Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Shark, and Mr. Piranha are back in The Bad Guys 2. Fresh off of saving their city from the hands of Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), the team of reformed crime lovers is trying their best to remain good amidst a terrible job market and plenty of judgment around them for their past crimes. While the first film was a clever and edgy take on a kids’ heist movie, the second can’t help but fall into the traps that most sequels do: upping the ante and losing the charm.
Like the first film, The Bad Guys 2 starts out with voiceover from Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), the leader of the formerly named Bad Guys group. This device, which worked quite well in the previous film, is completely abandoned except for the first and final scenes. He explains that what he and his friends have been up to since the events of the first film, and for the most part, the gang has stuck together, except for Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), who has been off doing his own thing. They can’t find jobs, bills are piling up, and their public favor is low.
When a new criminal, dubbed the Phantom Bandit, starts stealing items made out of a precious metal called McGuffinite (see what they did there?), local police commissioner Misty Luggins starts to suspect the Bad Guys of the robberies. Determined to clear their names, Mr. Wolf and his team set out to protect the next item to be stolen, only to fall into the Phantom Bandit’s trap. The bandit is actually a team of female criminals run by Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), with wild boar Pigtail Petrova (Maria Bakalova) and raven Doom (Natasha Lyonne) backing her up. Forced between returning to their pasts and their lackluster futures as good guys, the crew must figure out how to save their town without being blamed for the Bad Girls’ crimes.
Director Pierre Perifel, who directed the first film, goes above and beyond to top it. Jokes are more frequent, toilet humor more potent, and the evil schemes more devious. What drives a good sequel is an endearing character arc, but we don’t focus enough on one character to get a true dynamic arc from any of them. I was hoping since the first scene was a flashback that focused on Ms. Tarantula’s (Awkwafina) first heist, that the Bad Girls would appeal to the one female member of the Bad Guys and but there was no storyline there. Even the potential storyline of Mr. Snake reconnecting with the rest of the group is made into a quick plot device and a joke. There’s no real attachment to the character with this franchise like there is for other Dreamworks properties like Shrek or How to Train Your Dragon. There are just too many characters for us to care about that any emotional arc gets put aside.
This film is also not for little kids. Like the first film, The Bad Guys 2 is geared toward older elementary students due to intense scenes and language. While I think this might be entertaining for that age group, it might be one adults want to wait until it’s on streaming, so your kid can enjoy from the other room, and you won’t be robbed of your time.
The Bad Guys 2 is now playing in theaters. Watch the trailer below.
