The Bad Guys 2 Review
They’re back! Messrs Wolf, Snake, Shark, Piranha and Ms Tarantula, the stars of The Bad Guys 2, are not only being rolled out to coincide with the school holidays, but they’re also in Universal’s one and only movie for young families this summer. Not that they’re facing massive competition. Aside from Disney’s Freakier Friday (released on August 8th), good old-fashioned family fodder seems to be in short supply this year. And it almost goes without saying that, as sequels, both films are trading on existing audiences.
The Bad Guys 2, complete with one of the least imaginative titles of the year, goes further. With the same main cast and much the same set-up, it comes with built-in déjà vu. For most films, that could be a problem, but, for those who enjoyed their first action-packed animated outing, it’s a welcome return. After trying to convince everybody in their first movie that they’d gone straight, this time our favourite criminal critters genuinely have. Out of jail and sticking to the straight and narrow, they’re finding life hard: nobody believes they’ve turned over a new leaf, and the chances of legal employment are zilch. The only exception is Mr Snake (voiced as brilliantly as ever by Marc Maron), who is finding things a lot easier, and that’s because he’s found a girlfriend. Maybe. Against their better judgement, the gang find themselves embroiled in foiling another, this time all-female, criminal gang. It’s their only hope of the world taking them seriously.
The opening credits make it clear that DreamWorks see this as a caper movie. The original certainly was, but this time directors Pierre Perifel and J P Sans have shifted away from the previous Ocean’s Eleven schtick and adopted a style closer to Bond and Mission: Impossible. And we all know what that means. Lots of action, with the de rigueur crazy car chases, and one particular sequence involving a space shuttle where the Clooney-esque Mr Wolf attempts to out-Cruise Cruise. It certainly gives the latter stages of the movie a lift, and shows off the studio’s animation chops to good effect, but there’s also a sense that the film is so determined to recapture the hearts of the audiences from three years ago that it comes perilously close to trying too hard.
This time round, there’s also a noticeable change in tone. After the U certificate content of the original, there’s a definite move towards topical gags and references aimed at the adults in the audience, and the film is rated PG. But if the children at the screening I attended can be taken as a yardstick, it’s not as big an issue as it might sound. They all laughed in plenty of places, and when the film was quieter, so were they, so it must have been holding their attention.
What’s important is that the spirit and energy of the original, which was at the heart of its appeal, remains pretty much intact. Inevitably, there’s a nod towards a possible threequel – make sure you stay for the mid-credits scene – so the chances of the gang getting back together again after The Bad Guys 2 are looking good already. And, if the film follows through on its promise, they could be secret agents, but this time Men In Black style. Or will that be Beasts In Black?
★★★
In cinemas from July 25th / The voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova / Dirs: Pierre Perifel, J P Sans / Universal / PG
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