Movie #50 - Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II
Columbia Pictures
2003 - Rated R - 2 hr 27 min
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Gabrielle Union, Joe Pantoliano

Eight years later, Michael Bay is still blowing sh*t up. And getting better at it, too. Mike and Marcus are still at each others' throats in a way that makes you forget their profession of love to one another at the end of the first movie. Especially since Mike is involved with Marcus's sister. Uh oh...

So we open on a shoot out with the KKK, which features Martin Lawrence "singing" the verse to the song Bad Boys. I remember this scene from the preview. And somehow, even though it's shot using Michael Bay's classic 360-degree circle approach, it's still funny.

Gabrielle Union is really just the eye candy here (sorry, Gabs) and sets up the plot by getting kidnapped. Save the girl, get the bad guy, uncover the money laundering. Standard stuff here, fellas. Still, it's done with such explosive panache from the director and such charming wit from its stars that you can't help but enjoy this one.

And, oh by the way, that's 50 MOVIES DOWN, ONLY 500+ TO GO!

Movie #49 - Bad Boys

Bad Boys
Columbia Pictures
1995 - Rated R - 1 hr 58 min
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Joe Pantoliano, Tea Leoni

In this movie, Michael Bay blows some sh*t up. Shocking, I know. Also, Tea Leoni tries her hand at action films. That actually is shocking, but not as disastrous as you might think.

Martin Lawrence and Will Smith are lots of fun to watch in this movie. The whole "who's Mike Lowrey" subplot probably goes on a bit too long, but the mix up makes the interactions between them all the more priceless. Many shoot outs ensue, Tea Leoni is apparently a "bullet magnet," and the Bad Boys win. But they probably overuse the slo-mo action sequence thing. Guess I can't blame them... that technique was pretty revolutionary in 1995, wasn't it?

Overall, this is a fun buddy cop movie that's a little more intense than your average Starsky & Hutch episode. Lots of fire and guns, lots of diving through the air, and a little bit of a body count, too. Good times.