Will Smith was only a fresh prince, not a Hollywood king, when Bad Boys bowed in 1995. His career and the shape of action filmmaking were never the same again.
Directed by a newcomer named Michael Bay with a relatively frugal $23-million budget, Bad Boys redefined the way action movies entertain, investing a hip-hop vibe and even more outlandish mayhem to the standard Schwarzenegger-Stallone routine. Smith and another relative newcomer, Martin Lawrence, made a hipper pair of cop buddies than usual. Although I can't recall a darn thing about the plot, I remember how cool and profanely funny they were.
Smith is now and forever an Oscar nominee for Ali and former undisputed champ of Fourth of July box office numbers. Lawrence, despite personal issues, has a few hits under his belt. Bay's bombastic approach in films such as Con Air, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor leaves moviegoers divided about whether he's a boon or bane to American cinema. Now, two certified movie stars and one blockbuster director can fetch a reported $75-million for an overdue, R-rated sequel, Bad Boys II.
Smith again plays Detective Mike Lowery, with Lawrence as his partner, Detective Marcus Burnett, two cops with fast trigger fingers and faster mouths. The plot has something to do with ecstasy drug trafficking in Miami and the kidnapping of Marcus' sister (Gabrielle Union), who is also Mike's lover. But that stuff is just an excuse for Smith and Lawrence to blast their way through bad situations, from going undercover at a Ku Klux Klan meeting to assorted car chases, bombings and a boat chase. And you wonder why Miami always seems to be under construction.
Filming Bad Boys II created some hassles in Miami last year, including an occasion for Gov. Jeb Bush to grant relief from manatee protection laws for that boat chase on the Miami River. Shutting down MacArthur Causeway for several days of filming a car chase irritated motorists who were forced to travel miles out of their way to reach the beach.
Of course, those kinds of problems won't occur here when The Punisher begins production this month. Will they?
Bad Boys II was screened for critics too late for Weekend coverage. See Friday's Floridian for a full review.
That's English, Johnny English
Rowan Atkinson's preposterous humor has never quite caught on in the United States. So he has been just another British comedian wishing to be the next Dudley Moore or Peter Sellers yet always lacking the proper material to do it. After the resounding thuds of Bean and Rat Race at the box office, Atkinson would probably settle for being the next Benny Hill.
His latest attempt at movie stardom, Johnny English (PG), sounds like a decent idea coming about six years too late. Certainly the notion of spoofing James Bond and his spy movies would have seemed fresher before Austin Powers got his mojo working. Three times.
Atkinson plays the title character, a desk-bound agent for British Intelligence pressed into field duty when all the better agents are captured or killed. Someone has stolen the crown jewels from the Tower of London. All clues - and the casting of John Malkovich - point to Pascal Sauvage, a French billionaire plotting to become king of England. Pop singer Natalie Imbruglia makes her feature film debut as Lorna Campbell, from all indications no different than any Bond girl.
Johnny English was screened for critics too late for Weekend review.
