‘The Bad Guys 2’ Review: A Messy Fun Time

When The Bad Guys was released back in 2022, it was received well enough and to my surprise, featured some pretty gorgeous animation. It was the latest line in a series of films taking direct inspiration from Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, following hits such as Mitchells vs the Machines. This was, of course, where Dreamworks would soon one-up themselves with the incredible Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in the same calendar year. That film left The Bad Guys as a somewhat underrated film, and definitely in its shadow. 

The Bad Guys 2 follows The Bad Guys (still using their moniker) living a mundane life as a group of good guys. When a new thief arrives in their city, they are soon framed and must work with the villainous Bad Girls to achieve their task. 

Premise-wise, it might be the only natural way to bring our characters back into their villainous ways. But in execution, it doesn’t work the best, as it grapples with balancing their character arcs from the original film but tries to create an entertaining plot. To put it bluntly, the film is at its best when the Bad Guys are committing acts of crime and at its most mundane when they are not. This works for what the film does and for its audience, with its plot of blackmailing into a life of crime again, but it does feel forced.

I particularly loved the set pieces and the sequences that go hand in hand with many of them. An opening flashback serves as probably the coolest and most exhilarating of the lot, with the team stealing a car in Egypt and going for a joyride. It’s well staged and executed sublimely. Similarly, the rocket scene in the film’s climax, although riddled with fart jokes, is very fun to watch. 

For these sequences, the inspirations are very clear and it is fun as a fan of these franchises to point out the visual references to them. We interviewed Pierre Perifel for the film back at Annecy in June, and were told about how the film is deeply rooted in blockbuster action filmmaking. It’s clear with these set pieces that they are set up to be the stand out sequences for the film and that a lot of time was put into making these enjoyable.

My last criticism in regards to The Bad Guys 2 is the sheer amount of characters in the film. Whilst this is clearly meant to be mindless fun aimed at children, in both the substantial and stylistic aspects, the sheer amount of characters here, including the eight main characters from the previous instalment, and a further three main characters introduced in this one, make for a messy story.

The Bad Guys 2 is more or less what you’d expect from a sequel to the 2022 animated film. It works as a piece of mindless action filmmaking, and its coterie of characters are more than enough to entertain the average viewer. For those seeking something more substantial, direct your eyes elsewhere, as this film only aims to entertain rather than provoke. 

The Bad Guys 2 stars Sam Rockwell as Wolf, Anthony Ramos as Piranha, Awkwafina as Tarantula, Marc Maron as Snake, Craig Robinson as Shark, Zazie Beetz as Diane Foxington, Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade, and Alex Borstein as the Police Commissioner. Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, and Natasha Lyonne star as The Bad Girls. 

The film is now playing in theatres worldwide, hitting Australian theatres on September 17th. In addition, the film is also playing on digital streaming services which you can find below: 

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