Bad Boys 2 (2003) Movie Information:

Bad Boys 2 (2003) Directed by: Michael Bay Bad Boys 2 (2003) Written by: Jerry Stahl, Cormac Wibberly, Marianne Wibberly, Ron Shelton, George Gallo Bad Boys 2 (2003) Cast: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Jordi Molla, Gabrielle Union, Peter Stormare, Theresa Randle, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Shannon, Jon Seda, Yul Vasquez

Bad Boys 2 (2003) U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures Bad Boys 2 (2003) U.K. Distributor: Sony Pictures

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Bad Boys 2 (2003) Synopsis:

Narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett have been assigned to a high-tech task force investigating the flow of designer ecstasy in Miami. Their inquiries inadvertently lead them to a major conspiracy involving a vicious kingpin, whose ambitions to take over the city's drug trade have ignited a bloody turf war. But Mike and Marcus' friendship and working relationship is threatened when Mike begins to develop feelings for Marcus' sister Syd. Unless they can separate the personal from the professional, Mike and Marcus are in danger of blowing the case and endangering Syd's life in the process.

Bad Boys 2 (2003) Movie Review:

When the largest shipment of ecstasy is about to hit US, Miami police officers Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) are on the case. But when their tip off turns into a major car chase and the destruction of numerous cars and property, the two detectives are left without any leads or connections as to who is behind the shipment. Enter DEA agent Syd (Union), who is working an undercover case against Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia (Molla) but Mike and Marcus have a little problem working with her as she is Marcus’s sister and unknown to Marcus, Mike new girlfriend.

After eight years Will Smith teams up again with Martin Lawrence, director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer for another stylistic, high octane but brainless action fest.

The original Bad Boys wasn’t a bad action flick. It launched the big screen careers of its two stars and director and also made a large amount of money, so a sequel was always in the offing. Why it took eight years to come we will never know but its here and it’s bigger than ever.

Big stunts, bigger chases, bigger explosions and most importantly bigger egos for all of those concerned with the picture. Now Smith and Lawrence are much bigger names, Michael Bay has had a string of hits (even Pearl Harbor made money) and Jerry Bruckheimer can get anything made, so the whole movie is more of an extravagance than an entertainment spectacle. For a start the movie is 147 mins long of which ten minutes of that is given to the story as a way of interweaving the cavalcade of shootouts and car chases, each out more exaggerated than the last.

The performances are also over the top. Will Smith is fine as Mike Lowrey, easing back into the overly confident character as easily as he would put on one of the detectives extremely expensive suits. Martin Lawrence is plays his usual annoying, complaining character that he has played in every movie he has been in since the original and is even given top billing over the much bigger and more talented star that is Will Smith. Joe Pantoliano returns as Captain Howard, a stereotypical commanding officer that shouts most of his dialogue and the extremely beautiful Gabrielle Union does her best with her limited screen time. The biggest disappoint is the Jordi Molla as the villain Johnny Tapia. While Molla isn’t a bad actor and gives his best, the role really needed to be filled by a big name actor but this would have distracted us from what is blatantly the Will and Martin show.

What the movie does well however, is the action. The car chases and shootouts are superb and make the movie more watchable than it should have been. The freeway chase is amazing and the finale is extremely action packed even though it was completely unnecessary.

Overly long with uninteresting characters and plot but enough action to make it enjoyable, Bad Boys II is a movie that will keep you entertained as long as you leave your brain at home.

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Bad Boys 2 (2003) review written by: Jamie Kelwick