By Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
From left: Martin Lawrence, Gabrielle Union and Will Smith star in the movie 'Bad Boys II'. - PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BAD BOYS II is one of the 'popcorniest' summer popcorn movies in recent memory. It has the requisite humour, action, and explosions, and barely a 10-minute stretch goes by without either making a joke, something exploding or someone getting shot in the most overblown (read grossest) and bloodiest way possible.
But by the end of the second hour, you are so overwhelmed that your feet want to leave but your sadistic brain won't let you.
Fast forward eight years, and we find our heroes, Miami narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Bennett (Martin Lawrence) who have now become a part of a hi-tech task force assigned to stem the flood of designer ecstasy into Miami.
Lowrey is still a playboy, but Marcus is thinking about a transfer to avoid the 'shoot-outs' that seem to follow Mike like a shadow.
RUTHLESS
Ruthless drug lord Juan Carlos Tapia (Jordi Molla) is the point man behind the operation flooding South Florida with super-charged Ecstasy smuggled in coffins and cadavers. The souped-up X is so volatile that it leaves bodies thrashing on the floors of the rave nightclubs controlled by the Russian mobster Alexei (Peter Stormare).
You get strapped into the action from the get-go because in the first 30-odd minutes alone the boys manage to have a showboating slow-mo shoot-out with the Ku Klux Klan, during which Marcus gets shot in the derriere, an event that becomes a running gag throughout the entire movie.
Reprising his role in the sequel is Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano who played 'Ralphie' in The Sopranos), who like Marcus, is into anger management and group therapy, spoofing the current trend in the U.S. towards self-actualisation.
CHARACTERS
New characters include Marcus' sister Syd (Gabrielle Union), who is a New York-based DEA agent working on a big case in Miami her brother's backyard and oh, she's having a secret fling with his partner, Mike Lowrey. It is a buddy-cop movie cliché but somehow, it works.
Most of the screen time is dedicated to extended car chases, shooting sprees and random violence. But this is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, what else is new? Arguably the best chase scene is the one where Mike and Marcus pursue a couple of dreadlocked baddies who are making their getaway on a truck hauling cars.
The baddies try to shake off their pursuers by dumping the cars on the busy highway creating some spectacular thrills and gasp-inducing crashes. The camera shots are gorgeously crisp and stylish, with lots of those whirling 720 degree, low-angle slow-mo shots that were the signature look of the first Bad Boys.
REPEAT
They repeat the schtick later on in the movie when Marcus and Mike pursue a hearse carrying a couple of cadavers which fall into their path during the pursuit. You might say the white cadaver thing is milked way beyond the boundaries of poor taste but I loved it. There is a head-severing scene that will make you go 'eeewwww!'.
Whenever the duo weren't killing people, or desecrating corpses, director Michael Bay takes a breather and just lets Smith and Lawrence play off of each other. The comedy scenarios are witty and super-funny, especially a double-entendre laced 'moment' the two share in a electronic store, and a Marcus-on-Ecstasy bit that you might find a bit over the top.
FUNNIEST
One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when they join forces to intimidate a 15-year-old boy who has come to pick up Burnett's daughter for a date. The ever-reliable Joe Pantoliano is also good for some choice comic moments as the boys' ever-frazzled captain.
The biggest drawback to the movie is that is well over two hours long, and at the end, you leave the theatre a little jaded, still trying to absorb all that you just experienced. There is a scene where Mike's headlights get shot out, and then another scene where the headlights are still intact, and then another when they're shot out again.
But still, Bad Boys II kicks major butt!
It opens nationwide today, go see it. You'll soon be singing: Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do...
