The Bad Guys 2

 

Following the release of the first The Bad Guys film, I was hyped enough by it and the prospect of a sequel that I caught up, and kept up with, the book series until it finished (I was not a fan of how it ended). On seeing trailers for The Bad Guys 2, I was hyped once again based on how much I liked the first, but practiced cautious optimism for how it would handle the introduction of new characters from the source material. These fears were put to rest on seeing the actual movie, which only reinforced my opinion that the films were superior to the books.

Five years after the first movie, Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) have trouble landing jobs even after going good, while Mr. Snake (Marc Maron) has been going through various self-improvement exercises. When Wolf, Shark, Piranha and Tarantula realize they are being framed for various thefts involving the mysterious metal MacGuffinite, they seek to catch the culprit known as the Phantom Bandit. Instead, they and Snake end up roped into doing another heist, with Diane Foxington’s (Zazie Beetz) secret past as the Crimson Paw as blackmail.

In many ways, The Bad Guys 2 feels like a natural extension of the first, even combining elements from books 5 and 8 in an interesting way. The introduction of Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), Doom (Natasha Lyonne) and Pigtail Petrova (Agent Hogwild in the source material) (Maria Bakalova) from the books, reinterpreted as the Bad Girls (not named in the movie itself), arguably makes them more interesting than their original counterparts as it offers the film a chance to explore another side of the criminal underworld. Kitty Kat in particular being portrayed as a dark reflection of Wolf leads to some very intriguing confrontations between the two. The developments in the relationships between Wolf and Diane, as well as the Bad Guys and Commissioner Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein), also feel natural, with the five-year time skip being taken into account. Despite juggling several returning characters in addition to three new ones, each of them felt like they got a decent amount of screen time to justify their presence in the plot, with some even getting some additional depth, which is not an easy feat to pull off.

 

The Bad Girls are arguably more interesting than their book counterparts.
From left: Pigtail Petrova (Maria Bakalova), Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks),
Doom (Natasha Lyonne)

 

The animation quality remains as good as the first entry, even experimenting with and pushing its art style in places to create some visually impressive shots. In particular, a couple reaction shots were depicted in what appeared to be hand-drawn animation, a rare sight in the modern American film landscape, but in a way that actually added to the impact of those moments than they would otherwise have been if done in CG. All of the returning characters retain their voice actors from the first movie, and their experience with these characters is reflected in their performances. While Danielle Brooks (Kitty Kat), Natasha Lyonne (Doom) and Maria Bakalova (Pigtail) have predominantly live-action credits, their voice acting skills are in full force here, bouncing well off of the returning voice actors with believable energy.

The Bad Guys 2 is a rare sequel that can stand on equal footing with the first installment while still taking the animation up a notch. Fans of the first movie will have a fun time, but newcomers should not go in without watching the original first. With the advent of a third movie, I am confident that the team can pull it off, provided Pierre Perifel remains in the Director’s chair.