So here we are, once again, with a Michael Bay movie. Michael Bay is the director of movies that have made lots and lotsa money, but critics absolutely hate. His movies include "Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," "The Rock," and in 1995, he directed "Bad Boys," the sequel for which you're reading the review of right now. I must confess, I like Michael Bay's movies. His films aren't Shakespeare, but they're fun to watch, and they appeal to that side of me that likes to watch action, explosions, and senseless violence. What one finds as entertainment is purely subjective. Same with art, art is relative. No one should quickly assume that what Michael Bay does isn't art. I'll be the first to admit that storytelling isn't his strength, but his images are beautiful, and only a true artist can create the kinds of images that Michael Bay creates. So I'm gonna say about "Bad Boys II" what I say about just about all of Michael Bay's movies. Yeah, it's a big, dumb action movie, but I liked it a lot.
When I saw the original "Bad Boys" a while back, I was in awe of how beautiful Miami looked. I've lived in this city all my life, and it certainly has its beautiful spots (as well as its not so beautiful spots), but Michael Bay made it look better than it's ever looked before. There are a lotta things about this city that I love, but most of that is due to the familiarity of living here all my life, Miami is home to me. Still, there are a lotta things that I hate about the city, not the least of which is the weather. UGH!!! The brutal heat is intolerable, and the sun can beat you into submission during the summer months. The humidity is even worse. Even at night, if you step outside for five minutes, you'll sweat your ass off just like if the sun was out. On the plus side, we have a lotta great restaurants, and the women are sexy beyond belief.
I've never been accused of being politically correct, but I gotta mention something. This year, "2 Fast 2 Furious" and "Bad Boys II" both did a good job of making Miami look great, but neither have done any favors for the Haitian community. "2 Fast 2 Furious," for whatever reason, gave Jamaican accents to the Haitian characters. Many Haitians have Creole accents, but not Jamaican accents. As for "Bad Boys II," if you were to watch that movie having never met a Haitian, you might think that they're all ruthless killers. At least they got the accent right.
But I digress.
I've read several reviews of "Bad Boys II," and all of them mention how violent the movie is. Maybe I've become desensitized, but the movie isn't as violent as I expected it to be. Yes, it does have violence, and the movie takes glee in it's use of blood and gore, but it's all cartoonish, and sometimes, it's even kinda funny. In his review, Roger Ebert seemed offended with the movie, not so much because of the violence, but because of how cruel and mean-spirited the movie is. I can't really argue with that, the movie IS cruel and mean-spirited, BUT IT'S JUST A MOVIE!!! I'm sure everyone involved in the making of the film were well aware of this, and they proceeded with gusto. They weren't going for "The Piano" or "The English Patient," they were going for a bloody, violent, balls to the wall action flick that assaults you like a bullet in the head. I respect Roger Ebert, and he's a major reason that I'm the film geek that I am, but I wish the guy would chill out.
Martin Lawrence and Will Smith really do have great chemistry, and I'm sure that a lot of their dialogue was ad-libbed. They're great together, and I can easily see them doing more "Bad Boys" movies. I can even see them working together in movies not related to "Bad Boys." It's fun seeing them interact. Joining them is Gabrielle Union (she was the head cheerleader of the opposing team in "Bring It On"), who plays Martin Lawrence's sister, and Will Smith's love interest. I like Gabrielle Union, and I think she's a good actress. There's something she brings to her characters that I like, a certain intelligence, a certain "don't mess with me, 'cause I'm smarter than you think I am" vibe that I totally dig. She's cool. Joe Pantoliano is back as "Captain Howard," and just like in the first film, it seems like he's gonna burst a blood vessel every time he talks to Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. He's a great actor, and it's always good to see him in a movie.
The writers for "Bad Boys II" couldn't have a tough job. Michael Bay writes his own action scenes, and the two leads ad-lib a lot of their dialogue. Still, some people were called upon to weave together some sorta plot for them to build off of. The story was written by by Ron Shelton (writer and director of sports movies like "White Men Can't Jump" and "Bull Durham," but recently, he's done work for cop movies like "Hollywood Homicide" and "Dark Blue") and Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley (together the Wibberleys wrote "The Sixth Day," and they helped write "I Spy" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"). Then the screenplay was written by Jerry Stahl (writes for the TV show "C.S.I.," but he's also written for "Twin Peaks," "ALF," and "Moonlighting") and Ron Shelton.
The director, as I mentioned, is Michael Bay, and as one would expect form a Michael Bay movie, the movie is astonishing to look at. Visually, it's awesome, no one is better than him with this kinda movie, and he'll do what it takes to get what he wants. In fact, there was some controversy while he was shooting down here because he shut down MacArthur Causeway for several days. MacArthur Causeway is a bridge that's the main route to go to South Beach from Miami, and he shut it down so he could shoot a chase scene there. Thousands of people had to go miles out of their way to get to and from Miami Beach. They were all pretty pissed off, but after seeing that chase scene in the movie, I say it was well worth it.
Obviously, "Bad Boys II" isn't high art, but no one walking into it is expecting that. The movie delivers everything it promises, and critics like Roger Ebert should realize that director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer did exactly what they intended to do, and the result will make their target audience very happy. In doing so, "Bad Boys II" will make a lotta money, and that's all that matters.
Scale of 1-10: 8