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BAD BOYS
Special Edition and Superbit
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars: Martin Lawrence, Will
Smith, Tea Leoni, Tcheky Karyo, Joe Pantoliano
Director: Michael Bay
Audio: SE English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround
Video: Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic Transfer
Studio: Columbia Tri Star
Features: See Review
Length: 119 Minutes
Release Date: SE June 27, 2000, SB May 13, 2003
“Let’s
try to do this right. No gun shots, no dead bodies. I’m not trying to lose my
job over this.”
Film ***1/2
Very rarely does a film, let
alone a buddy cop action comedy, which lacks a somewhat involving plotline, succeeds in
nearly achieving near-excellence. That’s the exact kind of quality I found in Bad
Boys, which is a buddy cop movie, which we’ve seen thousands of times before, but
the two stars of this particular entry, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, ignite the screen
with wit, energy and superb comic timing. Before this movie, Lawrence and Smith were both
well known TV personalities who also had a few supporting roles under their belt, and Bad
Boys gave them a huge opportunity to carry a movie and win an audience over with their
undeniable charisma. The movie was also the directorial debut of Michael Bay, who has made
three consecutive blockbusters with this movie, along with The Rock in 1996, and Armageddon
in 1998. His flashy camera work, and ingenious knack for frenetic pacing also play a big
part in the quality of this movie.
The movie’s plot is
essentially simple as can be. It opens with a gang of criminals hijacking a hundred
million dollars worth of heroin from the evidence room of a Miami police precinct.
Detectives Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Smith) are the cops who were
responsible for making the heroin bust, and they attempt to recover it once more before a
major drug deal goes down. The case also involves a murder connected to the drug dealers,
and it also provides a witness named Julie (Tea Leoni). The murder victim was a friend of
Lowrey’s, and Julie is only willing to talk to Lowery. When Lowery is suddenly
unavailable, the captain (Joe Pantoliano) orders Marcus to retrieve the witness, and to
pose as Lowery in the process, which ignites a very funny subplot involving the two cops
trading places. While Mike is a polished womanizer, Marcus happens to be a married man and
a family man as well, which leads to the two switching lives in order to maintain the
trust of their witness. The mistaken identity/trading places formula has been done many
times, but the execution of these scenes, such as Julie mistaking Marcus to be a gay man,
due to fact that he has countless pictures of Mike in his bedroom are very hysterical.
The film’s action
sequences are truly larger than life, and Michael Bay has since been known for bringing a
rare frenetic vision to an already pulse pounding action scene. There are numerous
shootouts and chases before the movie reaches its climatic sequence in an air hanger,
which at the time I noted as one of the best action scenes I had ever seen in a movie, and
this was not long after I first saw Speed. The cops bust a drug deal, leading to an
exhilarating shootout resulting in exploding planes and endless amounts of burning, flying
corpses. Just when we think the action is going to end, Bay adds on a climatic high-speed
car chase on a runway, which is likely to have you glued to your chair, gasping your
breath, and waiting for more. A truly mind-blowing moment.
So even though the story has a
been-there, done-that kind of feel to it, the high energy pace of the movie, along with
the astoundingly extravagant action sequences make Bad Boys a fast paced,
hilarious, gasping-for-your-breath joyride that is necessary for entertainment. This is
also a production from the action producing team of Jerry Bruckheimer and the late Don
Simpson, who specialized in making thrilling, fast paced entertainment. They are also
credited with such movies as The Rock, Crimson Tide, Top Gun, and Beverly Hills
Cop. After Simpson’s death, Bruckheimer continued to produce, resulting in more
outrageous entertainments like Con Air, Armageddon and Gone in 60 Seconds.
Bad Boys is a standout
in the genre it finds itself in. Lawrence and Smith are a true action-comedy dream team,
filled with comedic energy in nearly every scene. And the movie, for me, was a warm
welcome for Michael Bay, whose sense of style is absolutely necessary for a movie like
this. So if you can suspend your disbelief and upgrade your desire for superb popcorn
entertainment for two hours, Bad Boys is the ultimate ticket!
Video
Special Edition ****
Superbit ****
Bad
Boys was one of the first DVDs to come from Columbia Tri Star, and it
didn’t carry one of the most outstanding video jobs I had seen. When it was
fortunate enough to be re-released in a Special Edition, the image flaws had
indeed been removed, and as a whole, a superb video transfer had been delivered,
and at that point, I found it to be one of the best looking discs to come from
CTS.
With the new
Superbit edition, the video transfer has been elevated to an even bigger level
of excellence. The picture quality is jaw-droppingly remarkable, as all previous
Superbit releases have been. The eye-popping look of sunny Miami has never
looked sharper before. In short, what was already a great looking disc has now
become even greater with this new edition.
Audio:
Special
Edition ****
Superbit ****
The case is the
same with the audio department. Both discs contained outstanding 5.1 mixes, but
the Superbit disc just manages to carry a little extra boom. As in any Michael
Bay movie, you will get your share of gun fights, explosions, and just about
everything but the kitchen sink, which makes for the perfect Superbit release.
Music plays a heavy part in the audacious sound quality, as background music,
song or score, is played in nearly every scene. The Superbit edition, by
comparison, has a bigger level of dynamic range.
Features:
Special
Edition ***1/2
Superbit (Zero Stars)
I’ve always liked
the idea of a disc such as the Superbit series, but unfortunately, unless such
titles are released in two disc sets, like Hollow
Man and the soon to be released Punch-Drunk
Love, there’s no room for extras. The reason for this is simply to ensure
a state of the art disc.
However, as for the
Special Edition, there is a nice bag of extras to give you your bang. There
are two featurettes, “The Boom and Bang of Bad Boys” and “Damage
Control”. There is also a commentary track by Michael Bay which, despite some
minor gaps, is a nice listen. Rounding out the extras are some deleted scenes,
three music videos, and trailers for this, as well as Men
in Black and Blue Streak.
Summary:
