Review for Bad Boys

When people complain about the destruction… ahem I mean remaking… of their favourite classic horror films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and the recent Nightmare on Elm Street, you need to look no further than Michael Bay. Michael Bay is the epitome of bad filmmaking and this film is where it all started. If this film hadn't been the huge success that it was, we never have had to suffer the awfulness that is Pearl Harbour.
Bad Boys follows the heist of $100 million in seized heroin from the police stronghold and its recovery by Marcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith). In an odd plot development that really needed more explaining Mike asks his female friend to check out any leads she may have. Of course out of the blue she turns up at the house where the drugs are being held (This is never explained how she came to be here) and takes along her friend Julie (The ever irritating Tea Leoni). Max is killed and Julie escapes. The bad guys lead by Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) have only a few days to set up the selling of all the drugs. Again, it is never explained why this is. However, decide to get sidetracked and hunt down Julie.
Marcus, who is married with three kids encounters Julie and pretends that he is Mike to make her trust him. Why? Seriously at this point, do you think this film will spend time to explain this? Really? And so for the majority of the film, Marcus is pretending to be Mike, who is a smooth talking, womanizer, while Mike is pretending to be the married one. Again, they never bother to explain this. However, the two must work to figure out who stole the drugs and where to find them.
As much as I hated Bad Boys, I have to admit the general performances by Lawrence and Smith are fine. Bay in his horrific commentary explains about how he let the two improvise a lot and you can tell when they are just working off the cuff and it works. Sadly, they have to work around such a stupid plot that I can't bring myself to recommend it. It is one of those films that you can watch for the action and the few funny lines, but that is it. If you are looking for a dense psychological or even intelligent plot you won't find it here. This has almost become the trademark of a Michael Bay film. Anytime there seems to be nothing going on, all of a sudden an explosion or a gun fight or a car chase seems to interject into the movie. This does not make a good movie.
Extras include (as I say a horrific) commentary by Michael Bay, who really tries his best to justify what he is doing and all in all comes across as someone who really has no idea what he's doing. As an action director, a director of stunts, I can't fault him. He knows where to shoot from, how to edit the scene together to make it look good, but when it comes to the rest of the film he just looks and sounds lost. Putting the Boom & Bang in the Bad Boys again focuses purely on the effects and really at almost half an hour is a little excessive and a traditional 'Making of' would have been better and finally three music videos and trailers.
Bad Boys is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen. Granted Bay has made much worse (The Island, Pearl Harbour), but this is certainly not a good film by any means. However, if you fancy a few hours of just mindless explosions then this is certainly the film for you.