Each character has a specific talent. Their leader, Wolf, is the charming, silver tongued pickpocket who “goes full George Clooney” on unsuspecting marks while breaking the fourth wall to talk to us. Snake is a grumpy safecracker, and Tarantula is a hacker who can type with all her legs. Shark is a master of disguise despite always looking like a shark wearing a disguise. And Piranha is a loose cannon with a severe flatulence problem.
All of these creatures have bad reputations based on public opinion. So, they subscribe to self-fulfilling prophecy. You want a Big Bad Wolf? You got him, Daddio! He’s going to rob you blind and cause “Smokey and the Bandit”-style police car pileups.
The opening of this film, a flashback showing how Wolf got the sports car prominently featured in the first movie, gives new viewers an idea of how good The Bad Guys are at crime. Once again, Wolf talks to the audience as if we were old friends.
To refresh your memory: The Bad Guys were pursued by a screaming human ball of rage, police Chief Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein). When she finally caught them, the Chief nearly had a stroke when Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) released The Bad Guys into the custody of a do-gooder guinea pig named Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade). Marmalade wanted to “reform” them, and by reform, I mean he framed them for a crime.
“The Bad Guys” was a pleasant diversion, a movie both you and your kids could enjoy. The voice work, especially by Maron, was excellent. And there was a moral lesson about how doing good can make you feel wonderful.
This film is more of the same in terms of quality, though it suffers a bit from the requirement that sequels must be bigger, busier, and louder. There are also too many characters this time, but every actor does a great job voicing their roles.
At the end of “The Bad Guys,” the team turned over a new leaf as “The Good Guys.” So, this movie needs a way to send them back into crime. With their reputations, none of The Bad Guys can get jobs. Wolf makes the mistake of applying to a bank he robbed three times. The botched interviews montage provides some laughs while creating empathy for our heroes.
It’s nice that screenwriters Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen wrote this familiar plight into their script. However, they can’t blame society’s inability to trust formerly incarcerated people for The Bad Guys’s backsliding. That would be way too heavy for kids.
Enter the Phantom Bandit, whose elaborate robberies are being blamed on The Bad Guys despite having zero evidence. The Phantom Bandit is really Kitty Kat (Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks from “The Color Purple”), whose all-female team includes Doom (Natasha Lyonne) and Pigtail (Maria Bakalova, sporting an Eastern European accent).
They blackmail The Bad Guys into helping them hatch a heist involving a metal called McGuffinite. Hitchcock would be proud of that material, as would 007’s nemesis, Goldfinger. The bait Kitty Kat dangles before our heroes is the true identity of Wolf’s love interest, Governor Foxington, a secret known only to the people who have seen “The Bad Guys.”
Along with the Governor, Chief Luggins is back for this installment. She’s been promoted to Commissioner this time, though Wolf keeps ignoring her new title. Also returning is Marmalade, who has become as swole as Max Cady in “Cape Fear” due to his time in prison. A super-sized, muscular guinea pig is only one of the many visual delights “The Bad Guys 2” has to offer. Adults will appreciate that his scene pays homage to “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Directors Pierre Perifel and JP Sans keep the action moving while allowing the performers and the animators to shine. Perifel and Cohen also worked on “The Bad Guys,” so they have a firm grasp of the material. With his perfectly calibrated grumpiness, Maron once again is the MVP of this franchise. But credit is also due for Rockwell’s sly delivery and Lyonne’s wry line readings. Brooks is suitably hissable as the feline antagonist.
Like all movies nowadays, “The Bad Guys 2” has a mid-credits sequence that hints at another sequel. It’s one of the better scenes of this type, if only because it made me want to see the “The Bad Guys 3.”
Directed by Pierre Perifel, JP Sans. Written by Yoni Brenner, Etan Cohen. Based on the graphic novels by Aaron Blabey. Starring Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Alex Borstein, Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Richard Ayoade, Maria Bakalova. At AMC Boston Common, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 100 min. PG (cartoon violence, mild innuendo)
