Synopsis
Martin Lawrence and Will Smith are squabbling away, as partners in cop movies of this kinddo. Lawrence is trying to achieve inner peace, while Smith is trying to hide the fact that he issleeping with Lawrence’s sister. Said sister is also a DEA agent, and all our heroes are trying totrack down a Cuban drug lord who seems to have cornered the market on Ecstasy. Theinvestigation proceeds with as much colossal property damage as possible.
Are we seeing the death spiral of Mich…el Bay’s career? There does seem to be a fearfulsymmetry in his returning to the characters who starred in his slightly regarded action feature thatpreceded the splash he made with The Rock. At any rate, his film is a completely emptycollection of set-pieces. The movie is a grotesque 147 minutes long, but it should be no surprisethat it clocks in at such an excessive length when you can look at your watch and note that, 45minutes into the movie, there is still no more sense of a plot than there was at the beginning.Everything is glossily shot and edited to max effect, but it’s all meaningless. If we have no ideawhy the car chase is happening, and the characters don’t react as if they’re taking the chaseseriously, why should we care? The filmmakers are so much infantilizing their audience asanimalizing it: we are supposed to react with excitement to the action simply because it’s there,even if there is no discernible reason for any of this to be happening. Similarly, we should have aPavlovian response to the quips, because they are recognizable as quips (even if they aren’tfunny). And don’t get me started about the portrayal of women. What with a whole slew of adult,emotionally charged and intelligent thrillers returning to the theatres (The ManchurianCandidate, Collateral, The Bourne Supremacy), Bad Boys II feels likeas much a fossil as if it starred Steven Seagal.
Audio
Flashy vaccuum the flick might be, but its technical aspects are beyond reproach. The soundis huge, with great music blasting from all sides in a very powerful mix. The gunfights and carchases have as many sound effects coming from all speakers as you could possibly wish for; theeffect is very much one of You Are There. The placement of the effects is unfailing.
Video
The picture is almost heartbreaking in its beauty. The colours are extremely strong, and theimage sharp enough to slit your wrists (which the script might tempt you to do). The blacks aredeep, and the contrasts at night are among the most perfect I’ve yet seen. There is no grain oredge enhancement. Stunning work.
Special Features
Nothing but a whack of trailers here. The menu’s intro and main screen are animated andscored (in fact, the menu is one of the film’s trailers).
Closing Thoughts
Boom, flash, bang, all moving very, very fast, but I, for one, had very little idea what washappening, and couldn’t possibly have cared less. And I’m usually not too demanding when itcomes to kabooms. Great picture, though.
Special Features List
- Trailers
