Review: Bad Boys

With Bad Boys 3 apparently kicking life into the franchise I figured now would be a good time to revisit the original two films, partly because I needed to re-review the first film and partly because I wanted to remind myself of how insane the second one was. Starting with number one, I can see the appeal that made Bad Boys a hit, but 25 years on there’s elements that don’t hold up and a few that were dated even back in the 90s.

The story concerns Miami cop partner Marcus Burnett – a family man prone to bouts of hysteria – and Mike Lowry – a rich bachelor with charisma to spare. When their precinct is broken into and $100 Million of mafia owned heroin stolen, Marcus and Mike have three days to find the dope or their station will be shut down under suspicion of an inside job. The case gets more personal when Mike’s friend and call-girl Max is killed by the same dealer who stole the heroin, as well as an ex-cop who was their only lead on the case.

Things take an upturn when the police find out about a key witness, Max’s roommate Julie was at the same party where Max was killed and saw the whole thing, however since it was an ex-cop who had the heroin, Julie will refuse to talk to any cop except Mike due to his friendship with Max. With Mike not around, Marcus is forced to pretend to be him to keep Julie around long enough to name suspects and save the precinct. And naturally whacky high-jinks ensue with Mike and Marcus having to swap lives like a fucking sitcom episode.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the story except that it’s about ten years out of date, by 95 the buddy cop formula was old news and there’s nothing really new on offer here, even with buddy cop films being made today this still feels outdated. The unique selling point is that Marcus and Mike have to switch lives which is a fun idea on paper and gives Smith and Lawrence some good material to work with in the early stages of the film, but the longer it goes on the more ridiculous is seems that nobody is bothering to clear the air with Julie, even more so that when the truth is revealed it’s such a non-issue you wonder why they took so long to say anything.

In truth the biggest issue seems to be between Marcus and his wife Theresa, and that could’ve easily been solved with some goddamn communication, for seemingly being married for years – or at least long enough to have three kids – Marcus’ lies feel unnecessary and Theresa’s anger, while understandable, often feels like forced conflict. Like I said the life swap is fun to start with, especially with Mike starts fucking with Marcus for fun, but it’s the only unique point to the film and it wears out its welcome way too quickly.

Acting was a mixed bag, ranging from good to dull to annoying. To get the dull out of the way first, main villain Fouchet was kinda forgettable, actually very forgettable, the guy just didn’t have anything to work with, he was a European drug dealer who switched from sophisticated to murderous at the drop of a hat and was only interested in money, congratulations I’ve just described every Action Movie villain between 1987 and 2003. I was actually more interested in his two henchmen Casper and Ferguson who at least had their own buddy movie going on with them both shouting and insulting each other and at least pretending to have personality.

The annoying comes in the form of Tea Leoni as Julie, and I don’t know if it was the writing or if its Leoni’s acting but I just found her insufferable at times. There’s some parts I can overlook, she’s half-crazed and traumatised so I can forgive some of her outbursts, it’s a shitty situation and she’s smart enough to figure out she’s being duped by Mike and Marcus which is a good part of her character that I wish they built upon. Where she falls flat is in her almost complete lack of screen presence, I wouldn’t go as far as calling her wooden but up against Smith and Lawrence, Leoni is very much pushed to the background, she’s also a little too preachy for her own good, being a vegetarian in the 90s isn’t a big thing but my god is she fucking smug about it. Worst of all though is how needlessly stupid they make her at times, which does go against what I said earlier but that just makes it worse, she blows an undercover recon mission by wanting to get involved and immediately getting spotted, she has a really bad habit of just staring whenever the bad guys get involved which I’m willing to look past as trauma but it doesn’t come across that way, and dumbest of all, she takes a gun to a busy nightclub and attempts to shoot Fouchet from about 50 feet away, while he’s above her, through a glass window, while she’s on the middle of the dance floor, with no firearms training.

It’s a fairly small moment but so fucking stupid that I wanted to point it out as the moment I stopped giving any shits about Julie as a character.

While there are some fun roles in the supporting cast – namely Joey Pants as hot-headed Captain Howard – the film is really highlighted by Smith and Lawrence, both actors with comedic backgrounds which allow them to play off each other extremely well, the chemistry between them both is evident from the first scene and doesn’t let up. Of the two Lawrence arguably gets the meatier role with Marcus having to give up his family life, which is already on edge thanks to a lack of sex between Marcus and his wife, and focus on a case that’s fucking with his head. Letting the usually hyperactive Lawrence try to play Smooth as Smith was funny at points, most notably early on when Marcus is trying to find his way around Mike’s apartment while pretending it’s his and the longer it goes on the angrier about the whole fucked up situation he gets which just makes him that little bit funnier.

Not to take away from Will Smith’s role, he might be playing a version of himself but it works in tandem with Lawrence’s hysterical Marcus. Mike is cucumber cool, he’s living a peaceful, bachelor life with a trust fund holding him steady but doesn’t let that get in the way of the job, if anything he works harder to prove himself to the other cops who think he bought his way in. Smith does get less to do with him playing Marcus not really coming up as much but him and Lawrence working together works wonders for the film, the two of them share a great dynamic of ripping the shit out of each other but still having each others back when it counts. It’s way the need to fall back on tired tropes feels stale, when Marcus starts thinking Mike is fucking his wife the whole situation is dull, predictable and goes against the trust that both men seem to have with each other. Which is a shame because otherwise the chemistry between the two is what makes the movie watchable, because otherwise it didn’t have a whole lot going for it.

Which brings me to the director, a small timer in his feature debut by the name of Michael Bay, and even from this stage you can some of the Bayisms he will come to be known for later in his career, it’s held back somewhat but it’s absolutely there. Slow motion is used but effectively – Will Smith running in an open shirt feels like a career making moment – things explode but not overly so and there’s gratuitous shots of scantily clad women but it doesn’t feel like the camera is ogling them. It sucks then that the film is pretty goddamn boring.

Part of me did hope that Bay being Bay he could at least provide the film with some decent action but this being the 90s and Bay being a first time director that’s just not the case. That’s not to say it’s all bad, the opening criminal heist is surprisingly effective in how well executed the whole thing is and the airport hanger finale is insane enough to give the film a last minute boost of energy although personally I think it goes on just a little bit too longer with the car chase, leg-shot and surprise gun. Everything in between just doesn’t hit the mark, Marcus and Julie try to escape gun-toting goons which falls into farce when Julie insists her dogs come with her, the mid-point set-piece in the nightclub had some good potential with Marcus taking on a two-on-one bathroom fight but that leads into Julie’s idiotic quest for revenge and the car chase afterwards doesn’t last nearly long enough to make up for it.

The film almost saves itself when Fouchet kidnaps Julie at the end of the 2nd act which I will admit is shot well – aside from a moment when Marcus seemingly comes out of nowhere but I’ll let that slide – and watching Mike get to do his hero cop shit is fun. But personally I was taken out of it by the underlying silliness of the whole thing, it starts with Fouchet appearing to collect Julie personally, a slow motion reveal that was already spoiled by the previous shot and just doesn’t come across right and overall feel just a little too easy, it’s a final burst of adrenaline before the finale to keep the film going but instead just puts more focus into how undercooked the whole thing is.

In short, I wasn’t too hot on Bad Boys, if not for Smith and Lawrence’s chemistry I think I would be a lot harsher, as it stands it’s not so much a bad film, all the pieces are there, but it’s a boring one which is arguably even worse for an action movie. The buddy cop set-up is ok but nothing special and the life swap selling point goes on for way too long to keep being funny, the villain is forgettable, the main actress annoying and for a Michael Bay film it’s pretty fucking lacking, a couple alright moments sure but as a whole it’s fairly standard. Again Smith and Lawrence have a great time together and their back-and-forth makes the film watchable but not enough to give it a passing grade.

5/10