In the movie industry, there's always been the joke about whether screenwriters - in regards to mindless action films they sometimes pen - were paid by the word. Conversely, such movies nowadays necessitate a certain speedy dexterity from editors to cull through the miles of footage and assemble an action flick.
Accordingly, one can only hope that editors Mark Goldblatt ("Bad Company," "Pearl Harbor"), Thomas A. Muldoon ("Gone in Sixty Seconds") and Roger Barton ("Ghost Ship," "Pearl Harbor") were paid more than screenwriters Ron Shelton ("Hollywood Homicide," "Tin Cup") and Jerry Stahl (various TV shows). After all, they obviously put more effort into their work than the scribes who've penned "Bad Boys II."
That shouldn't really comes as a surprise, however, when one considers the original 1995 film or that the maestros of mayhem - director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer - are behind this big, overblown and excessively noisy sequel.
One need only look at the results of their last pairings to realize what's in store here. Whether it was the first film and "The Rock" or the more recent "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor," the duo usually forsake quality filmmaking (in terms of character, dialogue or plot) in favor of cinematic bedlam (shooting, fighting, blowing things up) and reckless testosterone laced and based abandon.
To be honest, I've occasionally enjoyed the pedal to the metal action they've offered, and this film certainly delivers such material in spades and then some. In fact, at one point during the proceedings, co-star Martin Lawrence makes a comment about a record number of gun battles occurring in one week. Viewers are apt to wonder the same in terms of a movie as Bay and company shoot off enough rounds of ammo to make the likes of "Saving Private Ryan" seem like an exercise in bullet conservation.
That's not to say that it's as gory (although it does push the limits from time to time, albeit often in the name of comedy) or remotely realistic (the stars here somehow manage to avoid being turned into cinematic Swiss cheese).
No, this movie is about as brain dead as they come (and that condition gets worse as it progresses), except in regards to its obvious manipulative elements that should appease its less discerning target audience of action desirous young males.
They're not only likely to eat up the copious and nearly non-stop action (some of which, admittedly, is a figurative and literal blast to watch), but also the antagonism based chemistry and dialogue between returning stars Lawrence ("National Security," "Black Knight") and Will Smith ("Men in Black II," "Ali").
There really isn't anything new or notable in such regards - save for a sister romance subplot designed to crank up the antagonism - but the two go through the motions with little fuss and deliver exactly what's expected of them. Namely, that's Smith's no-nonsense and irritated cop character having to put up with Lawrence's clown and comic relief one.
Both know the roles well and, in spite of various problems surrounding them, do make a good team together. It's just too bad that the screenwriters subject them to stereotypical material, often stilted dialogue and unsuccessful "serious" moments.
I'm not sure if the scribes purposefully took that approach that includes the usual yelling captain character played by Joe Pantoliano ("Daredevil," "Memento") and the stereotypical secondary cop characters who don't get along with the primary ones, but eventually decide to help. If not, they should have their WGA cards suspended. If it was purposeful, there isn't enough spoof in the approach to make it work (or set it apart from parodies that have already tackled the issue).
Despite an occasionally flamboyant performance by Jordi Mollà ("Blow," "Segunda Piel"), the lead villain is lame and disappointing in concept and execution, which also holds true for Peter Stormare ("The Tuxedo," "Minority Report") as a second-level bad guy.
Of course, neither has much of a chance to do anything with their parts since the underlying plot - consisting of the cops trying to stop an ecstasy drug operation - is just an excuse to set up one action or gun battle scene after another.
While some of the chase sequences are thrilling (including one involving a car carrier losing its load and giving new meaning to the term "road hazard"), the gun battle ones lack the pizzazz and finesse of those in the far superior "Heat."
They also don't leave the likes of Gabrielle Union ("Cradle 2 the Grave," "Deliver us From Eva") as the desired sister-cum-undercover agent or Theresa Randle ("Spawn," "Space Jam") as one of the cop's wives with much time to do much of anything with their parts.
If you could jettison the story and just keep the action, this possibly could have been a moderately entertaining montage of excessive Hollywood moviemaking. Yet, even all of those technically capable sequences, as well as the overlong 140 some minute runtime, makes this an exercise in loud and violent but ultimately pointless and tedious mayhem.
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