Review: Bad Boys 2

I've never been the biggest fan of director Michael Bay's overblown, two-second-edit oeuvre. His films have always struck me as big, empty vacuums of creativity. The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor...all films that buckle under their own ham-handed, over-the-top Bigness. The original Bad Boys was less obnoxious, but still a victim of Bay's more is more aesthetic.

In many ways, Bad Boys 2 is the ultimate Michael Bay film. Lots of explosions and profane jokes and high-octane action set pieces. But with this second installment of the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence pairing, Bay seems to be having the most fun of his career. Despite a kind of "more of the same" dynamic to alot of the picture, Bad Boys 2 has more life, energy and charisma than anything else Bay has done.

Much of the success of this film can be laid at the feet of Smith and Lawrence. Will Smith is an actor of extraordinary presence. The camera loves him and the feeling seems to be mutual. Lawrence, in the less showy, more comical role, does probably the best work of his career here. He's fresh, spastic and very, very funny. The stars play off each other winningly enough, obviously a smart pairing. Smith's movie star gravitas combats Lawrence's down-to-earth buddy qualities.

Obviously, though, the real star of any Bay vehicle is the spectacle, and there's plenty of it here. I haven't seen so much random destruction, both of property and human life, in a very long time, at least in a major studio release. Bad Boys 2 earns its R rating, with plenty of blood and brains on camera.

The car chases are spectacular, but in one bravura sequence, an OK Corral-type shootout in a drug den, Bay's camera (with some obvious help from CG animators) swirls around the action like a drugged-up house fly. It's almost breathtaking to behold, the sheer audacity of Bay's dedication to extremes. Despite its Hollywood trappings, Bad Boys 2 remains perhaps the summer's most refreshing action picture. Though there's little more than spectacle present, sometimes the spectacle is all you need. On that note, Bay and Company deliver.

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