Comedy duos now a days feel like a thing of distant memory. Movie goers in the 70s got to experience Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, a comedy duo made in heaven. The 80s brought us the rat pack, for the angsty teenagers crowd. While the comedy crowd got the brilliance of the ghostbusters. Modernly speaking though it feels like a lost art form. Sure, studios have kept trying their hand. Look at last year’s Men in Black International or Stuber. Both prime examples of ideal chemistries that never had the right material to come up with. That’s the other obstacle for buddy films to work. You need as much working behind the screen as you do up front. That’s why, in my opinion, a lot of these modern-day buddy films don’t work that well or aren’t as memorable.
The 90s seemed like the last hoorah of these types of films. At the heart of two of the decade’s best buddy films was Will Smith. He hunted down aliens as the charismatic secret agent in Men in Black. Before he was hunting aliens with Tommy Lee Jones, he was a rich playboy cop alongside Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys. Lawrence and Smith are a great example of what chemistry should look like on screen. Bad Boys chronicles the relationship of Narcotics officers, Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence), protecting a murder witness (Tea Leoni) and tracking down their career best collection of heroin. The story within Bad Boys has a beautiful evolution with it that can sometimes get lost in genre films like this. The story never overdoes itself or aims too high. Rather staying in sync with its characters, their journey and the tempo the film presents early on.
Michael Bay, yes the explosion extraordinaire, is rather genius in his camera movements throughout the story. Making the angles the audience is seeing as much apart of the storytelling as the characters itself. It’s a lost art form that Bay doesn’t get enough credit for in his career and Bad Boys is a prime example of the very things he can do. At the center of that brilliance is another layer of it is Lawrence and Smith. The two have incredible chemistry. When they interact on the screen, its’ easy to see this backstory of the characters being legitimate. They play off one another with grace and glory.
The action is equally as strong here. Though, it never loses sight of its story. Balancing both the simplicity of the story and the beauty of the action. When you throw Bay behind the camera and Smith and Lawrence in front, it’s a trifecta of wonder. Though, the same can’t be said about some of the film’s other elements. While there is a grace that comes with Bad Boys that grace isn’t as exciting as the rest of the film. I’ll admit, outside of a notable IP, creating a memorable villain is hard. Unfortunately, that is not the case with the antagonist in Tchéky Karyo. He is leans into the tropes of the genre, becoming increasingly forgettable along the way.
Overall, Bad Boys, is pure adrenaline fun. It is a quintessential film for any action movie lover. The fun environment thrives on a story that naturally unfolds itself. It is brought to life by the brilliant camera work on Michael Bay and the genuine chemistry of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The two have a natural spark that light one another up with every joke and action sequence throughout the film. There is a certain level of wonder that the two create off one another – becoming on the best duos in the last few decades for film. Bad Boys does have some bad, as its’ title suggest. The antagonist leans into the tropes of the genre and quickly becomes forgettable and flat. Still even with the minor flaws, what are you gonna do when the Bad Boys come for you?
RORSCHACH RATING:
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