Bad Boys II
Review by
Clint Morris
Exclusive
Interview with Joe Pantoliano
 About five minutes into Bad
Boys II, star Martin Lawrence remarks to his on-screen wife
that 'timing is everything'.
And he couldn't be more right, because if
there's one thing that smells funny about Michael Bay's costly sequel,
it's the timing.
It's, well... off.
The first Bad Boys,
released in 1995, made great bank. So good in fact, that talk of a
sequel was underway before the film had even been respooled and lifted
back into its canisters. So much for that plan hey?
Will Smith went on to do bigger and better
projects, Martin Lawrence decided he had a career as a comedy headliner
[someone ought to tell him that gut feeling was off beam...] and
director Michael Bay gave writers another chance to use the words
"Pearl Harbor" and 'Bomb' in the same sentence.
Suffice to say, it was only going to happen
when and if everyone's careers dried up.
Aside from Smith's - whose still doing
moderately well - seems that time has come some eight years later.
Cops Marcus and Mike, are back in the thick
of things. This time they're neck deep on the trail of a drug supplier
who moves his money into Cuba. Marcus's sister, a DEA agent from New
York, who has been seeing Mike on the side, is roped into it too - and
unluckily for the boys, she's going to be the one needing rescuing
having been caught out by the enemy.
Bad Boys II has a couple
of problems though.
Firstly, it's too darn long. Why on earth
Michael Bay thinks the average cinemagoer wants to watch 146 minutes of
endless explosions and action is beyond me. Ok, two or three cart flips
is good - but no one needs twelve of the beauties.
In fact, Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer
overdo things and then some.
It's one action sequence after another, and
while that's entertaining, the "less is more" catch-cry does come to
mind. Just one or two grand sequences might have been a lot better than
an endless array.
But the guy's obviously want to show you
just how much money they've got to play with - so I suppose we can grin
and bear it. After all, most of the scenes are so masterfully staged
you can't help but be impressed by at least a couple.
But as much as Bad Boys II
might smell of desperation and that 'good guys vs. bad guys' template
is getting a little tired 8 years on, audiences are pretty much
guaranteed instant recall smear - heck, they'll even forget Martin
Lawrence's career post the first film.
With enough pile-ups, chases, explosions and
gunfire, even within the film's first 15 minutes, preconception and
disparagement goes out the window.
It's not the original, it's not even one of
the best sequels of the year, but if anything Bad Boys II
is still a lot of fun. It's not often you get value for money - and you
definitely do here. Action, laughs, romance....it mixes a treat.
And, more importantly, Martin Lawrence and
Will Smith have such great chemistry. Lawrence, astonishingly, is the
most bearable he's been in years, giving a half decent performance.
Pity, he has to eat - or we might encourage him to just hang out for
more Bad Boys sequels.
With more groove than an incalculable LP, Bad
Boys II is a slick, fast, and enormously enjoyable movie -
action-fans won't have much of a problem with proceedings here.
3 out of 5
Bad Boys II
Australian release: Thursday September 18th
Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Gabrielle Union, Joe Pantoliano,
Theresa Randle, Jordi Molla, Peter Stormare.
Director: Michael Bay.
Website: Click here
Interview: Click here
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