Critic's Grade: B

By now it's pretty clear that director Michael Bay shines best when he sticks to his roots. if he's not busy blowing up Pearl Harbor on celluloid, he's preparing the world for armageddon, or threatening San Francisco with biological terror from Alcatraz. Let it be known, I'm not a Bay junkie: I hold his 2001 World War II epic to be one of the most empty-headed blockbusters of late, and his 1998 end-of-the-world thriller, although watchable, could use some work here and there. "The Rock," however, was one hell of a show considering it was riding along on sheer energy and acting pizazz, something that Bay obviously carried over from his debut feature, "Bad Boys."

"Bad Boys" stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as undercover police officers Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, longtime friends who have a knack for getting on one another's nerves just in time to kick some serious felon butt. Having just made the bust of their careers, Burnett hopes that he will have more time to spend with his wife and kids, while Lowrey is anxious to live it up with the local honeys. That all changes, of course, after the police station is robbed of its narcotics stash, leaving them with a mere 72 hours to locate and retrieve the paraphernalia before the feds reassign them for good.

Now I could sit here all afternoon relating to you, my readers, the numerous implausibilities and logical loopholes that the filmmakers take full advantage of (A big-city police precinct robbed? Gimme a break.). The story isn't the only factor that stretches reality: Bay's expertly-staged action sequences, now well-known for their bending of the laws of physics, contain everything from explosions that wait until just the right moment to unleash their full blast, car chases and collisions that should end in at least one mortality... why go on?

This isn't the first movie to go beyond what is considered plausible, and it won't be the last. But to call it one of the less-noticeable entries is doing it some serious misjustice. Bay is a master of his craft, and knows what his target demographic wants to see: slam-bang action and choreography, loads of explosions and firepower, and requisite jumps between different events in the action. We also have to very likeable lead characters in Lowrey and Burnett, mainly due to the effectively humorous performances from Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, who shine in their verbal duels and have an onscreen chemistry that ranks as one of the better buddy pairings in years. With dialogue and one-liners that are borderline outrageous, Smith and Lawrence carry the movie most of the way, and we admire them for it. They remind us of the fact that while "Bad Boys" may be just another popcorn flick, it's certainly not without its merits.

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