# Bad Boys/Bad Boys II - Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=59410[/img] 
*Title: Bad Boys/Bad Boys II* 

*Movie:* :4stars:
*Video:* :4.5stars:
*Audio:* :4stars: 
*Extras:* :3.5stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*83




*WARNING: THE SCORES ABOVE ARE A COMBINED SCORE FROM BOTH FILMS, THE INDIVIDUAL SCORES ARE CONTAINED BELOW IN THE INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF THE REVIEW*

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=59418[/img]*Summary*
Some of us thought that “Bad Boys II” would never see the light of day again. It has advertised and teased as “coming soon” ever since the introduction of Blu-ray on the market. Original Blu-ray discs actually came with trailers for the “Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II” films on the disc and we were all a bit surprised and shocked when “Bad Boys” hit Blu-ray and NO “Bad Boys II”. To make it even worse it didn’t come in a couple years, and the supply of Sony Catalog titles (except some titles shuffled through Twilight Time and other boutique labels) dwindled to the point where most of us honestly feared that “Bad Boys II” was lost to Blu-ray forever. Color me shocked and excited when this double feature was announced, as “Bad Boys II” was sorely missing from any action junkie’s collection. To make it even better it was given a newly minted 4K transfer and so was “Bad Boys”, which had suffered from a decade’s old master on the original Blu-ray release. So sit down, pop the popcorn, and please… take out your brain and leave it somewhere where it won’t get damaged, because you certainly won’t need it here.

*Bad Boys* :4stars:
Michael Bay isn’t exactly known for making intelligent films, but he is certainly known for making action extravaganzas that make a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of money. However, in his early career he made a handful of action movies that actually were a lot of fun and some were even slightly intelligent. “The Island” is still his best film, but I have a really big weakness for “The Rock” and both “Bad Boys” films. After directing a handful of music videos, Bay’s first feature film was “Bad Boys”, a half comedy, half action extravaganza that rocked the box office. 

Narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are in for a rough week. After making the biggest drug bust of their careers the boys are riding high, but when the whole shipment is stolen right from under their collective noses, the gun toting cops are back on the streets again. Sniffing around yields a few clues, but the real break comes from a friend of Mike’s lover. One Julie Mott (Tea Leoni). A hooker by trade, Julie just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and witness the crime lord who stole the dope (played by Tcheky Karyo) off one of his men for sneaking himself a personal portion of the coke. Being that Mike was the only cop that Julie’s friend trusted, Julie immediately gives him a ring. The only problem is that Marcus answers the phone and has to fake it as the playboy Mike Lawrey in order to gain her trust. 

Mike isn’t exactly too pleased with goody too shoes Marcus playing in his rich, trust fund, playboy life, but the two have to buckle down and work out some issues while they track down a psychotic crime lord who’s leaving a pile of bodies in his wake. 

“Bad Boys” isn’t exactly a paragon of intellectual storytelling. In fact, just leave your brain at the door and forget the story, as it has little or nothing new in the way of surprises. We have the good cop, who tries to do everything by the book, and his slick womanizing partner who has a penchant for blowing things up. There’s the hot girl (and Tea Leoni is nothing if not SMOKING hot) who’s being hunted by a moustache twirling villain, and lots and LOTS of Baysplosions. Yes, Michael Bay has his own term, Baysplosions, as pretty much everything the two cops touches explodes in a giant ball of flame. Have a shootout in the middle of the street? Cars explode like the bullets are uranium tipped. Have a shootout at an airport, planes, barrels, cars, and even people go up in giant balls of flame. Personally I’m not sure how the Miami PD can employ the two of them, as there is more collateral damage around the city than King Kong and Godzilla did in all of their movies combined!

As stupid as it may be, “Bad Boys” is one of the more down to earth Michael Bay films out there. He gets a bad rap for making some ludicrous choices in his action films, but what makes “Bad Boys” so fun is the cast. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith were at the top of their game back in 1995 (has it REALLY been 20 years? I’m getting old) and were looking and acting GOOOOD. Will Smith is one of my favorite charismatic actors, playing a plethora of fun roles over the years. He’s kind of faded into the background recently, but his 90’s and first decade 2000’s work were a blast. Martin Lawrence is the annoying character in “Bad Boys”, but he’s kind of meant to be that way. Marcus is a goody too shoos cop with too many jealousy and nervousness issues to really make a good copy, but when you mix water and oil they seem to work together well, as the body count certainly proves. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=59426[/img]*Bad Boys II* :4stars: 
8 years after the success of “Bad Boys” (and few other fun movies under the belt), Michael Bay is back, this time making the stakes higher, the action dumber, the explosions bigger and the budget much MUCH higher (from 23 million to 130 million). After 911, the cops really cracked down on the drug trade, and the traffickers have been forced to get a little inventive with their tactics. Genius drug lord Johnny Tapia (Jordi Molla) has been sneaking in Ecstasy right under the Miami PD’s noses and after a botched raid on his supposed latest deliver, detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and partner Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are up to their noses in hot water. They took out a KKK meeting and got Marcus shot in the tush with absolutely nothing to show for their efforts. To make matters worse, Marcus has come to the conclusion that the stress of dealing with Mike is too much and he’s secretly put in a transfer order. 

While Marcus is hiding the fact that he’s transferring out of Mike’s department, Mike has been keeping a few secrets of his own. The main one being that he’s dating Marcus’ younger sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union), a DEA officer from New York. To add to this mess of secrets, Syd is acting as an undercover agent for the DEA in a big sting operation that is trying to take down Johnny Tapia, the same drug lord that Marcus and Mike failed miserably at apprehending. Oh, and she hasn’t told her brother or Mike about it at all. When Marcus and Mike follow up on a tip on their missing ecstasy shipment, they blast up half the city and find out that Syd has her own little deal with the DEA under their very own noses. Teaming up with her, the dueling cops tear up half the city tracking down Johnny Tapia and his goons while ticked off police chief Howard (Joe Pantoliano) fumes and seethes at two cop’s violent tendencies. 

Things take a turn for the worse when Syd gets found out by Johnny Tapia and gets taken by Johnny’s men. The cops have no jurisdiction for Johnny and no proof that he’s done any wrong doing, so it’s up to the original bad boys to stock up on guns and a few tactical ops members to go under the radar and blow things sky high. Oh, and rescue Syd at the same time.

“Bad Boys II” is bigger, badder, dumber and more explosive than the first one. There’s no denying the fact that it sacrificed what little plot the first one had for more special effects and one liners in the second outing. Marcus and Mike have always been on the outs a little, but this time the movie really focuses on the stress their explosive partnership creates. Marcus and Captain Howard are both going to therapy to deal with all of the nutsoid stress that comes from the two cops blowing up half of Miami on a regular basis, while Mike struts around with purple silk suits and dual wielding two tone Glock 17’s at every encounter (which makes me chuckle as I don’t know a single officer who dual wields expensive 9mm two toned pistols). The addition of Syd brings Mike down to earth a bit, giving him the opportunity to have some sort of stability and long term focus in his life, besides ticking Marcus off at every turn.

Guns, knives, explosions, fast cars and faster women pretty much sums of “Bad Boys II” in a nutshell. Bay knows how to make an action movie, and he does the job even better this time around. The special effects are better, the action is more intense and just MORE of everything. I know the two of them sling more lead than most police qualifying courses do the entire year for the whole department! Baysplosions are once again everywhere, from exploding gas tanks, to cars rolling down the freeway and a giant boat ramming into a car, resulting in an explosion that would make a demolitions expert proud.

With that being said, the movie is pretty much like candy. Its sugary sweet on the outside melts in your mouth, but it’s really just empty calories. “Bad Boys II” is basically just a rehash of the first movie, just with a Jordi Molla cheesing it up as the villain and Peter Stormaire to add his own version of scenery eating to the mix. The rest is just Mike and Marcus yelling at each other like usual and engaging in gun fights about every second. Even with 147 minutes of runtime the boys manage to cause more trouble and more gunfire than most Afghanistan veterans see in their entire lives!



*Rating:* 

Rated R for intense violent action and pervasive strong language / Rated R for strong violence and action, pervasive language, sexuality and drug content 


*Video* :4.5stars:

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=59434[/img]
*Bad Boys* :4.5stars:
“Bad Boys” had a fairly mediocre transfer for the 2010 disc, which was the result of using the same master for the old special edition DVD. It was good, but nothing to really write home about. This new transfer comes from a freshly minted 4K mastering job and the difference is startling. Colors are brighter, textures are more defined and there is a wonderful grain structure that was a bit too obtrusive in the first mastering. The color palette leans towards a slight golden hue, and the shiny image looks well saturated. Blacks are distinctly better with great shadow detail and no real sign of black crush to be seen. 

*Bad Boys II* :4.5stars:
“Bad Boys II” also comes from that same newly minted 4K transferring process and it looks superb. Colors are bright and heavily saturated, with thick and heavy reds and blues with some wonderful Miami greens thrown in for good measure. Primary colors are incredibly deep and rich, combined with the heavy black levels of the film. That is actually the only downside to the film, as there is some distinct black crush from start to finish. Mainly relegated to the clothing and black gear of the people. It’s consistent from beginning to end, but still a problem. Fine detail is excellent, with razor sharp clarity and a good layer of grain that is never obtrusive or annoying. 



*Audio* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=59442[/img]
*Bad Boys* :3.5stars:
“Bad Boys” comes with the same audio encode that the original release did back in 2010. That comes with both good and bad connotations. Michael Bay’s action crazed film will certainly keep most people happy. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s full of bass, and it’s in your face. Surrounds get some good usage throughout with bullets whizzing all around and a pounding club scene that puts your right in the middle of the action. LFE is hard hitting and makes gunshots sound like miniature hand cannons. Dialog has very little negatives to its name, with clear vocals and solid directionality. The only real problem with the track is that it’s not very precise. The action and sound is all there, but it’s sometime hard to differentiate between the noises as it all blurs into a mushy sonic experience that just isn’t as nuanced as one would like. 

*Bad Boys II* :4.5stars:
“Bad Boys II”, on the other hand, benefited from Michael Bay maturing as a director and sound editor. Everything about the track is just about picture perfect. The directionality and sound shifting is superb, with the front sound stage under a lot of shifting sand. Sounds shift from one end of the room to another, with cars roaring overhead and ending up in the back surrounds, and gun shots whizzing over one shoulder and impacting on the other. LFE is tight and punchy, but not as aggressive as one would think, even though it’s pretty much active at all times. Surrounds are used exquisitely, with all sorts of sounds coming from every direction. The issue of being mush and non nuanced isn’t a problem here, as each sound carries an individual texture and tone that make it unique and well defined. Almost a perfect track had it not been for some slightly softer bass than I would have liked.





*Extras:* :3.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=59450[/img]*Bad Boys*
• Commentary by Director Michael Bay
• “The Boom And The Bang Of Bad Boys” Featurette
• Three Music Videos
• Original Theatrical Trailers
*Bad Boys II*
• Deleted Scenes
• Production Diaries
• Stunts and Visual Effects Featurette
• Jay Z "La-la-la" Music Video
• Sequence Breakdowns
• Original Theatrical Trailers










*Overall:* :4stars:

The “Bad Boys” films are both the definition of big, dumb action movies, but they are FUN big, dumb action movies. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence combined with Michael Bay’s over the top directing style makes for action gold here. You can’t deny the sheer stupidity of the movies, but the over top ludicrousness and nonstop action makes for a ridiculously fun experience. With “Bad Boys 3” finally greenlight and just over the horizon it makes sense why this double pack was released, and the remastering of the two titles make them all the sweeter. Both of them rock some amazing 4K mastered video and good audio, which makes me a very happy camper and can recommend the two pack with both thumbs up. 

*Additional Information:*

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Tea Leoni, Gabrielle Union, Joe Pantoliano
Directed by: Michael Bay (Both Films)
Written by: George Gallo, Michael Barrie : George Gallo, Marianne Wibberly
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC/2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese, French DTS-HD MA, Spanish DD 5.1
Studio: Sony
Rated: R : R
Runtime: 119 minutes : 147 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: November 10th, 2015


*Buy Bad Boys/Bad Boys II Blu-ray on Amazon*

*Recommendation: Recommended​*










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