BAD BOYS II (*)
As I was beginning to admire BAD BOYS II for its unabashed ruthlessness, it also dawned on me why I was going to detest it so much. During the film’s first major action sequence, its rampaging verve was undeniable, but so was the ego of one of its protagonists. In a film that has so much death and destruction, it is disconcerting to find scarcely an ounce of concern in our heroes. Policemen at that.
In the melee that I speak of, detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) rocket down a Miami highway bridge, chasing an automobile-laden trailer truck whose cargo will be later used as weapons. The pursuit must occur on a very long bridge indeed, since Lowrey’s Ferrari zooms so fast that it looked like it was going to break the sound barrier. How the semi they are chasing paces just as fast during lunch hour, or how the bridge looks to be impossibly (and conveniently) long and spacious, seems highly implausible. But Michael Bay, who directed such explosion-fests such as ARMAGEDDON and THE ROCK, has never had plausibility as a strong point.
But no matter. As the car-chase carnage proceeds and ends, what is it that Lowrey has on his mind? Does he radio his fellow officers to block off the end of the bridge to end the chase? No. Does he radio them to avoid driving recklessly in order to preserve the lives of civilian motorists, as well as their own? No. Does he radio them to check on innocents who most likely might have been killed or injured during their road rage? No. His worry lies only on the damage that was inflicted on his car, and whether he would get to kiss his girlfriend Sydney (Gabrielle Union of BRING IT ON) whom the trailer-truck gangsters were chasing.
Before I get e-mails chastising me for missing the point of the film’s title, please remember dear readers that this picture’s predecessor also had Mike Lowrey as the lead character, but not his narcissistic tendencies. In the first BAD BOYS installment, he still had the fierce conviction of going after the baddies. He did dress well and drive the fancy car. But he was never as vain, self-destructive, mean-spirited, and egotistical as he painfully makes obvious here. Through Tea Leoni’s character, Will Smith was able to depict Mike Lowrey as a sensitive and smooth Casanova. His latest incarnation is a rough and hollow husk of his former self, taking every opportunity to show-off or upstage himself (and his partner). They could retitle this film "MEAN AND MEANER".
Though the film’s action is firing on all cylinders, its story has a stunning banality (Think LETHAL WEAPON meets SCARFACE). Consider the unoriginality: The tired “cops vs. Miami drug lord” concept; the cop-buddy formula; the token addition of a new love interest for the lead character; the standard addition of a new detective. Even the primary villain Hector “Johnny” Tapia (Jordi Molla) is a pale imitation of Al Pacino’s Tony Montana (white suit, bad accent and all). It probably would have been better if Peter Stormare, who plays a Russian mobster here, played the lead scoundrel, since he satisfies the adjective “sleazebag” as well as any actor in recent memory.
Though the first action spectacle was riveting, the latter ones hardly make any sense. There is a helicopter/speedboat chase that is reduced to a bunch of close-ups. A hummer driving through a villa unimpeded despite the amount of rubble and debris caused from explosions. And some of the toughest-looking policemen who would make UFC fighters wince in fright, convinced to go to an unauthorized suicide mission into Cuba, to sacrifice their careers and lives, all because our heroes have a heart-to-heart moment. All through these scenes, Mike and Marcus argue (loudly) to no end, even to the extent of almost blowing their cover every chance they get. How’d these guys graduate from a police academy, let alone become detectives?
There used to be a time when I thought Michael Bay was the next great action-adventure director. No doubt he has mastered a certain technique in his films. He likes to keep practically every shot in constant movement, some of them in shaky NYPD Blues jerks, some in a slow crawl, leaving the film with a kinetic feel all throughout. He also likes to shoot at his characters from the bottom facing up, making them seem larger than life, almost deified. His method makes him a brasher version of John Woo. But his storytelling ability is poor at best. His action scenes have a conviction that reminded me of TERMINATOR 2, at times menacingly cold and efficient. But like PEARL HARBOR, this movie doesn’t have an original bone in its body.
One thing that I marveled at and condemned concurrently was the film’s consistent and brazen depravity. It seemed as if Mr. Bay was making a conscious effort to entice our distaste and disapproval. He has a collage of offensive occurrences and shots, like a provoking finger in the face of the audience. There are shots of a camera moving underneath the skirts of bimbos in a drug-infested nightclub, corpses from a morgue van littering main thoroughfares and being run over, and high-powered army vehicles smashing through a shantytown like the meteors that smashed through New York in ARMAGEDDON. Sure it was a way for our heroes to evade the bad guys, but did they ever stop to think that people live there?
There are many things to dislike about the movie. But Martin Lawrence is not one of them. Despite his character’s constant arguments with Mike Lowrey, his uproarious reactions ground us against the film’s insane violence. I found most of his reactions to be completely sane. Whether he is screaming in terror during a chase, recoiling from giant rats, tripping from ingesting ecstasy, or becoming nauseous in probing corpses, he provides a very funny yet believable anchor that we latch onto in contrast to Will Smith’s machismo. He also has the movie’s best line upon seeing a sexual act.
But regardless of Mr. Lawrence’s beguiling humor, it doesn’t even come close to easing the vulgarity of BAD BOYS II. It has spite so profuse that it’s almost tangible. How unkind is it? I can sum it up in one scene. A 15-year-old teenager comes to pick up Marcus’ daughter of the same age for her first date. He is neatly dressed, humble and soft-spoken. And what reception does he get from Marcus and Mike? He is humiliated, taunted, and threatened with homosexual innuendos and gun brandishing in his face.
If you find this entertaining, I’m sorry I spoiled it for you.
Posted by FLIPCRITIC at August 8, 2003 12:00 AM