THE PREMISE:

"The Bad Guys are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys, when they are pulled out of retirement and forced to do "one last job" by an all-female squad of criminals." 

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

The 2020s have been a revolutionary time for computer animation. Where the 2010s felt defined by the pursuit of photo-realism, the 2020s have seemed to create a greater focus on defined styles. Across the Spider-Verse, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Netflix’s Cyberpunk 2077, and Arcane are all series which have pushed this medium forward. Dreamworks' 2022 original The Bad Guys had a style that has always felt like a graphic novel come to life. Its extreme focus of layered effects, such as smoke, dust, and elemental fire were rendered not to be lifelike, but to create atmosphere in a 2D animation. It was a step in the right direction, but didn’t truly feel innovative enough to be a part of the revolution. 

Its sequel, and the subject of this review, The Bad Guys 2, is a different beast entirely. Unlike its predecessor, the style isn’t merely limited to the rendered final image. The Bad Guys 2 is firmly a part of the Animation Revolution, due to its focus on creating movement that could only exist in the animated medium. The layered graphic novel style is still present - but now, it is emphasized through the film’s editing and cinematography. The Bad Guys 2 has a variety of action sequences that are built on creating momentum, and using the medium of animation to stretch the physical and temporal boundaries of the world. The opening scene includes a car chase which nearly had me crying out of euphoria, in the same way that the opening action set piece in Across the Spider-Verse did, and the What’s Up Danger sequence from Into The Spider-verse. The Bad Guys 2 uses action lines so effectively that every action sequence is seared into my mind, and it makes me want to return to the film. 

Of course, the action is only one third of the draw for The Bad Guys 2 - it is a comedy-heist movie, and I’d be remiss to not highlight the strengths of the jokes from this film. So many of these jokes are made by the film's editing. The jokes are built on the egos of the characters that we know, and subverted expertly with a jump-cut to the punchline. The jokes aren’t merely improvised comedy sketches between comedians, but instead are properly interwoven into the entire structure of the film. 

The final component of The Bad Guys 2 that should be mentioned is its inventive heists. What I appreciate about The Bad Guys 2 is how simple its heists are - these are like magic tricks on the film screen - and when all the pieces come together, it creates an effect that is surprising and leaves us wanting to understand how it was done. I especially appreciate the variety of heists on display in The Bad Guys 2. There’s a classic Mission: Impossible level heist, where multiple characters have specific roles to complete within a short amount of time of one another, where the audience is shown the heist from the perspective of The Bad Guys the full time. There’s a heist that is more akin to a magic trick, where the audience is left in the dark as the tension ratchets upwards, until the scene explodes and we find out that our Bad Guys have managed to escape. And of course, there is a final heist with impossibly high stakes that our characters can’t fully plan for, and thus must improvise to finish successfully. It’s a beautiful blend of styles that never feels repetitive, and leads to a satisfying cinematic experience. 

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But what about the plot? Is The Bad Guys 2 a worthy sequel to The Bad Guys? I… still am uncertain.

The Bad Guys 2 is a family film, and that creates some shocking limits for its thematic depth. The Bad Guys 2 is a film about the search for redemption in a world that still doesn’t trust you. Its a film that opens with Wolf driving a broken down car on the way to a job interview. The job interview goes about as well as one would expect - but in a moment of raw vulnerability, the Hiring manager says he has something in mind for Wolf, and will call him back. Wolf’s excitement is palpable - and after he leaves the office, he runs back in to thank the manager… and finds the manager shredding the resume.

The Bad Guys 2 is a funny film rooted in that dark space of self doubt and uncertainty. In those moments, when The Bad Guys 2 begins to thematically wrestle with what it means to be good and earn trust, I was hooked into its story. I wanted to see where the film would go - how these characters adapted to their situation and grew out of it. What I didn’t expect was for the film’s breakneck pacing to resolve these character conflicts as quickly as it did. The second and third act of The Bad Guys 2 lacks a moment for the characters to fully come to an understanding of who they are - and that leads to the finale feeling far more forced and shallow than the glimpses of depth we have seen from the rest of the film. From a plotting perspective, the pacing and resolution work. The film maintains emotional momentum through its high stakes finale, and it’s an expected finale for a kids/family movie - but upon further reflection, the finale leaves the highly invested viewer a bit unsatisfied.

Overall, The Bad Guys 2 is a work of art that belongs in the 2020s animation revolution. Every part of the film is working together to create a vacuum tight heist that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat. I firmly believe that its editing is the best of the year - and its strong sense of style and intentionality creates a summer movie-going experience that is memorable and deeply enjoyable.