by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Now, a rehabilitated group of good guys, The Bad Guys attempt to adjust to their lives as law-abiding civilians. The group of former criminals, led by Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), and further consisting of safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), inside man Mr. Snark (Craig Robinson), muscle man Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), are still not accepted by society, and they struggles to find paid jobs. However, they soon find they may be forced back into a life of crime by a new group of female criminals known as The Bad Girls, blackmailing them into one more job where the stakes may be higher than any heist they’ve previously attempted.
The Bad Guys 2 is a sequel to the fun but somewhat generic The Bad Guys from 2022, essentially a family friendly version of Ocean’s Eleven. It was fine as a movie on its own. Still, I remember loving the idea of a heist movie the whole family could enjoy, and felt there was significant potential for a franchise, so I was very excited for the followup.
What I liked about the setup is that you don’t need to have seen the original to understand anything about this one. The opening occurs before the original’s events, as the group pulls off a heist in Cairo. This helps to get you up to speed with what these characters used to be about, and showcases the group’s camaraderie, which is the real driving force of these kinds of stories. It also gives the story a more uplifting feel before cutting to the present day, showing the reality that the group is washed and struggling to make ends meet, now that they are no longer stealing from people. This is an interesting angle for a sequel: What the group did in the original, and the decision to turn good, negatively impacted their lives.
So where do you take the story in a sequel now that The Bad Guys have turned good? Simple: Introduce a new rival group of criminals, The Bad Girls! (Perhaps a bit of a cheat, since one member of The Bad Guys is female, but we’ll overlook that technicality.) This group is comprised of vicious leader Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), the engineer Pigtail (Maria Bakalova), and the deceptive raven Doom (Natasha Lyonne). It’s an interesting turn after the last film had a Bond-style villain. Kitty Kat and Wolf have a couple of really nice scenes together, and The Bad Girls is a well-rounded set of strong females with their own take on pulling off a heist, which is different from anything seen in the first film.
In addition to the leading group, several other characters from the original return, including the hilariously overly emotional Chief Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein) and the always compelling Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), and I was also pleasantly surprised they even brought back the original’s main antagonist, Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), for a couple of scenes. If the ending is anything to go by, he will probably play a larger role in the third installment.
But Diane is the real standout of the side characters; she has exceptional chemistry with Wolf, and a nice balance of tension, warmth, and faith in him not trying to deceive her. In a sense, she’s everything Wolf wants to be: more competent as a spy and more charismatic in social situations. Luggins and Marmalade are also a lot of fun to watch and add a lot of good comedy.
The plot takes things in many different directions, and is constantly racing. It is perhaps slightly excessive in terms of the number of twists or reveals it has. Not to say the twists aren’t good — a number of them are pretty clever moments that I didn’t see coming. I don’t even really mind the trope where a character gives a knowing look and another character has an “It was you!”moment of realization, with maybe a flashback showing what happened. This only becomes a problem towards the end, because there are a few too many moments like that, and it starts to be less satisfying and more tedious.
But the story is certainly still well crafted in other aspects. The narrative structure feels like a crime drama where the plot gradually thickens, and the stakes progressively increase. The action set pieces are visually impressive; they do a good job utilizing the fact that this is animation, and you can do things that wouldn’t be possible, or that would seem way too ridiculous, in live action. For instance, the climax takes place in outer space.
I especially love the attention to detail, such as giving the characters muffled voices while walking around in outer space, to further engross you in the feeling of being in space. They’ve taken everything that worked about the original and cranked up the scale of it all. The musical score also feels bigger and more dramatic here; it sounds like something that belongs in an action summer blockbuster.
Now, despite this, not everything in the story works. There are a decent number of dumb moments. For example, there is one part where a laptop is doing a bad thing, and they aren’t sure how to stop it. I don’t know about you, but if I had a shark and a piranha on my team, and a small device is doing a thing I don’t want it to do, I would get them to smash it to pieces. There are a few other moments in the film like this. They play up Wolf and Snake as being smart, but they act dumb at times.
The casting here is spot on for a heist movie, with maybe a couple of exceptions; these are all actors you could picture in a live action film like this, and they all do a great job. The only cast members who work only as voice roles are Borstein, because her character is so expressive and over the top, and Ayoade, because his character was a surprise villain in the original. Ayoade’s voice makes him seem less suspicious. The rest of them do a fantastic job of immersing you in the idea that you are watching a typical crime thriller, just with anthropomorphic animals, and it’s all family friendly.
But even with this being a family film, there are a decent number of visual gags or references for the older parts of the audience to enjoy. These moments are layered so that kids won’t notice them and won’t be confused. It is not quite as clever or funny as the Shrek films, but I still appreciate that they do this to make things more interesting for the people who bought the tickets.
The Bad Guys 2 is one of those rare occasions where the sequel improves the original. The characters are more fleshed out, the world is more alive, the action is way more visually impressive, and the whole experience is much more entertaining. The plotting is less formulaic and predictable this time, and things are here for the kids and the parents to enjoy. It’s a heartfelt and emotional rollercoaster with just the right harmonizing of action, comedy and character growth.
Rating: Liked It
The Bad Guys 2 is currently playing in theaters
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