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Bad Boys II is an action junkie's wet dream. It has everything: Explosions, shoot outs, car chases; all littered with violence, sexism, racism, homophobism, as well as the usual buddy jokes courtesy of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence that made the first Bad Boys so popular amongst fans.

With the budget gone far beyond insanity this time, Bad Boys II provides director Michael Bay with the perfect opportunity to throw everything he possibly can onto the big screen. Call it egotism, and hate it purely for that reason, but one cannot deny at least some slight orgasmic twitch at the amount of "oomph" injected into this huge slice of action pornography.

Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) are the two narcotic cops working in Miami. This time, Cuban drug lord Johnny Tapia (Jordi Molla) aims to make a name for himself by taking over the ecstasy trade.

Before the movie gets into the main plot, though, we are treated to a brilliant opening scene involving Lowrey and Burnett disguised as KKK members. Yelling "Blue power, motherfuckers" in the face of white democracy prior to their bust, the two then begin trading various insults as they discover things don't quite go as smoothly as they first hoped, and Marcus ultimately ends up being shot in the ass (in slow motion), which is pretty hilarious.

Later, we are introduced to a subplot involving Marcus's sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union), who works undercover for the DEA and has a bit of "a thing" going on with Mike. They both worry about Marcus finding out, particularly seen as though he is being treated for "emotional anger stress issues, and have to tiptoe around him. This further adds to the humour in the film.

The pick of the action scenes (and believe me, there are plenty) involves a bunch of Haitians with automatic weapons driving a big rig full of cars, which Lowrey and Burnett have to dodge in a Ferrari as they give chase. It all gets a bit messy in this scene -- a boat even finds its way onto the motorway at one point -- but it sure is bloody well entertaining. One of the best car chases I've seen.

There's loads of random carnage in Bad Boys II, and I'll be here all night if I attempt to describe all of it. My only gripe is that the film is very long (at two hours forty mins, this is definitely not a quick movie fumble). Just when you think its all over, Syd is kidnapped by Tapia the drug lord, and Marcus and Mike, with the help of the DEA, pull on the camouflage and sneak into Cuba with C4 and numerous rocket launchers. Suddenly it's WWIII and Bad Boys, the cop-buddy flick, has turned into the ultimate war fantasy. It's absolute madness all round.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2008.