The Bad Guys 2 (PG) |Close-Up Film Review
Dir: Pierre Perifel & JP Sans, US, 2024, 104 mins
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Ferguson, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beats
Review by Kristen Platt
Starting its story before the first movie, it launches into the kind of breathless action set-piece you’d expect from a Jason Bourne film. Obviously it’s much easier to pull of breathtaking action when it’s animated, but nonetheless it is a brilliant action sequence with escalating stakes. It serves as an excellent counterpoint to the mundane existence the titular team are living now; trying to eke out an existence from the skills that made them extraordinary in their previous careers. But when they are set up to take the fall for a series of thefts of super-rare element Maguffinite (that alone is worth a whole star worth of rating) they are catapulted back into the life they know, and love. What follows is a film packed with twists, turns, bluffs, and double bluffs, that careens along, with the viewer gleefully clinging on for the ride.
Part of what makes this film so appealing is the animation style, along with casting a bunch of ridiculously charming actors to voice the characters. And it works so well. All the main characters return (unlike the short spin-offs we’ve had in the interim), and while we don’t get a musical set-piece from Anthony Ramos as Piranha, we do get plenty of brilliant fart gags. It should get old. It does not. There’s also a cameo from Professor Marmalade from the first movie, with a reveal that had the screening audience bellowing with laughter.
There’s enough to keep even the most hardened adult engaged, and the kids entranced. No mean feat in this day and age. A worthy sequel to the first movie, that will no doubt buy frazzled parents everywhere a couple of hours peace.
