Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back for more crime fighting, as Bad Boy Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. Bad Boys (1985) broke all the rules, setting a high standard for buddy-cop films, and Bad Boys 2 raises the action bar for cop movies in general. As carefully choreographed as BB1, BB2's intense action sequences will have audiences yelling "WOAH!" through flying car chases and frame-by-frame bullet wounds.
You know you're in for a wild ride when Henry Rollins of Black Flag fame walks in as your Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) squad leader, tats bared and all. Gear up with night-vision gear and assault boats as we go whoop some KKK, sister-lovin', dentally-challenged hicks' ecstacy import ring. As Mike says, it's the "same old shit, different day," only it gets better and faster as the day goes on. The wicked car chases have all the action of The Matrix Reloaded and there are as many spent vehicles as there are in The Blues Brothers. And the downhill-Hummer-2-shanty-town-exploding action is very reminiscent of Jackie Chan's Police Story.

Together, director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have outlived their critics disdain for BB1, which was the turning point for TV star Smith's and former TV-commercial director Bay's movie careers. And they made BB1 at considerable risk. Smith has learned, since MIB2, not to over-talk your sequels, but maybe this time he should gloat. Putting less attention on minute detail than he did in BB1, Bay successfully concentrates more on the action and the movie-going experience in the sequel. Mad props also for crisp sound editing and a great score (BB1 had this nailed down, and BB2 follows suit).

Mike and Marcus do what they do best—having fits at each other's expense, hopping from one soon-to-be wrecked car to the next (insert Cadillac product placement endorsed by Dan Marino here), and jibber-jabbering non-stop like a couple of ninnies. Things get complicated when Mike, dog that he is, chases after the more-protective Marcus's DEA-agent sister Sydney Burnett, well-played by gorgeous Gabrielle Union. Sydney's cover gets blown and she's held for ransom in downtown Havana.

This time around, there are so many bad guys in the film that it's anyone's guess how Miamians get to work on a daily basis. There's such a great mix of Russian Mafia, Cuban Family criminals and Haitian Rasta Gangstas that you're left wondering where the North Korean Die Another Day bad guys are. Jordi Molla, as Johnny Tapia, is the untouchable Cuban overlord and main baddy, bent on becoming the leading supplier of "x" in North America. Dueling bad guy Peter Stormare, as the Russian-speaking nightclub owner, stands in Tapia's way. (Watch your back for Momma Tapia!)

Joe Pantoliano is back as Captain Howard, the ever frantic zipper-headed boss who can't stop the bodies from piling up (and boy do they ever this time—even the cadavers get to die twice). All those in between years have taken their toll on Captain Howard, and to combat the stress he's taken up feng shui and calming medatative techniques like chanting "woosah" and rubbing the pressure points of his ears. Noticeably absent are Shaun Toub as the store clerk from BB1 ("Freeze mother bitches!") and Tea Leoni as Julie Mott. But that tall lanky ex-con hacker "Fletcher" is back, breaking into police computer systems at will for on-the-floor Lakers tix.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, whu'chu gunna wait for? Get in line now for the best kick this summer.