Bad Boys I & II is another bang-bang series from Michael Bay and although I disliked the sequel, the original at least is enjoyable enough. The pairing of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence offers fun chemistry between the two and the action scenes are at least unique in some sense although done to death by Bay himself to the point where you’re not sure if you’re watching Bad Boys or Transformers.
Bad Boys I & II
(1995/2003)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Action, Crime, Comedy
Sony | R – 266 min. – $26.99 | November 10, 2015
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Michael Bay Writer(s): Bad Boys – George Galo (story), Michael Barrie & Jim Mulholland and Doug Richardson (screenplay); Bad Boys II – Marianne Wibberley & Cormac Wibberley and Ron Shelton (story), Ron Shelton and Jerry Stahl (screenplay) Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Tea Leoni, Tcheky Karyo, Joe Pantoliano, Marg Helgenberger, Theresa Randle, Jordi Molla, Gabrielle Union, Peter Stormare DISC INFO: Audio (Bad Boys): English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Japanese (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Portuguese (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Thai (Dolby Digital 5.1) |
** Click Here to Purchase Bad Boys 1 & 2 on Blu-ray from Amazon.com **
THE MOVIES – 2.25/5
Bad Boys (1995) — 3.0/5
$100 Million worth of confiscated drugs has just been jacked from police custody. Once the career bust of Detectives Mike Lowrey (WILL SMITH) and Marcus Burnett (MARTIN LAWRENCE), the missing drugs now threaten to shut down the Narcotics Division of the Miami Police Department. When the drug investigation turns deadly, the murderers kidnap the only witness, a beautiful police informant (TEA LEONI).
Quick Hit Review: This one doesn’t really hold up as well as I expected or hoped. Yeah, the action isn’t bad and there is something to be said that the action and comedy is well paced especially seeing as it was Michael Bay’s directorial debut. That said, it’s only mildly entertaining but the writing is suspect.
Bad Boys II (2003) — 1.5/5
Bullets fly and cars crash as Detectives Lowrey (SMITH) and Burnett (LAWRENCE) pursue a whacked-out drug lord (JORDI MOLLA) from the streets of Miami to the barrios of Cuba. But the real fireworks result when Burnett discovers playboy Lowrey is secretly romancing his sexy sister, Syd (GABRIELLE UNION).
Quick Hit Review: I hated Bad Boys II when I saw it in the theater and again on DVD some years ago and revisiting it today, I still strongly dislike it. The plot is thin, the screenplay (again) is bad, and even the performances from Smith and Lawrence felt stilted and phoned in. If there was one positive thing I can say is the action is well cheorographed if not numbing on the brain.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.5/5
This two-movie set comes in a thin slip case and each movie has their own slim Blu-ray case and unique UPCs. Each movie also comes with a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.
Bad Boys (1995) — 2.5/5
Audio Commentary with Director Michael Bay provides a lively discussion of making Bad Boys with scene-specific comments on how certain scenes were shot. One of the common themes: he basically had no money making the movie; something I guess he made up for in Bad Boys II.
Putting the Boom & Bang in the Bad Boys (23:54; SD) is an older making-of featurette showing off the guns and explosions in the movie. This includes interviews with the cast and crew.
Music Videos (11:12; SD) are included for “Five O, Five (Here They Come)” by G9 Boys and “Shy Guy” by Diana King. The only one I remember is “Shy Guy” and god help me, I still love it. Not ashamed either.
The disc also comes with the Teaser Trailer (2:18; HD) and the Theatrical Trailers (2:47; HD).
Bad Boys II (2003) — 3.0/5
Deleted Scenes (7:19; HD) – Here we get seven scenes that thankfully got cut down or axed if only for the soul reason as the movie was nearly two and a half hours as it was.
Production Diaries (1:07:10; HD) is a collection of 19 featurettes breaking down a variety of scenes and include interviews with the cast (Will Smith, Martin Lawrence) and crew (Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer). Also has some behind-the-scenes footage.
Sequence Breakdown (45:21; HD) looks at different scenes: Macarthur Causeway, Ice Van Chase, Monorail Fight, 5-Man Ratchet, Tapia’s Mission and Shanty Town and basically show off how they were filmed.
Stunts (9:29; HD) – Here we get comments on the stunt work done and the amount of prep Bay goes through including storyboards and animatics.
Visual Effects (18:38; HD) breaks down the VFX work done.
Last up we get a Music Video (3:52; HD) for “La-La-La” by Jay-Z, the Teaser Trailer (2:08; HD), Theatrical Trailer 1 (2:26; HD) and Theatrical Trailer 2 (1:02; HD).
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Bad Boys (1995) — 4.0/5
The film is shown in its original 1.85 theatrical widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC). It’s a good looking picture with sharp detail while colors appear to be in line with how it was shot, that being over-saturated. There didn’t seem to be any obvious dust marks, aliasing or other flaws.
Bad Boys II (2003) — 4.5/5
This is the only reason people want this set as the previous movie has been out on Blu-ray for some time. The sequel received a re-master from a 4K print and it looks pretty damn good. As with the first movie, this one is even more oversaturated with a push on oranges and warmer colors while still keeping solid detail and a very clean transfer.
AUDIO – 4.25/5
Bad Boys (1995) — 4.0/5
Like the picture, this is a re-used DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which is mostly effectively if not also a letdown. As one would expect from a Michael Bay film, it features loud explosions and gunfire while the score by Mark Mancina (Training Day, “Criminal Minds”) blares out of every speaker with gusto. Dialogue is clear enough and ambient noises, for when the action dies down, makes usage of the rear channels.
Bad Boys II (2003) — 4.5/5
The movie comes with a robust and explosive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and like the movie itself, it is bombastic with the various action sequences, the freeway chase especially, being able to hear every crash, bang and boom coming off the screen. Dialogue is once again clear and there’s a fair amount of depth to this lossless track. Trevor Rabin takes over scoring duties and doesn’t disappoint taking over every channel for those action scenes as does the hip-hop soundtrack put together by Dr. Dre.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, Bad Boys I & II is another bang-bang series from Michael Bay and although I disliked the sequel, the original at least is enjoyable enough. The pairing of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence offers fun chemistry between the two and the action scenes are at least unique in some sense although done to death by Bay himself to the point where you’re not sure if you’re watching Bad Boys or Transformers. This 2-disc set is nicely priced with a fine selection of bonus material and features good audio and video transfers.
Published: 11/15/2015
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.