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 installment in the Bad Boys series, the film follows detectives Burnett and Lowrey investigating the flow of illegal drugs going into Miami. The film grossed $273 million worldwide.

Plot
Eight years after the events of the first film, Miami Police Department (MPD) narcotics division detectives Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey are investigating a flow of MDMA into the city, leading them to a KKK meeting and drug drop. The subsequent raid is botched due to weak radio signals, and in the firefight wherein several klansmen are either vanquished or injured. During this investigation, both of them reprimand these klansmen using merciless abusive language, then a shootout occurs as Mike accidentally shoots Marcus in the buttocks. Then the other cops soon arrive at the area and capture the surviving Klan members, who are revealed not to be the distributors but only mere 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, unbeknownst 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 suddenly attacked by vicious hayti hitmen planning to steal it. Mike and Marcus inadvertently stumble into the action, resulting in an intense 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 sadistically confront, curse, and conquer this hayti 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 an 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 held hostage in Tapia's compound and guarded by the Cuban army, this bloodthirsty drug lord demands the return of his money in exchange for Syd. Mike and Marcus, with a team of volunteer S.W.A.T. members 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 of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, where Tapia holds Mike at gunpoint, with guards at the naval station threatening them. Syd then fearlessly tosses her pistol activating one the mines causing it to explode annihilating one of Tapia's hitmen. Then Marcus defeats Tapia by shooting his forehead, causing him to fall backwards on a few of the landmines and they explode reducing him to a pile of scattered body parts as 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 patriotic victory by singing Bad Boys.

Cast

 * Martin Lawrence as Detective Lieutenant Marcus Burnett
 * Will Smith as Detective Lieutenant Michael ‘’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 Fletcher
 * Dan Marino as himself

Critical response
The film received negative reviews for its running time, bloated plot, extreme violence, and misogyny. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 23% approval rating based on 179 reviews, and a weighted average of 4.1 out of 10. The site's critical consensus states, "Two and a half hours of explosions and witless banter."

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?" Interestingly, the films cult following is extremely fond of the scene featuring Dennis Greene that Roger Ebert highlights and criticizes, and it is perhaps the most famous scene in the movie.

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 modest financial success. It made $138,608,444 in North America and $134,731,112 in other territories, totaling $273,339,556 worldwide against a budget of $130,000,000 — 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 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".

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 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

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, 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 will be included in a two film collection that includes the first film which was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 4, 2018.