Bad
Boys 1 and 2: 20th
Anniversary Collection
(1995, 2003/Sony Blu-ray)
Bad
Boys
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: B
Jerry
Bruckheimer and Michael Bay's 1995 feature, Bad
Boys,
starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence is a fun buddy cop movie in
the same vein as Beverly
Hills Cop
or Rush
Hour
with kinetic action, amazing spectacle, and possibly the best example
of Bay's signature style. Love him or hate him, Michael Bay has had
some great films (mostly earlier in his career) and this is
definitely one of them. This new edition from Sony, the 20th
Anniversary Edition,
features some new extras and a beautiful transfer with unbeatable
sound.
Miami-Dade
detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin
Lawrence) blow a fuse when $100 million worth of heroin they recently
confiscated is heisted from station headquarters. Suspecting it was
an inside job, Internal Affairs gives them five days to track down
the drugs before they shut down the narcotics division. Action meets
farce when Marcus is compelled to masquerade as his partner in order
to gain the trust of a call girl (Tea Leoni), a key witness in their
investigation. Also starring Joe Pantoliano, Tcheky Karyo, Theresa
Randle, and Anna Thomson.
Mastered
in 4K that improves upon the initial release of the film, the 1080p
high definition transfer on the disc is crisp and clear throughout
with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is paired with a strong,
lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track (48kHz, 16-bit) and
tracks in French, Japanese, and Portuguese depending on where in the
world you are. The twenty year-old film looks as if it was shot
yesterday with beautiful orange-tinted scenes happening in magic hour
and detail all around.
Extras
include...
Audio
Commentary with Director Michael Bay
Putting
the Boom and Bang in the Bad Boys Documentary
Music
Videos: 69 Boyz 'Five-0,
Five-0 (Here They Come)'
and Diana King 'Shy
Guy'
and
Warren G's 'So
Many Ways'
Original
Theatrical Trailers
Bad
Boys 2
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: C+
Available
for the first time on Blu-ray is Michael Bay's 2003 sequel Bad
Boys 2,
which again stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. This time the
budget is way bigger with Michael Bay a more sharpened filmmaker and
features more explosive action, humor, and a longer running time than
the first film. This new edition is mastered in 4K high definition
also, so if you are a fan of the film then you won't want to miss out
on this release which is currently only available paired with the
first film in this set.
The
drug ecstasy is flowing into Miami, and the police want it stopped.
Police Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and his partner,
Mike Lowrey (Will Smith), are just the men to do it. They track the
drugs to a Cuban smuggler, Johnny Tapia (Jordi Molla), who is also
involved in a bloody war with Russian and Haitian mobsters. If that
isn't bad enough, there's tension between the two cops because Lowrey
is romantically involved with Burnett's sister, Syd (Gabrielle
Union).
Mastered
in 4K that improves upon the initial release of the film, the 1080p
high definition transfer on the disc is crisp and clear throughout
with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is paired with a
powerful, lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 track (48kHz, 16-bit)
and tracks in French, Japanese, and Portuguese depending on where in
the world you are.
Extras
include over two hours of content including...
Deleted
Scenes
On-Set
Production Diaries
Explosive
Scene Breakdowns
Jay
Z 'La-La-La'
Music Video
Stunts,
Visual Effects Featurettes
Original
Theatrical Trailers
I'm
a fan of both of these films and am overall pretty satisfied with
this release. The films look great in this new 4K re-mastered
transfer and in my opinion, aside from The
Rock,
these are some of Michael Bay's strongest work. There is rumor of a
third film down the pipeline so I'm sure this box set is out to
remind movie-goers before the cameras start rolling. I'm curious to
see what Burnett and Lowrey could be up to next.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films