Reviewed by: Joe

Directed by: Michael Bay

Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer

Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jordi Molla, Gabrielle Union, & Peter Stormare

Crime/Gangster, Comedy, Action/Adventure and Thriller 2 hrs. 26 min. Narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) have been assigned to a high-tech task force investigating the flow of designer ecstasy into Miami. This leads them to a conspiracy involving a vicious Kingpin (Molla), whose ambitions have ignited a bloody turf war. Mike and Marcus' working relationship is threatened when Mike develops feelings for Marcus' sister Syd (Union), and unless they can separate the personal from the professional, the case and Syd's life are in danger.

The story revolves around the original Bad Boys as they attempt to take down another drug lord in the city of Miami. Only this time they appear to be bigger, badder, and, hopefully, wiser then in the first installment. A couple of things have changed since the original film. The friendship and partnership between Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett has suffered greatly, mostly to the drastic shoot-‘em up tactics of Mike who, in an effort to save the life of his partner, accidentally shoots a bullets that slices through his partner’s butt cheek.

Marcus can’t take this kind of pressure anymore and asks for a transfer with the acknowledgment of his partner. Marcus isn’t the only one with secrets as Mike has quietly been dating Marcus’ sister, Syd, for a couple of months. Eventually these secrets will have to come out but not until they have completed an important mission to save the city of Miami from rivaling drug dealers. A Cuban drug lord has grown tired of losing money and ground in the drug market, so he begins to set off a drug war within the city itself allowing him to reap in all the profits will rival gangs kill each other and innocent teens overdose on ecstasy.

The Bad Boys much put aside their differences even when their secrets come out because Syd soon becomes involved and her life is at stake. The story for Bad Boys II is pretty confusing and unless you really pay attention or are narcotic detectives, you will be lost within the first hour of the film. But sticking to a straight forward story does not apply in Bruckheimer films as they seem to focus more on the action sequences then realism. The problem with the film is that it seems to rely too much on that fact but comes off as being too overtop for many to accept fully. Bay and Bruckheimer seem to ask too much from the audience this time around then they did in the original which hurts the film greatly. Overall, Bad Boys II is just another good action popcorn flick but one that seems to ask way too much from its audience. Many of the action sequences in the film seem too over the top for anybody to really believe even within a Bruckheimer film. There seems to be too much of everything in this film. Too much foul language was used with the words sh*t and f**k and n***er being said almost every five minutes of the feature. Sure, many of them were used in a comical way but even so, it seemed to be too much. There also seemed to be an excess amount of sex and violence within the film including a pornographic scene involving a black woman in a car and far too many scenes where characters have their brains blown out.

Even the time length of the film is too much at a longer then usual two hours and forty minutes. But the comedy presented by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence was too funny to have the bad outweigh the good. They present a style to the film that make the tiresome experience worthwhile. Though the film can not be as highly recommended as Bruckheimer’s other film, Pirates of the Caribbean, it is worth checking out during a lazy afternoon.