough to authorize a raid in collaboration with the DEA and Coast Guard. The majority of Tapia's supply gets confiscated, resulting in him taking Syd hostage as soon as he discovers her intentions. He flees with her to Cuba where he demands all his money back in 48 hours. With the assist of DEA and TNT (Tactical Narcotics Team) agents alongside other contacts associated with the captain, Mike & Marcus go to Cuba intending to save the latter's sister. In Cuba, they sneak into Tapia's mansion through a tunnel network to get Syd back. Tapia pursues them, only for both parties to reach Guantanamo Bay. With the Navy personnel not recognizing the protagonists as US citizens, they prompt them to stop moving as they entered a live minefield. With Tapia holding Mike at gunpoint, Marcus uses this to an advantage to save him by shooting down the drug lord. When his body falls down into the field, his body obliterates. The film would end in a time jump taking place weeks later, showing the Barnett family and Mike have a family barbecue and Marcus decides to remain partners with Lowrey.
THOUGHTS
Since I had a blast with the first one, I knew for sure this would be just as good and this was indeed a runner-up. Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer nail it again in making entertaining mayhem of an action flick. The editing done for each shootout and chase were so sharp and so tight you would think you're in the front seat of it all. With that difference, it easily outdoes what we got the first time around. With Will Smith & Martin Lawrence returning as co-leads, you know it's gonna be a ball. The comedic timing between the two is at their best. Whether it was their misled convo at the video store or their improvised encounter with the teenager Reggie (Dennis Greene) who was going to date Marcus' daughter Megan, it was top tier comedy for me because their delivery line for line felt untouchable. The brotherhood between both protagonists is put to the test here because they have a bigger difference than ever. Marcus always prefers playing it safe as in avoid danger when it's an option, whereas Mike doesn't hesitate taking every risk that comes his way. With that being tiresome for the former, especially since he got shot on accident, it gave all needed motivation to separate. But as Mike continued to have his back no matter how irritated, he reminded him there are some risks worth taking which is truly the central theme of this movie. And that alone makes him stick around as his his partner for the remainder of the franchise. I wasn't sure if Mike were to get a love interest since he had no interest Julie like that in the first movie, nor did I expect him to date Mike's sister either. Gabrielle Union made a fine addition out of Syd because she comes off more fearless than her brother and that makes her so compatible with Lowrey whenever they're together. She was that comfortable in spilling the beans because she doesn't need his approval to live her life the way she wants, which is a perspective I respect. Although she didn't come back in the following sequels, at least she still kicked ass in her own television series LA's Finest. What doesn't change at all about this movie is Joe Pantoliano's return as Captain Howard. The older he gets, the more stressed out he gets and I don't blame him because it ain't like it gets easier in his line of work. What I did like about hm this time around is noticing he cares for his employees when tending to Marcus who accidentally got exposed to X. Without exaggeration, I feel like Johnny Tapia was an upgrade of a villain because Jordi Molla qas a brutal savage from start to finish since he's willing to cripple the competition to push them out, by intimidating Russian mobster Alexei (Peter Stormare) who would die trying to get even during the police raid. Noticing how pale his eyes looked, he was high as a motherfucker which only made his actions all the more unpredictable. When it came to taking Syd hostage, he knew he would get results but not the ones he wanted. So his downfall was the definition of epic because that landmine scene gave me chills. I had as much fun as I was expecting, but there were still a few moments I was scratching my head about to the point where I prefer the original. From the top, why would the supremacists have a burning cross rally on the same day they’re receiving payment from the Cubans? That is asking to get caught when they could’ve done these things on separate days. And ain’t it a little fucked up for Marcus’ wife Theresa (Theresa Handle) to tell his sister he can’t get it up? They may be close, but she don’t need to know that shit about her brother. And if we’re gonna get into continuity errors, they really overdo the time lapse for Marcus’ dog to go from in the pool to be out of it, fully chained and dried up. I know it’s a set up for the joke in which the pool gets destroyed, but this was a weird way compared to bringing it back in the end. Moving on, why is there only one lady packaging the drugs? If this drug is so popular, there should be more involved for the sake of organization because one person on the job is gonna hold up deadlines when you think about it. The second chase in which Syd is in on the action is thrilling, but I refuse to believe Marcus saw her so far away when she drove off. That weirded me out more than the fact he doesn’t keep shooting the bad guys’ tires after nailing it the first time around. He’d save Syd sooner if he did that. And he looks like a dumbass to not notice how close Syd and Mike are after the chase? He did walk out of frame, but it’s ridiculous to know he didn’t look back. Also, why does Captain Howard have a lamp on when it’s Sunny as hell in the afternoon? It’s not like he’s reading at night so that’s a waste of electricity right there. If you don’t think Mike wouldn’t do anything dumber than that, it’s telling Marcus to calm down on a stakeout after admitting you’re dating his sister? There’s no way he couldn’t know that was gonna happen when he spent half of the time avoiding to tell him. I also don’t get why would Marcus leave his yearbook out in the open. I know we need Mike to reminisce of their brotherhood to further show how close they are, but I would’ve bought into it more if it was Marcus looking through it himself. I don’t even think it made sense for the mortuary room to have no guards in that specific room. I mean if they don’t want people to tamper with their smuggling process, have someone at the door. Other than that, I can still enjoy this movie for what it is. In short Bad Boys II is a solid action flick that gets it right in raising the bar in character depth and intensity. If you enjoyed the first one dearly, I hope you dig this too.
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