Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Michael Barrie, Jim Mulholland, Doug Richardson (Screenplay) George Gallo (Story)
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Lisa Boyle, Theresa Randle, Joe Pantoliano, Tea Leoni, Tcheky Karyo
Plot: Two hip detectives protect a witness to a murder while investigating a case of stolen heroin from the evidence storage room from their police precinct.
Tagline – Whatcha gonna do?
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Wildly Entertaining
Story: Bad Boys starts as Fouchet (Karyo) and his crew pull of a heist that sees them rob the police lock up of all the seized drugs, Captain Howard (Pantoliano) turns to the two men that got the drugs in the first place Marcus (Lawrence) and Mike (Smith) to get them back before Internal Affairs look to put the blame on the force themselves.
After a second shooting, witness Julie Mott (Leoni) escapes turning to Mike for help, which sees her putting her life in the hands of the two cops, knowing she can’t trust anybody else, even though the men have to swap lives.
Thoughts on Bad Boys
Characters – Mike and Marcus are excellent cops they always get their suspects and are given the biggest case in the force, off duty, Marcus is married with kids, struggling to keep his marriage alive, while Mike has money, making him a womaniser who has women all around town waiting for his call. Even though the two must swap lives, they get to have fun living and understanding the complaints they are both suffering through. Julie is a witness to the thieve and murderer job that killer her friend, she doesn’t know who to trust except Mike, who isn’t around when they need to do the pickup, so she ends up meeting Marcus pretending to be Mike. Fouchet is the criminal that has arrange the heist, he has a perfect plan which only the problems being the people he has selected to help him, where he could have gotten away with everything smoothly if it wasn’t for their mistakes, he will do anything to clean up the mess left behind him.
Performances – Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are perfectly cast in the leading roles, they play into Will Smith’s smooth style and Martin Lawrence constant panic filled comedy. Tea Leoni works well as the witness, while Tcheky Karyo as the villain is generic, but does fill the typical 90’s style of villain well.
Story – The story here follows two Miami Cops that must protect a witness who can help them take down one of the biggest crimes against the police after the drugs from their lock up are stolen. When it came to the 90’s we knew how the action stories would unfold, we have one villain that does seem deadly that makes things very personal and the cops being conflicted at times, but needing to work together to solve the case. We do have elements of comedy in the story, with the whole life swapping, which does make things different to watch, taking away from certain moments of action too, which does keep everything feeling nice a fresh.
Action/Comedy/Crime – The action in the film is held back, which is surprising for a Michael Bay film, we save most of the action until the later parts of the film, being full Bay, though it does work, the comedy comes from the partnership between the two cops and the lives they must swap to get the job done, all in a crime heavy world.
Settings – The film uses the Miami setting to show us the fast paced lifestyles, the drugs culture around the nightclub scene and the different lives the two cops live.
Scene of the Movie – Final chase.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not as much action as I thought we would have.
Final Thoughts – This is a wildly entertaining action comedy with two of the best leading performances in the genre, we have everything the 90’s would have given us showing the early signs of Michael Bay as an action director too.
Overall: Entertaining.
