It is a true given fact that most films of the day more and more forsake the boundaries of realism, in order to be able to show more, trash more, destroy more. Basically it is part of why some movies become triple-digit-expensive. Out of the time where the quality of movies was dictated by acting and directing performances, we ventured in a time where success of individual movies was sometimes even watered down by the over-exaggerated use of Lateral Cam and CGI or just the amount of objects that were destroyed on camera in the pursuit of even more imaginative and absurd action sequences.
Bad Boys II. In many ways, the film was a decent sequel to a successful movie, aside from the massive amounts of recurrent profanity throughout the 140 minutes of film. Martin Lawrence displays his ability to mold his face in any possible expression, a requisite that had paid him well in his films and his personal series, 'Martin'. Aside from playing a small man with a big mouth, he delivers the 'visual' comedy to the movie, whereas Will Smith, like in the first film, had the edge when it came to his lines. The dualism of these two black male characters still did not elude me, and the combination appeared to work still. Sometimes added upon by Joe Pantoliano and his extreme ability to gain the crowd's attention with his vocal talent and body language, it is an OK film, but it would be a lot better if it was slightly shorter.
There is however, still this film maker's urge to induce many visual factors to add to the atmosphere of the end-product, but in the process kills the realism. Blue XTC tablets with a female figure engrained on it? From Amsterdam? Another example is the Yellow Hummer crashing through an overly huge amount of cardboard homes, which makes me wonder how much the producers really knew about Cuba or if they were rather more interested in creating this situation in which more useless destruction could be displayed in full. Anyway, who in god's name would drive through Cuba in a Hummer, which is not even 'the' Hummer that some people know and like so well, but an ugly, badly performing surrogate?
Here and there, there was some not so mild racist humor lodged in between. What would be meant by the Haitians communicating with one another by the use of horns and drums, living in pink houses and overly equipped with blond dreads and a dialect, things that were probably put in to make them look and sound more stupid rather than giving them individuality. Also the scene in the TV store, though certainly one of the better ones, showed us the extent of stereotypic relations between the looks and the opinions of bystanders. Though most characters were very superficial (the two lead chars Lowrey and Burnett weren't deepened out at all), the bad guy, played by Jordi Mollà, grants us a few scenes of enjoyable acting and a constructive emotional base for his actions as a drugs kingpin.
Basically, Bad Boys II remains a worthy sequel and an all in all enjoyable movie. You do have to get past a few scenes of which the edges could easily be trimmed slightly. Cutting 10 minutes of its total length in arbitrary pieces of scenes would be a great improvement. In short, it has a little bit of everything; Humor in dialogue, though way inferior to The 51st State, nice visually improved car chases and some above average throughout performance.
6.5 / 10
Bad Boys II. In many ways, the film was a decent sequel to a successful movie, aside from the massive amounts of recurrent profanity throughout the 140 minutes of film. Martin Lawrence displays his ability to mold his face in any possible expression, a requisite that had paid him well in his films and his personal series, 'Martin'. Aside from playing a small man with a big mouth, he delivers the 'visual' comedy to the movie, whereas Will Smith, like in the first film, had the edge when it came to his lines. The dualism of these two black male characters still did not elude me, and the combination appeared to work still. Sometimes added upon by Joe Pantoliano and his extreme ability to gain the crowd's attention with his vocal talent and body language, it is an OK film, but it would be a lot better if it was slightly shorter.
There is however, still this film maker's urge to induce many visual factors to add to the atmosphere of the end-product, but in the process kills the realism. Blue XTC tablets with a female figure engrained on it? From Amsterdam? Another example is the Yellow Hummer crashing through an overly huge amount of cardboard homes, which makes me wonder how much the producers really knew about Cuba or if they were rather more interested in creating this situation in which more useless destruction could be displayed in full. Anyway, who in god's name would drive through Cuba in a Hummer, which is not even 'the' Hummer that some people know and like so well, but an ugly, badly performing surrogate?
Here and there, there was some not so mild racist humor lodged in between. What would be meant by the Haitians communicating with one another by the use of horns and drums, living in pink houses and overly equipped with blond dreads and a dialect, things that were probably put in to make them look and sound more stupid rather than giving them individuality. Also the scene in the TV store, though certainly one of the better ones, showed us the extent of stereotypic relations between the looks and the opinions of bystanders. Though most characters were very superficial (the two lead chars Lowrey and Burnett weren't deepened out at all), the bad guy, played by Jordi Mollà, grants us a few scenes of enjoyable acting and a constructive emotional base for his actions as a drugs kingpin.
Basically, Bad Boys II remains a worthy sequel and an all in all enjoyable movie. You do have to get past a few scenes of which the edges could easily be trimmed slightly. Cutting 10 minutes of its total length in arbitrary pieces of scenes would be a great improvement. In short, it has a little bit of everything; Humor in dialogue, though way inferior to The 51st State, nice visually improved car chases and some above average throughout performance.
6.5 / 10