Bad Boys 2
(Columbia/Tristar Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(2003)
review by Head Cheeze

With all of the monstrous success and rousing excess of his films, one would have though Michael Bay had more than five theatrical releases under his belt. It's neither quantity or quality that defines the man's ouevre, however; It's how much stuff he blows up. Bay's singlehandedly devastated much of the Earth in Armageddon, tore of the roof of Alcatraz in The Rock, and even got qausi-historical when he re-enacted the attack on Pearl Harbour. I guess the director longed for quieter times, so a visit back to where it all began was in order. 1995's Bad Boys saw Michael Bay begin his fruitfully collaborative career with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and helped to make bona fide superstars of it's leads, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Smith went on to become Mr. Fourth of July, with a string of annual smashes (Independence Day/Men in Black/ Enemy of the State) , while Lawrence went on to...well...Big Momma's House. Seeing as how both actors have seen a dip in their respective box office averages, it's no surprise that they, too, felt the time was right for the Bad Boys to return to the feel good/buddy flick formula that made them famous. Too bad Bay had much more nefarious plans!

Bay Boys is a bit light on plot (but makes up for it in sheer carnage and mayhem!) . Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) are in pursuit of a ruthless Cuban drug lord named Johnny Tapia (Molla) who is smuggling Ecstasy into Miami. Meanwhile, in a couple of subplots, Marcus is in therapy and pushing for a transfer to get awat from his trigger happy partner, while Mike is secretly romancing Marcus' young sister (Union). These branches of the razor thin plotline provide the chuckles against a backdrop of absolutely astonishing violence. It's a bit like Lawrence and Smith stumbled onto the set of a Herschell Gordon Lewis film, with bodies blown to bits, heads and limbs lopped off wholesale, and bodies writhing in something akin to an epileptic ballet of bullet riddled goodness. I was so floored by the level of commitment Bay had to spilling the red stuff that I often overlooked the fact that Lawrence and Smith acted as though they were oblivious to the gravity of their situation. A little gallows humour can go a long way, but, here, it's as if Mike and Marcus are in a competition to see who can make the most wisecracks at the expense of the dying. It would be a bad thing if the film as a whole wasn't such a gloriously depraved piece of hardcore action cinema. It's all so ludicrously over-the-top that it's impossible to fault the film's logic simply because it has no use for the stuff. You can't blow stuff up with logic. You need big guns, fast cars, huge bombs, and lots of bodies to absorb the impact. Logic has no place here, and I, for one, am fine with that.

What I'm not fine with, however, is the film's length. While it's all great fun for the first hour and a half, I found BB2's two hour and 12 minute running time a bit epic for a film of such little substance. I mean, even blowing shit up get's boring after awhile, and Bad Boys 2, as crazed and hilariously mean-spirited as it is, is no exception.

The DVD from Columbia Tri-Star is a two-disc set. Disc one features a widescreen anamorphic transfer of the film, while Disc two features a somewhat reserved assortment of supplemental materials, including several deleted scenes, featurettes, and a 19 part production diary, as well as a music video, and theatrical trailer.

Bad Boys 2 is an exciting and fantastically violent action/comedy that's so wildly inventive and gleefully malicious that it's almost as though Bay were channeling Peckinpah, albeit through a much more attractive lense. It's got the cast, look, and budget of a glossy 90's blockbuster, and the mischeivious spirit of a 70's bloodbath. Good stuff indeed.