Bad Boys II Information

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. It is a sequel to the 1995 film Bad Boys. The film is about two police detectives investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami. Despite mainly negative reviews from professional critics, the film performed well at the box office, grossing $273,339,556 worldwide.

Plot

Eight years after the events of the first film, Miami Police Department (MPD) detectives Marcus Barnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) are investigating the flow of highly-potent ecstasy into the city. Their surveillance of boats coming in from Cuba leads them to a Ku Klux Klan meeting and drug drop in a swamp docks outside Miami. The subsequent raid on the Klan members proves to be a disaster; malfunctioning radios delay back-up, causing a firefight where Mike accidentally shoots Marcus in the buttocks, while the Klan members are revealed to be mere small-time buyers and not the distributors of the ecstasy. The incident leaves Marcus to further question if he still wants to partner with Mike, while Mike fears that Marcus may discover his new relationship with Marcus' sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union).

Unbeknownst to Mike and Marcus, Syd is an undercover operative with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as a money laundering agent for Russian gangsters; the Russian gangsters are in fact the distributors of the ecstasy on behalf of neurotic Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia (Jordi Mollà). During her first assignment in Miami, a violent Haitian gang attempts to hijack the money transport between the Russians and Tapia, putting Syd in danger. Mike and Marcus inadvertently stumble into the action, and an intense firefight and car chase ensues between the gang members and the MPD/DEA, devastating the local area and enraging Police Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano). Marcus and Mike learn of Syd's actual work, which makes Marcus unhappy, while Capt. Howard demands they find the supplier of ecstasy.

Marcus and Mike go to confront the Haitian gang leader, which results in a firefight and the leader revealing that his information about the transport came from his friend's camcorder. After viewing the footage, Marcus and Mike find out that a local business, the Spanish Palms Mortuary, is possibly being used as a front by Tapia. Disguised as pest terminators, the detectives penetrate Tapia's mansion and discover that Tapia has eliminated his Russian distributors and begun to woo their former associate Syd, who is still undercover with the DEA and has refocused the investigation towards Tapia. The detectives also recover evidence linking Tapia to one of the boats involved in the Klan raid in the swamps.

After pressuring one of the arrested Klansman into making Tapia's boat, the detectives find themselves involved in another firefight, this time while pursuing a morgue van from the docks carrying emptied cadavers. Mike and Marcus decide to infiltrate Tapia's mortuary, where they learn that the drug lord is using dead bodies to smuggle his drugs and money. The mission is nearly sabotaged when the pair are almost discovered, resulting in Marcus accidentally ingesting some of the ecstasy and Mike ordering the disguised officers outside the building to crash an ambulance into it, creating a diversion. After Mike and an intoxicated Marcus obtain a search warrant from Capt. Howard, the mortuary and Tapia's mansion are raided, with the drugs and money being intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard. However, the mansion raid is botched when a vengeful Russian gangster, Alexei (Peter Stormare), violently storms the mansion on his own. Alexei is killed by the police, while Syd is discovered by Tapia and is kidnapped by him, leaving with 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 two days in exchange for Syd's life.

Mike and Marcus, along with their voluntary SWAT team and Syd's DEA co-workers, prepare a military assault to rescue Syd from Tapia's fortress. During the battle, Mike and Marcus extract Syd and escape, pursued by the infuriated Tapia. After a lengthy pursuit, they end up in a minefield just outside U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where Tapia holds Mike at gunpoint. Marcus rescues Mike with a skillful headshot to Tapia's skull in the middle of the minefield with his last bullet; in a nod to the previous film, Mike exclaims "Now that's how you supposed to shoot! From now on, that's how you shoot!".

Later, at the Burnett house, Mike has bought Marcus a new pool (replacing a previous pool that had been destroyed in a prior gag), and Marcus finally makes peace with Mike dating Syd and no longer doubts their partnership. Despite the sentiment, Mike's new pool breaks, washing the two into a river, as they sing the "Bad Boys" theme song.

Cast

• Martin Lawrence as Detective Marcus Burnett
• Will Smith as Detective Mike Lowrey
• Gabrielle Union as Sydney "Syd" Burnett
• Jordi Mollà as Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia
• Otto Sanchez as Carlos
• Jon Seda as Roberto
• Peter Stormare as Alexei
• Oleg Taktarov as Josef Kuninskavich
• Michael Shannon as Floyd Poteet
• Theresa Randle as Theresa Burnett
• Joe Pantoliano as Captain Conrad Howard
• Jason Manuel Olazabal as Det. Marco Vargas
• Yul Vazquez as Det. 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
• Brian Anthony Wilson as Tapia Muscle Crew Member (uncredited)
• Jessica Sutta makes an uncredited appearance as a prostitute in Cuba
• Denise Quiñones makes an uncredited appearance as a prostitute in Cuba
• Taina makes an uncredited appearance as a prostitute in Cuba
• Megan Fox makes an uncredited appearance as a dancer in a club
• John Salley as 'Hacker' Fletcher
• Ben Brocklehurst makes an appearance as uncredited agent

Director Michael Bay makes an uncredited brief cameo in the film as the driver of the run-down compact car. Dan Marino also makes a brief cameo as himself, pulling up while he test drives a car.

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews. The film was the subject of some vicious criticism for its length, brutality, bloated plot, arguably misogynistic depiction of women and violent sense of humor. Based on 162 reviews collected by the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 23% of critics gave Bad Boys II a positive review, with an average rating of 4.1/10. However, it is interesting to note that despite the poor reception among professional critics, 80% of 471,464 Rotten Tomatoes users have given the movie 3.5 stars or higher out of five with an average rating of 3.6/5.

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 it 1st place on his list of the worst films of 2003, he placed notorious bomb Gigli at number 3.

Among the more positive reviews Seattle Post-Intelligencer critic Ellen A. Kim 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. Since the film's release, it has been well received by audiences, praising the film's action and humor.

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.

Accolades

At the MTV Movie Awards 2004 the film was nominated for "Best Action Sequence" for the inter-coastal freeway pursuit, but lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence won the award for "Best On-Screen Team."

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.

Sequel

In June 2008, Michael 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.

In August 2009, The Film Stage reported that Columbia Pictures has hired Peter Craig to write the script for Bad Boys III.

In a February 2011 appearance on BET's The Mo'Nique Show, Martin Lawrence confirmed that Bad Boys III was in the works.