All right, let's get this party started. Welcome to Beeorn's world. Here is where I let you know what is what and the way things are. Now listen up.
Today, I saw two films that just opened in theatres. You may have heard of them. Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson and Bad Boys II, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Both were on my must-see list for different reasons. English because it looked pretty goddamn funny, and Bad Boys because the original is one of my favorite movies, and well, this is the summer of sequels.
The first one I saw was Johnny English. It looked like on of those movies that is uneven at best and unfunny somewhere around the middle, like Bean. I sat down prepared to watch several bad Mr. Bean meets James Bond skits taped together and packaged for mass consumption. What I got was something better. I got a wonderfully bumbling Rowan Atkinson doing what he does best, overracting and doing slapstick. His supporting characters, like John Malkovich as the villian, and Nathalie Imbruglia as the co-agent/ingenue, were not overdone. Well, maybe Malkovich a little, but who can blame him?
The bottom line is, even though this was probably the most predictable movie ever made, it was still funny, and most of all, entertaining. Which, of course, is the reason we go to the movies, isn't it? I would recommend it, take the kids, take your girlfriend, its safe for everybody. I give it 7 of 10 stars.
Now, we come to the other movie. The bad news. Bad Boys II. If you saw the first one, you probably liked it. Smith and Lawrence had good chemistry, the acting wasn't overdone, and the action was believable. And Tcheky Karyo made one hell of a villian. Now, move to today. Will Smith is a huge star. Micheal Bay, who directed the first, thinks he's king shit. And Martin Lawrence can only do a good movie if he has a decent co-star.
I went into this movie with a lot of expectations. The chemistry had to be right, and the action had to be secondary to the story. Of course, neither were right. Obviously, the problems behind the scenes affected the product. That, or Micheal Bay is just and awful director. I'm willing to say its a combination.
The movie does have its moments, however. Some of the deaths are particularly violent (call me sick, but I like that) and there is one scene where they interrogate a date of Lawrence's daughter. That was priceless. Some of the action is good, but the use of slo-mo and bullet time is overdone. Micheal Bay seems to have embraced it as his own.
On the bad side, the villian was uninteresting, there were like five car chases, three of which were unnecessary, and a whole jaunt into Cuba which took up 45 minutes. That in and of itself was wholly unbeleivable. How could a small group of cops ever think of going into Cuba when the military won't? That is ridiculous. Anyway, I would not recommend this one. I give it 4 out of 10 stars.
Okay, that's my rant for now. But there will be more. Stay tuned. And, uh, give us some feedback. Tell us what's on your mind. Thanx.