Michael Bay is an offspring of the 90s action craze, which delivered about a dozen or so decent-to-incredible rated-R movies that pulled no punches whatsoever. Bay himself was responsible for two of them: The Rock and Bad Boys. However, starting in 1998 he became a softie with the weak Armageddon and even weaker Pearl Harbor. After those two softies, he treads back into familiar territory by crafting a sequel to the film that put his name on the map. Combining the same elements that made the original watchable (and rated-R within the first few seconds) and then expanding upon them infinitely, Bad Boys II was prepared to rock your socks into the stratosphere.
Bad Boys II does just that, deliver enough action to make you cheer, cringe, and cover your eyes even. There are head shots, butt shots, neck shots, shoulder shots, forehead shots and even eye shots. In this film we have at least 3 chases, at least 5 shootouts, and an on-screen death count that's among the highest you'll ever see in a measly buddy cop flick. Bad Boys had a slew of action within one city; the sequel's action spans different countries. Not bad for a couple of frustrated cops.
In the second installment, the relationship between Mike and Marcus (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence) begins deteriorating as partners and friends while at the same time there's a major drug operation busting loose between dealers in Miami and dealers overseas. The writers the second time around didn't touch the script of the original, which explains the different sort of cinematic flavor here. Bad Boys was rough around the edges and gritty, yet realistic. Bad Boys II cranks it up a couple of notches and turns it into an explosion-fest that uses more pyrotechnics than a war film. The script also allowed for plenty of improvisation between the comedian Lawrence and the always-reliable Smith, and the payoff isn't as strong since most of the time was spent bickering. Two movies in, the bickering gets old.
But you are not here for the character development (Don't worry, there is none). You are here to see fights, explosions, rage, carnage, and enough machoism to make the movie itself threaten you with a rusty utensil. Michael Bay absolutely loves blowing things up and making things crash until the set pieces become unrecognizable. Bad Boys II is an entire deck of cards in terms of action. Unfortunately, the better hands are dealt in the beginning, with the top action piece being the well-constructed chase in Miami involving plenty of cars. Bay's direction improves slightly over the two softies by delivering long shots of the action and some clever camera movement. Granted CGI is involved with the moving, but we won't complain as three cars launch themselves towards the screen.
What prevents Bad Boys II from being a totally grand throwback to the late 80s-early 90s action phenomenon is the immense amount of violence the movie actually contains. Surely movies like Commando, Die Hard, and The Rock had their share of deaths, but the deaths were delivered with at least an ounce of respect. In this case, dead bodies were used as jokes, and a lot of times. We see little to no respect for the fallen, and it becomes a guilt trip getting through some of these scenes and not feel a little disgusted. This movie isn't for the weak, and even the manliest of men might feel impure seeing just how destructive the chaos is.
Bottom Line: By the time the movie wraps up, there will be enough blowing up for the screen to increase in temperature. Bad Boys II is an admirable effort, but character chemistry and down-to-earth behavior is replaced with….explosions and….more explosions. Just like Transformers, the action is what keeps the movie afloat and bearable. There are indeed some amazing-looking scenes in Bad Boys II, but don't expect for the waters to run deeper than that.
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