Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Bay
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay by	Ron Shelton Jerry Stahl
Story by	Ron Shelton Cormac Wibberley Marianne Wibberley
Based on	Characters by George Gallo
Starring	Martin Lawrence Will Smith Jordi Mollà Gabrielle Union Peter Stormare Theresa Randle Joe Pantoliano
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Amir Mokri
Edited by	Roger Barton Mark Goldblatt Thomas A. Muldoon
Production companies	Simpson/Bruckheimer
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	July 18, 2003 (2003-07-18)
Running time	147 minutes^[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$90 million^[2]
Box office	$273.3 million^[2]

Bad Boys II is a 2003 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. A sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys and the second installment in the Bad Boys series, the film follows detectives Burnett and Lowrey investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami. Despite receiving generally negative reviews, the film was a box office success, grossing $270 million worldwide.^[2]

Plot

Eight years after the events of the first film, Miami Police Department (MPD) narcotics division detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey are investigating the flow of ecstasy into the city, leading them to a Ku Klux Klan meeting and drug drop. The subsequent raid is botched, and in the firefight Mike accidentally shoots Marcus in the buttocks. The Klan members are not the distributors the MPD sought.

Marcus questions if he wants to remain partners with Mike. Meanwhile, Mike is concealing a relationship with Marcus' sister, Syd. Syd, unbeknownst to both Mike and Marcus, is an undercover operative with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), laundering money for Russian gangsters, who distribute ecstasy on behalf of Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia.

While transporting money between the Russians and Tapia, Syd is attacked by a Haitian gang trying to steal the money. Mike and Marcus inadvertently stumble into the action, and an intense firefight and car chase ensues, 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.

Marcus and Mike confront the Haitian gang, killing several, and learn from the leader that a local mortuary is possibly being used by Tapia as a front for money laundering. The pair penetrate Tapia's mansion disguised as pest exterminators, and discover that Tapia has eliminated 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 an arrested Klan member to 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 workers, 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, violently storms the mansion on his own, intending to avenge his murdered friends. Alexei is shot by the police, while Tapia discovers Syd, kidnapping her and taking her to Cuba.

With Syd held prisoner in Tapia's compound and guarded by the Cuban military, the drug lord demands the return of his money in exchange for Syd's life. Mike and Marcus, with a team of volunteers from S.W.A.T. and the DEA, assault Tapia's compound, rescuing Syd, and destroying the building.

The group flee, an infuriated Tapia in pursuit, which ends in a minefield outside U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where Tapia holds Mike at gunpoint, with guards at the naval station threatening them. Syd distracts Tapia by killing one of his men and Marcus shoots Tapia, whose body falls onto a mine and explodes.

Later, at the Burnett house, Marcus finally makes peace with Mike dating Syd, and the pair re-affirm their partnership.

Cast

Martin Lawrence as Detective Lieutenant Marcus Burnett
Will Smith as Detective Lieutenant Mike Lowrey
Jordi Mollà as Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia
Gabrielle Union as Special Agent Sydney "Syd" Burnett
Peter Stormare as Alexei
Theresa Randle as Theresa Burnett
Joe Pantoliano as Captain Conrad Howard
Otto Sanchez as Carlos
Jon Seda as Roberto
Oleg Taktarov as Josef Kuninskavich
Michael Shannon as Floyd Poteet
Jason Manuel Olazabal as Detective Marco Vargas
Yul Vazquez as Detective Mateo Reyes
Treva Etienne as "Icepick"
Kiko Ellsworth as "Blondie Dread"
Timothy Adams as DEA van agent
Henry Rollins as TNT Leader
Ivelin Giro as Mike's Police Psychologist
Dennis Greene as Reggie
John Salley as 'Hacker' Fletcher

Reception

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 has a 23% approval rating, based on 177 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Two and a half hours of explosions and witless banter".^[3]

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?"^[4] On an episode of At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, film critic Richard Roeper named Bad Boys II the worst film of 2003.

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 $138,608,444 in North America and $134,731,112 in other territories, totaling $273,339,556 worldwide — almost twice the gross of the original film.^[2]

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 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and 50 First Dates, respectively.

Bad Boys II was nominated at the 2nd Annual Visual Effects Society Awards (VES) for "Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture".^[5]

In other media

Soundtrack

Video game

A video game version of the film, known as Bad Boys: Miami Takedown in North America, was released in 2004 on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Windows. Originally planned for release in late 2003 (to tie in with the film's DVD release), 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.^[6]

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.^[7] By August 2009, Columbia Pictures had hired Peter Craig to write the script for Bad Boys III.^[8] In February 2011, Martin Lawrence reiterated that the film was in development.^[9] In June 2014, Bruckheimer announced that screenwriter David Guggenheim was working on the storyline for the sequel.^[10] Two months later, Lawrence said a script had been written and parts had been cast.^[11] By June 2015, director Joe Carnahan was in early talks to write and possibly direct the film.^[12] 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.^[13] On March 5, 2016, the film was pushed to June 2, 2017.^[14] Producers plan to begin production in early 2017.^[15] 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.^[16] Lawrence revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that filming may start in March 2017.^[17] On February 6, 2017, it was announced that the film's release date has been delayed for the third time, to November 9, 2018.^[18] On March 7, 2017, Carnahan left the movie due to scheduling conflicts.^[19] In August 2017, Sony removed the third film from their release schedule.^[20]