9/11 at the Movies Pt. 4: Bad Boys 2 (with Logan Kenny)

Rotten Rewind

“I don’t change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.”

- Michael Bay
This week on the show, we close out our four week retrospective on post-9/11 cinema with what might be the most American film ever made: Michael Bay's "Bad Boys 2." A movie that not only reinvigorated director Michael Bay after his failed attempt to make a more classical wartime romance with “Pearl Harbor,” but also inadvertently reprogrammed audience’s expectations for action movies in the decades to come. A portal into the mind of Bay and the average American, "Bad Boys 2" might be the definitive post-9/11 work. A two and a half hour love letter to American excess that begins with two Black detectives infiltrating a KKK meeting and climaxes with the Miami P.D. invading Cuba, "Bad Boys 2" is now considered the most irresponsible, downright evil movie a major studio produced in the 21st century. It's also a relentless and often mesmerizing piece of action filmmaking that could have only been made by Michael Bay.
Film critic Logan Kenny joins us to discuss the paradox of being a Bay fan and the enduring legacy of the film nearly 20 years later. Is Mike Lowery the most evil "hero" cinema has ever given us? Does Will Smith ever have chemistry with his female co-stars? Is the blatant homophobia on display in the film more dangerous than the "subtle" microaggressions found in more liberal 2000s entertainment like "Friends"? Is crunk actually making a comeback? Does Henry Rollins eat pussy? And will there ever be another studio movie as hateful as this? Find out now.