The good news for fans of is the new sequel is stellar. But that鈥檚 because a good portion is actually set in 鈥 are you kidding us? 鈥 outer space. 鈥淭he Bad Guys 2鈥 has clearly lost its moorings.
Returning director Pierre Perifel, writers Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen and the same voice cast have done what all sequels do these days 鈥 amp it all up like everyone is on molly, try to hit the same emotional notes and layer an insane plot with It鈥檚 hard to watch a franchise drift so expensively and pointlessly in Earth鈥檚 orbit.
The gang is all back: as safe-cracker Mr. Snake, Craig Robinson as master-of disguise Mr. Shark, as Mr. Piranha and as hacker Ms. Tarantula. We left them in the last movie walking out of prison early after good behavior and trying to turn their back on bad-hood.
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It鈥檚 not that easy since would-be employers these days want to know about gaps in their job experience 鈥 they were robbing banks, after all 鈥 workplace trust issues and salary expectations. No one wants to hire a bunch of ex-cons.
鈥淎nyone who wants to change has to start somewhere,鈥 Mr. Wolf, pushing the George Clooney-like charm offensive, begs one dubious interviewer. 鈥淚鈥檓 just asking for a chance.鈥
A life on the straight-and-narrow is hard for four of the former baddies, but not Maron 鈥 so perfectly cast as the grouchy, self-loathing snake. Now he spends his days doing Vinyasa yoga, listening to Sabrina Carpenter鈥檚 鈥淓spresso,鈥 telling people 鈥渘amaste鈥 and sips wheatgrass kombucha with dandelion. He鈥檚 even more irritating.
Soon all five are caught in a series of traps and double-crosses by a new robbery crew 鈥 Danielle Brooks鈥 lollipop-licking venomous snow leopard, Maria Bakalova鈥檚 Bulgarian wild boar engineer and Natasha Lyonne鈥檚 wry raven, using her same vocal tick as on These dames have a plan to get very rich using a substance known as MacGuffinite, a clever 鈥 or lazy 鈥 joke on the object that everyone wants in a movie like this, which drives the plot.
There鈥檚 soon a trip to a Mexican wrestling festival and then a wedding needs crashing in order to gain control over a rocket owned by an 鈥 voice acted by Colin Jost 鈥 who runs the MoonX company. Then the rocket has to be stopped before a gadget aboard creates a 鈥24-carat catastrophe.鈥
The animation is amazingly kinetic and with no corners cut, from tiny bugs illuminated in a light beam at night to the bumpy way a truck moves on the highway. The franchise鈥檚 love of vroooming and fishtailing Looney Tunes-like car chases stays intact, as does the wavy green air farts that emanate from Piranha.
Based on Aaron Blabey鈥檚 popular graphic book series, the first movie in 2022 drove hard into the nature of good and evil 鈥 like asking if DNA determines behavior 鈥 as our heroes whipsawed between heroic and villainous, to the glee of all the kiddies in the theater. 鈥淲e may be bad, but we鈥檙e so good at it,鈥 was the slogan. It was all nicely set against a zombie guinea pig uprising.
This time the writers have just given up on what side of the ethical divide their anti-heroes are on. 鈥淎re we bad again?鈥 ask the confused piranha. Replies Mr. Wolf: 鈥淚 get it. We鈥檙e all over the place.鈥 Left unexplored is the concept of doing wrong for a greater good, and can being bad be excused if it stops a worse badness? 鈥淲hat if the bad life was your best life?鈥 asks one of the newcomers. (Another thing to chew on: If 鈥淭he Bad Guys 2鈥 is a worse sequel, does that make 鈥淭he Bad Guys鈥 good?)
When we say the gang is all here, they鈥檙e all here without any editing: Zazie Beetz returns as Gov. Diane Foxington, Alex Borstein comes back as the top cop and even the kitten from the first film meows in the second. So is Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade, the evil guinea pig who is now surprisingly swole and tatted up in prison. He threatens again to steal the show and may if there鈥檚 a 鈥淭he Bad Guys 3.鈥 (There鈥檚 going to be a 鈥淭he Bad Guys 3.鈥)
The joy of 鈥淭he Bad Guys鈥 was that it was a respectful send-up of the movies of Quentin Tarantino and caper flicks like 鈥淥cean鈥檚 11.鈥 This time, the 鈥淔ast & Furious鈥 series gets mocked, as does 鈥淪ilence of the Lambs,鈥 鈥淢en in Black鈥 and maybe 鈥淢oonraker,鈥 which is now 46 years old. But the subversion is painfully flat now: The first film in the franchise would have laughed at one climactic line in the second: 鈥淲e鈥檝e got one shot to save the world. Let鈥檚 make it count!鈥
The three new villains may be a touch too much for younger viewers 鈥 the violence seems darker and more volcanic this time 鈥 but there鈥檚 a very loud soundtrack that includes Busta Rhymes, Sofi Tukker and Rag鈥檔鈥橞one Man.
So what does it all mean? It means the folks behind 鈥淭he Bad Guys 2鈥 reunited for a shot to push the franchise into exciting areas, but 鈥 c鈥檓on, everyone 鈥 they didn鈥檛 make it count.
