Bad Boys II (2 DVD SET) (2003)

It's got a decent amount of funny moments (though much fewer than the first one), and some of the endless action is a little cool, but unfortunately there's little else here. The small but precious amount of grounding from the first film is completely gone, having devolved to a completely ridiculous non-stop-parade of car chases and gunfights, with supposedly good guy cops who for no apparent reason have little to no respect nor need for the law, and certainly none for human life. The plot is strung together with the same sense of willing suspense of disbelief as the action and character choices. In fairness to the film, a lot of these elements would be less of an issue if I came to the film expecting an over-the-top actionfest, but I was expecting along the lines of the first film -- exaggerated, yes, silly, absolutely, but at least with some core story you could care about at the core.

But if you can get with the new programme and enjoy the mindless fun, the film is reasonably entertaining, thanks largely to a good pacing (which it somehow has in spite of the very bloated running time and disappointing lack of plot) and of course the never-failing charm of Smith's quips and the ridiculous lines given to Pantoliano. Just don't expect a sequel that matches the tone and feel of the first -- except in the bickering relationship between the protagonists, which maybe feels a bit more forced here, but is otherwise exactly as before. ( )