Review: The Bad Guys 2 – The good life
Directed by JP Sans and Pierre Perifel
Starring Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina
7/10
As the reformed Bad Guys struggle to make a living by staying on the straight and narrow, another thief is making a splash with the media. The Phantom Bandit has been carrying out a set of audacious robberies, with a flair reminiscent of the Bad Guys. Seeing this, a desperate Wolf (Sam Rockwell) comes up with a plan to earn the city’s trust and prove his team’s worth. The former criminals are going to use their dubious skill set to bring the Phantom Bandit to justice.
The Bad Guys 2 manages to bring that heist crew dynamic into a younger audience milieu without losing a beat. It playfully executes all the genre tropes while remaining effortlessly cool in doing so. As such, it feels less like it’s pandering for a younger audience but rather writing a similar story for them with age-appropriate content…oh…and set in a world with anthropomorphic animals.
In this way, it pitches the action and comedy just right. It embraces the absurdity of the characters, the situation, and often the solution. In this endeavour, it’s definitely helped by the stacked voice cast. Rockwell nails the smooth-talking leader role, bringing a confidence and smugness that would be annoying if it wasn’t for the overwhelming charm. His desperation to stay clean plays perfectly for comedic effect, but he is also able to bring a sense of danger to the role. That struggle to stay honest is a note that the whole crew plays with, and one that’s nice to contrast with their less conflicted opposition.
This outing slowly moves the series towards the spy-fi end of the genre. As such, the art and design get a chance to shine. Just seeing the crew trying a break-in to a multistage rocket as it ascends is truly a beautifully animated sequence. The roar of the combustion, the icing up of the cylinder, and every little detail just come together to heighten the action. That care taken for all the action sequences really shows in this outing.
A smart action comedy that expands on the original, The Bad Guys 2 is a blast.
DAVID O’CONNELL