Bad Boys II

It's too early to be proclaiming any movie as the best movie of 2003. But it's not too soon to name something the year's worst. Not when "Bad Boys II" makes such a strong case for that particular dishonor.

This bigger-isn't-better sequel is so violent that it's hard to see how it slid by the MPAA with just an R rating.

It seems director Michael Bay was so hurt by the accusations of "going soft" after his World War II-period fluffball "Pearl Harbor" that he tried to prove them wrong in the most graphically gory fashion possible. (Ironically, if "Bad Boys II" had a secondary title, it would be "Hurl Harbor"; it's that sickening.)

The film also features perhaps the worst performance of Will Smith's career. He and Martin Lawrence reprise their roles as, respectively, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. This time around, the Miami narcotics officers are on the trail of a drug lord (Jordi Molla) who's importing Ecstasy into the United States.

Meanwhile, Marcus' sister (Gabrielle Union) is working undercover on the same case — for the DEA. She also happens to be dating Mike behind Marcus' back.

It's not worth getting any deeper into the plot, which isn't exactly deep to begin with. Things quickly dissolve into a headache-inducing, stomach-churning orgy of blood, guts and very little brains and heart.

"Bad Boys II" is rated R for graphic scenes of action violence (gunplay, decapitations, vehicular and explosive mayhem), frequent use of strong sex-related profanity, graphic gore, strong drug content (Ecstasy and marijuana), crude sexual humor, simulated sex (done for laughs), brief nudity (corpses, also done for laughs) and some racial epithets. Running time: 150 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com