Bad Boys II


Bad Boys II is a 2003 American action comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. The sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys and the second film in the Bad Boys film series, the film follows detectives Burnett and Lowrey investigating the flow of illegal drugs going into Miami.
Bad Boys II was released on July 18, 2003. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences, performances, and sense of fun, but criticized extreme violence, and its plot, the film was a moderate commercial success having grossed $273 million worldwide. A third film, Bad Boys for Life, was released in January 2020.

Plot

Eight years after the events of the first film, Miami Police Department narcotics division detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey are investigating a flow of ecstasy into the city, leading them to a KKK meeting and drug drop. In the firefight, several KKK members are either killed or injured and Marcus is accidentally shot in the bottom by Mike. The other cops soon arrive and capture the surviving Klan members, who are revealed not to be the distributors but only small-time buyers of the drugs.
Marcus questions if he wants to remain partners with Mike. Meanwhile, Mike is concealing a relationship with Marcus' sister, Syd. Syd, not known to both Mike and Marcus, is an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, laundering money for a Russian gangster group, who distribute ecstasy on behalf of Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia.
While transporting this money between the Russians and Tapia, Syd is attacked by Haitian ZoePounders planning to steal the money. Mike and Marcus inadvertently stumble into the action, resulting in a gunfight and car chase, devastating the local area and enraging Police Captain Conrad Howard. Marcus and Mike discover Syd's involvement, and Capt. Howard demands they find the supplier of ecstasy.
Both Marcus and Mike confront the Haitian gang, plus find out from their leader after interrogating him thoroughly that a local mortuary is possibly being used by Tapia as a front for more money laundering. The pair then go to penetrate Tapia's mansion disguised as pest exterminators, and discover that Tapia has gotten rid of some of his Russian distributors and has begun to court Syd, still undercover with the DEA, for distribution.
The detectives locate the boat used for drug smuggling after forcing a captured Klan member to reveal its location, observe a morgue van make a rendezvous with it, and give chase unsuccessfully. Mike and Marcus infiltrate Tapia's mortuary disguised as ambulance drivers, and learn that he is using dead bodies to smuggle drugs and money. When the pair are almost discovered, Marcus accidentally ingests some of the ecstasy and Mike orders the disguised officers outside the building to crash an ambulance into it, creating a diversion.
The mortuary and Tapia's mansion are raided, the drugs and money intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard. However, during the raid a vengeful Russian gangster, Alexei, goes to the mansion on his own, planning to get revenge for his friends that died. He soon meets the exact fate as the cops arrive and eliminate him by shooting him while Tapia discovers Syd, kidnaps her and takes her to Cuba.
With Syd hostage in Tapia's compound, he demands the return of his money in exchange for Syd. Mike and Marcus, with a team of volunteer SWAT members, CIA operatives, and DEA agents, assault Tapia's compound, rescuing Syd, and destroying the building.
The group flee, an infuriated Tapia in pursuit, which ends in a minefield outside of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where Tapia holds Mike at gunpoint, with guards at the naval station threatening them. Syd activates one of the mines with her pistol, killing Tapia's thug. Marcus defeats Tapia by shooting his forehead, causing him to fall backwards on a few of the landmines, obliterating his body. A grateful Mike thanks and congratulates Marcus for rescuing him before kissing Syd.
Later, while they lounge in the new pool back at the Burnett house, Marcus finally makes peace with Mike dating Syd. Marcus's peace is short-lived when Mike informs him that he and Syd can't be together because of Marcus and his attitude. While a playful argument ensues over transfer papers, the family dog destroys the above ground pool, washing both of them into the sea as Marcus and Mike re-affirm their partnership as they celebrate their victory by singing Bad Boys.

Cast

Critical response

The film received negative reviews for its excessive and graphic violence, long running time, misogynistic depiction of women, and bloated plot. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating 23% based on 183 reviews, and a weighted average of 4.08/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Two and a half hours of explosions and witless banter." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, same as the first film.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one out of a possible four stars, especially offended by one scene involving a teenage boy and the use of the word nigga, saying, "The needless cruelty of this scene took me out of the movie and into the minds of its makers. What were they thinking? Have they so lost touch with human nature that they think audiences will like this scene?" On an episode of At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, film critic Richard Roeper named Bad Boys II the worst film of 2003.
James Berardinelli of ReelViews was even more negative about the film, rating it half a star out of four and stating: "Bad Boys II isn't just bad - it's a catastrophic violation of every aspect of cinema that I as a film critic hold dear."
Among the more positive reviews was Seattle Post-Intelligencer critic Ellen A. Kim, who wrote that the film was "mindlessly fun... If you like this type of movie, that is." The film was also praised by a few critics and viewers for its deftly handled action sequences and visual effects.

Box office

The film was a financial success. It made $138 million North America and $135 million in other territories, totaling $273 million worldwide against a budget of $130 million — almost twice the gross of the original film.

Accolades

At the 2004 MTV Movie Awards, the film was nominated for "Best Action Sequence" for the inter-coastal freeway pursuit and "Best On-Screen Team", but lost to ' and 50 First Dates, respectively.
Bad Boys II was nominated at the 2nd Annual Visual Effects Society Awards for "Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture".
At the 2003 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film won the award for Worst Sequel. It was also nominated for Most Intrusive Musical Score but lost to '.

In other media

Soundtrack

Video game

A video game version of the film, known as in North America, was released in 2004 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Windows. Originally planned for release in late 2003, the game was pushed back several months. The game failed to deliver any sort of sales or critical acclaim due to poor development; it was given low ratings from many game websites.

Sequel

In June 2008, Bay stated that he may direct Bad Boys III, but that the greatest obstacle to the potential sequel would be the cost, as he and Will Smith demand some of the highest salaries in the film industry. By August 2009, Columbia Pictures had hired Peter Craig to write the script for Bad Boys III. In February 2011, Martin Lawrence reiterated that the film was in development. In June 2014, Bruckheimer announced that screenwriter David Guggenheim was working on the storyline for the sequel. Two months later, Lawrence said a script had been written and parts had been cast. By June 2015, director Joe Carnahan was in early talks to write and possibly direct the film. Two months later, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that Bad Boys III would be released on February 17, 2017, and that additional sequel, Bad Boys IV, is scheduled for release on July 3, 2019. On March 5, 2016, the film was pushed to June 2, 2017. Producers planned to begin production in early 2017. On August 11, 2016, the film was pushed back once again to January 12, 2018, to avoid box office competition with the upcoming DC Comics film Wonder Woman, and retitled Bad Boys for Life. Lawrence revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that filming may start in March 2017. On February 6, 2017, it was announced that the film's release date has been delayed for the third time, to November 9, 2018. On March 7, 2017, Carnahan left the movie due to scheduling conflicts. In August 2017, Sony removed the third film from their release schedule and later in the month Lawrence said the film would not be happening.
In February 2018, it was reported that a sequel film was again being planned and will be directed by Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith reprising their roles. Joe Pantoliano is also set to reprise his role as Captain Howard.
Filming began in January 2019.

Television series

In October 2017, a spinoff television series centered on Gabrielle Union's character, was announced to be in development by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier. Later that month NBC ordered the pilot episode of the series.
By March 2018, Jessica Alba was cast as the co-star with Gabrielle Union. In addition to Union, John Salley will also reprise his role as Fletcher, a computer hacker who helps Mike and Marcus in the film series. The following month, the title of the series was revealed as LA's Finest, with Jerry Bruckheimer serving as executive producer for the series. Later that month, NBC passed on the pilot, and the show was shopped around to other networks. NBC's boss, Bob Greenblatt, said: “These are all tough calls. We did have an embarrassment of riches. And when we laid out the schedule and the calendar all season...it was a show that didn’t fit in the grand scheme of it.”
That same month, it was revealed that Sony Pictures Television, was negotiating with Charter Communications about picking up the series. By June 2018, Canada's Bell Media picked it up for 13 episodes. Charter gave its series order on June 26, intent on making it Spectrum's first original series.

Home media

Bad Boys II was released on VHS and DVD on December 9, 2003. A Blu-ray release followed on November 10, 2015. Bad Boys II was included in a two film collection that includes the first film which was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 4, 2018.