DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Bad Boys II - Special Edition (1 Viewer)

[Lev-S]

So there isn't a pan and scan release at all?

 

[Christian Preischl]

I too remember that it was originally announcened with a P&S version on Disc 2, and some online retailers still list it that way. So when I read the first reviews and there was no mention of P&S anywhere, I was quite pleased.

Chris

 

[Mark Hamilton]

I liked this movie, although quite frankly I could have done without the entire morgue scene. . . can't wait to pick this DVD up between exams.

 

[rhett]

When a movie shows a 10-second sequence of two rats having sex, you know that Hollywood has run out of ideas...

 

[Brent M]

.....and as we all know, movies should be judged by 10-second sequences.

 

[Patrick Soucy]

I saw it two times in theater, I loved the first one and the sequel is better!

I loved the dark morbid humor in this one, this movie is very unpolitically correct, it's too rare these days!

The action sequence was also very interresting, with very cool camera movements and effects. I can't wait for add this title in my collection.

 

[Julian Lalor]

Bad Boys II took a completely different approach and tried to be as un-PC and irreverent as possible.

Necrophilia isn't politically incorrect or irreverant. It's just sick. The movie itself wasn't politically incorrect at all. It was just terrible movie making and was rightly criticised as such by most who saw it.

 

[Brent M]

Isn't necrophilia the actual act of having sex with a corpse? I don't recall anyone doing that in this movie. Anyway, like I said before I could have done without the morgue scene and even the corpses on the freeway, but aside from that the movie was an excellent action flick and it was funny as hell to boot. Bad Boys II is not for everyone, but it sure beats the s**t out of most of the other "so-called" action movies that have come out lately(Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Hulk, Matrix Revolutions, Tomb Raider 2, etc.).

 

[Lev-S]

Lest we forget the undercurrent of anti-Bay pro-Tarantino running here...

Kill Bill Vol. 1
vs.
Bad Boys II


Simplistic plot

BB2 - Two black men must stop a stereotypical Cuban drug dealer from dealing his ecstasy in Miami, Florida. Action ensues.

KB - One white woman gets revenge on a man named "Bill" and his stereotypical Asian gang for trying to kill her. Action ensues.


Technical Aspects

BB2 - Plenty of lense filters, and deliberately elaborate lighting. Plenty of unique and inventive shots. Overall cinematography is excellent. Sound design is aggressive with modern hip-hop and orchestral music.

KB - Plenty of lense filters, and deliberately elaborate lighting. Plenty of unique and inventive shots. Overall cinematography is excellent. Sound design is aggressive with classic rock and orchestral music.


Bad Taste

BB2 - A dead man's top half of his head falls of to reveal the brain inside, a car-decapitated head, jokes about a dead woman's breasts, a guy chopped up and stuffed in a barrell, and a mine blowing a person in half.

KB - A woman's top half of her head gets chopped off falls of to reveal the brain inside, a sword-decapitated head with plenty of blood, jokes about raping a comatose woman, various leg/arm/head decapitations.


Directors

BB2 - Michael Bay
KB - Quentin Tarantino


Average Review (www.rottentomatoes.com)

BB2 - 25% - Ex. "It would just be way too easy to hate Bad Boys 2. It would be too easy to say the excessive humor involving human cadavers is nauseating. It would be too easy to say that jokes at the expense of dead women are offensive."

"The fanboys are bound to enjoy it, though, with its action, action, action, bits of gruesomeness and sometime bawdy humor."


KB - 84% - Ex. "The chocolate eclair of fall films: a delicious, yet empty treat."

"Content? Not important. Here delivery is everything, and Tarantino delivers like a man born with film developer pumping through his veins."

"Divided we fall. What Kill Bill Vol. 1 loses in plot, tension, and character development it (almost) makes up for in terms of sheer unadulterated style."


So Bad Boys II is too big and shallow with too much violent and sick content, but Kill Bill Vol. 1 is allowed to be all of those things because of Tarantino? Anybody else seeing a bit of hypocrisy here?

 

[Aaryn Chan]

I don't understand superbit. Minority report is not superbit, but disc one contains the movie only, so isn't that superbit quality also? (well, it contains 5 audio track). Or take X2 for example, disc one is movie only.

 

[Brent M]

Very good points, Lev-S. I love Tarantino as much as anyone, but for some reason the gore in Kill Bill is OK while Bay's graphic violence was slammed by nearly every critic in the country. Hypocrisy indeed.

 

[Jason*C]

I was a die hard fan of the first movie and I thought a sequel would never be made. My hopes were high once before then they put the project on hiatus for many years.

I loved the second one in theaters and can't wait to buy the dvd.

 

[Julian Lalor]

Anybody else seeing a bit of hypocrisy here?

I certainly don't.

 

[Lev-S]

I just meant the critical hypocrisy here. That's all.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Lev-S, very true. Obviously Bad Boys is just a guilty pleasure at best. While no one would admit it, had Michael Bay had his name on Kill Bill then you could bet your house that some of the people here would have posted the movie was campy and silly instead of a homage of old movies and artistic and all that jazz.

 

[Runar_R]

Lev-S,
I guess it would be hipocrisy if a movie only equalled the sum of it's parts. A + B = C. If that was the case then all the rip-offs that followed "Pulp Fiction" would've have been at least as good as PF, as they all had all the same type of characters and situations. But they pretty much all of them sucked. Having the right ingredients, the right technical skill doesn't help all that much if you don't have that X-factor. Call it an artistic vision if you want. Which is why making movies will never be quite the same as making any other product.

Personally I think BB2 was a huge improvement for Bay over his last 2 'movies', but ultimately felt it was rather forgettable (and occasionally in VERY bad taste.... the car-chase through the shanty-town in particually rubbed me the wrong way). I'm not sure I'll get the dvd, as I'm actually quite disappointed that there isn't a commentary track. I usually find Bay's commentary tracks insightful.

 

[Brent M]

What exactly was wrong with the car chase through shanty-town? It was clearly explained that all of the drugs were manufactured there(that's why there were so many explosions when they plowed through) so basically they just trashed a bunch of scumbags' dwellings. Personally, I think that should be applauded.

 

[Julian Lalor]

I just meant the critical hypocrisy here. That's all.

I still don't get it. How is the critical drubbing of this film in any way comparable to the positive reviews being given to Kill Bill on this forum? The two films share one thing in common: they are both very violent and the violence in both is cartoonish in its quality. Bay just doesn't know how to film it properly or understand its use is all.

 

[Rob T]

It definitely had it's awkward scenes (particularly the one where the boyfriend comes to the door), but I still love it so I'll definitely be picking it up on Tuesday!

 

[Lev-S]

I still don't get it. How is the critical drubbing of this film in any way comparable to the positive reviews being given to Kill Bill on this forum?

CRITICAL - As in reviewed by a professional film critic. Not anybody in particular on the forum. Sorry for the confusion.

Agreed on the shanty town chase - they were cocaine labs!!!! And not only did they say that clearly, but I did not see one shanty-dweller plowed by their Hummer, only the funny aftermath of the shanty-dwellers shaking their various "cocaine farming" tools.

I slowly got desensitized to the "n***a Reggie at the door" scene. I just can't get enough of Will Smith rapping like Ludacris...