Bad Boy's 10th Anniversary (The Hits/+DVD) - Various Artists

...Background **

Bad Boys is an action adventure film based around the Miami Police Department and specifically the narcotics officers. The film was released in 1995 and is written by George Gallo, who has also been involved in writing the sequel (Bad Boys II). Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer have teamed up to direct and produce (respectively) it, and give it the touch of action that only they can. When you consider that Bay and Bruckheimer ...
...The Boom & Bang In Bad Boys” – Documentary
This is a documentary about the special effects and stunts used in the film. It contains commentary from Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Michael Bay and all the special effects and firearms team.

“Damage Control” Multi-Angle SFX Featurette
A series of clips going into some of the special effects used on the set and how they were created. There are various firearms and pyrotechnics ... more

I have no recollection of this film being released either in the cinema or on DVD and indeed was blissfully unaware that it existed until I went off to university, where one of my housemates was a big fan of the film. Determined to see what all the fuss was about I watched his copy of the film and was instantly hooked by it and after a couple more viewings was able to quote most of the script word for word.

** Background **

Bad Boys is an action adventure film based around the Miami Police Department and specifically the narcotics officers. The film was released in 1995 and is written by George Gallo, who has also been involved in writing the sequel (Bad Boys II). Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer have teamed up to direct and produce (respectively) it, and give it the touch of action that only they can. When you consider that Bay and Bruckheimer have also been involved in Pearl Harbour, Armageddon and The Rock then you have an idea of what sort of film to expect.

** Storyline **

Mike and Marcus have just made a career bust of heroin. Safely locked away in a custom built cage in the police station what could possibly happen to it? Well Fouchet and his crew have different ideas and mastermind an elaborate robbery plan to get hold of the heroin, which is worth $100 million. Late one night Fouchet kills a fake policeman to act as a decoy and empty the police station. With most on duty cops out hunting for a killer, Fouchet and co use the ventilation system to get into the station and get the heroin out.

With the drugs gone and internal affairs suspecting an internal job, Mike and Marcus are given 72 hours to find out who is responsible and recover the drugs. Mike thinks that his friend Max may be able to tip them off about people celebrating but the investigation becomes personal when Fouchet murders Max. Julie witnesses Fouchet murdering Max and is able to identify him. Unfortunately Julie is mistrusting of the police and will only deal with Mike Lowrey.

When Julie calls to speak to Mike, he is unavailable. As Julie will only deal with Mike, Marcus has to imitate Mike to try and get to the bottom of the case. Fun and games are guaranteed as Mike and Marcus have to swap lives and maintain the lie to get the drugs back and find Max’s killer.

Will Mike and Marcus get the drugs back before internal affairs shut them down? Will they find Fouchet before he completes his deal to move the drugs on and disappears? Can they keep their partnership together living each other’s lives?

** Main Characters **

Mike Lowrey – played by Will Smith (I,Robot, Men In Black) is a narcotics cop in Miami. Mike is a wealthy young man who has been left a lot of money by his parents who have died. Mike enjoys the finer things in life and his pride and joy is his new limited edition Porsche. He is something of a ladies man but enjoys his bachelor lifestyle too much for anything serious.

Marcus Burnett – played by Martin Lawrence (National Security) is Mike’s partner. Marcus is Mike’s working class sidekick. He is happily married with kids and lives a quiet life in the suburbs. He has a good relationship with Mike and they spend a lot of time together socially.

Fouchet – played by Tcheky Karyo (Kiss of the Dragon, The Core) is a drug dealer who masterminded stealing heroin from the police station. He plans to try and move the drugs on quickly and has chemists in place to process it as quickly as possible. In the meantime he must clean up any loose ends associated with the robbery.

Max Logan – played by Karen Alexander is a friend of Mike Lowrey. Max is a working girl and Mike asks her to keep an eye out for anyone acting strangely in the wake of the robbery. Max and Mike have been friends for a while and has a soft spot for him.

Julie Mott – played by Tea Leoni (Jurassic Park III, Deep Impact) is Max Logan’s flatmate. When Julie witnesses Max’s murder at the hands of Fouchet, Mike Lowrey is the only person she will talk to about it. She is mistrusting of the police but will talk to Mike because of his friendship with Max.

Captain Howard – played by Joe Pantoliano (Daredevil, Memento) is Mike and Marcus’ commanding officer. He is getting pressure from internal affairs about the robbery being an inside job and is desperate for Mike and Marcus to recover the dope.

** DVD Extras **

I am aware that there are many different versions of this DVD available to buy and I'm sure that each version has slightly different extras on it. I can only really comment on the extras on my copy of the DVD so I apologise if this is not very extensive. I copy I have is the single disc collectors edition. I have had it for a couple of years now and am not sure that it is still available to buy.

“Putting The Boom & Bang In Bad Boys” – Documentary
This is a documentary about the special effects and stunts used in the film. It contains commentary from Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Michael Bay and all the special effects and firearms team.

“Damage Control” Multi-Angle SFX Featurette
A series of clips going into some of the special effects used on the set and how they were created. There are various firearms and pyrotechnics that can be viewed in slow motion.

Theatrical Trailer
The Theatrical trailer used to promote the film when it was released in the cinema.

Photo Gallery
A selection of photo’s taken on the set during filming.

3 Music Videos (Diana King, Warren G, 69 Boys)
Diana King sings “Shy Guy” while Martin Lawrence gets into the mood of the song. The video also contains clips from the film. Warren G sings “So Many Ways” again with clips from the film included in the music video. 69 Boys perform “Five O, Five 0” which of course contains clips from the film.

Feature-Length Commentary by Director Michael Bay

Talent Profiles
There are a list of professional achievements and personal history for Michael Bay, Will Smith, Martin Lawrence and Tea Leoni. The information is something similar to what you would find on imdb.com

** My Opinion **

I have a pretty bizarre definition of what makes a great film and often it depends on what mood I am in when I first watch it. Some of the films I like a quite clever films, which you have to think about and maintain suspense and mystery throughout, others are just fun films. Top Gun is one of my all time favourite films but only because it is such good fun and has so many quotable lines in it. For me Bad Boys is another film in this vein. It is a fun film to watch but is never likely to win any awards, but it would almost certainly be in my top 20 favourite films. I must have watched this film ten times over the years and have never got bored of it.

So, I guess all that remains is for me to justify why I like this film so much. This is actually a lot harder than it should be for a film that I am so passionate about because even now I am not sure what it is that makes this film so entertaining.

Lets start with the storyline. I guess the easiest way to describe the plot for this film is to say that it is a fairly standard police based thriller. That is to say there is nothing particularly groundbreaking or mysterious about the story. Don’t expect any sudden twists in the plot because you will be disappointed. It is very much a case of what you see is what you get. Having said that the story does lend itself very well to dramatic action scenes, explosions, gunfights and of course not forgetting the comedy one-liners. Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer have something of a passion for action scenes and have not missed an opportunity to incorporate them into this film.

Now for the characters and the character development. As with most action-based films, the character development has been somewhat neglected in this film. What little development is included focuses on the two main characters of Lowrey and Burnett, with the peripheral characters being almost completely neglected. Given the nature of this film, too much character development would have been a waste of time and effort as it is not the primary focus of the film. However, the fact that the majority of the characters in the film are completely neglected is slightly disappointing and leaves most of the characters very one-dimensional.

Moving onto the acting itself. In my opinion Smith and Lawrence work really well together in this film. I think both of them are quite funny in their respective roles and go a long way to making this film the success that it has become. Smith brings some real class and glamour to his role and is well cast as the carefree bachelor. Likewise Lawrence does well as the more cautious family guy bringing his own brand of humour and character to the role. The other positive thing to come out of the acting is the on screen relationship between Smith and Lawrence. It was quite important for the story and the success of the film that Smith and Lawrence worked well together and it was believable that they were on the same wavelength. They achieved this chemistry with some success and really brought their character’s relationship to life.

Aside from Smith and Lawrence I have to say that I was fairly disappointed with the performances of the rest of the cast. Admittedly there wasn’t a lot in any of the roles for them to tackle but their performances still seemed a little cardboard. Karyo never really brought any sort of presence to the “bad guy” role meaning that you never really felt like he was going to get away with it. Similarly with the female interest in the film where Leoni fails to bring any real character to the role.

It all seems fairly negative so far so why do I like this film so much? Well it is down to the script, the performances of Smith and Lawrence and the action scenes. The action scenes have been well thought out and have been used to enhance the storyline rather than take over it. They are fairly elaborate as you would expect from Michael Bay but still maintain a degree of realism so not to make a complete mockery of the film. I have already talked about the on screen chemistry between Lawrence and Smith so all that leaves is the script. One of the few common denominators between the films I like is the one-liners and quotable sections of the script, and this film is up there with the best of them for quotable lines. The wit and charm of Smith and Lawrence combined with the script writing of Gallo provides plenty of memorable lines for you to take away with you after the film.

** Memorable Quotes **

These are some of my personal favourite quotes from the film. There are many more that could have been included but in the interests of not boring you I have kept it short.

“Everyone wants to be like Mike”

“Punch it, just punch it”

“He shot you, he shot me, we beatin’ him down”

** More Information **

Like the sound of what you’ve read here and are looking for some more information? Check out these sites for more detail about this film.

http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/catalog/catalogDetail_DVD043396107120.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112442/

** Availability **

This film is widely available on DVD from most retailers. The cheapest place I have seen it is Blah DVD, where at the time of writing it can be bought for £5.99, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if it could be picked up for less than this on the high street or at other online retailers.

It can also be obtained as part of a box set with the sequel, but of course this is more expensive.

** Overall **

I really enjoy watching this film. It never fails to cheer me up. There is nothing new here and nothing too taxing, but it is a fun and entertaining film. All in all a fantastic film that everyone should see at least once, although I suspect it is the sort of film you will either love or hate. Just like marmite.

Thanks for reading
 

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