‘The Bad Guys 2’ movie review: Eye-popping action and spectacular camera work drive the sequel

From their heist in Cairo five years ago when Ms Tarantula (Awkwafina) was a newbie, to their latest attempts to walk the straight and narrow, the Bad Guys are immensely entertaining.

After putting away the evil genius guinea pig Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) and serving time, the Bad Guys are looking for jobs. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), the leader, pickpocket, and getaway driver; Snake (Marc Maron), the safecracker and Wolf’s second-in-command; Shark (Craig Robinson), the master of disguise; Piranha (Anthony Ramos), the muscle; and Tarantula aka Webs (Awkwafina), the hacker, are all trying to go straight.

They do not find much success. Wolf interviews at a bank he has robbed three times, as Craig (Michael Godere), the long-suffering owner, reminds him. The others have no success either as the general public are not willing to trust the erstwhile villains. While these failures seem to get the rest of the group down, Snake is on a different trip of Vinyasa and pottery.

There is a new criminal in town, the Phantom Bandit, much to the disgust of Chief of Police, Misty Luggins, (Alex Borstein) who has been promoted to Police Commissioner. Suspicion for the Phantom Bandit’s crimes falls on the Bad Guys, while Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), who is “medium” friends with Wolf, suggests the Bad Guys do something good to change public perception.

After a sneaking suspicion of Snake’s tripped out vibe, the Bad Guys realise the Phantom Bandit is actually a snow leopard named Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), leader of the Bad Girls, which is made up of a raven called Doom (Natasha Lyonne) and a wild boar named Pigtail Petrova (Maria Bakalova).

There is a plot to get Macguffinite (a little Macguffin!) to attract all the gold in the world and a plan to infiltrate Mr. Moon’s (Colin Jost) wedding to steal his rocket. The governor’s secret might come out even as the Bad Guys strive to clear their name, with a dash of romance, hacking and good old-fashioned punch-ups.

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The bright bursts of colour, the songs, jokes and eye-popping action ensure The Bad Guys 2 keeps us thoroughly entertained. The voice cast is brilliant, with Lyonne providing her husky charms to her “Snaky cakes,” Awkwafina lending cyber charm, Rockwell leading smoothly, and Borstein moving us to tears with her funeral oratory.

The camera work staging the action sequences deserve a mention, especially the swinging crane in Cairo in the beginning and all the outer space hi-jinks towards the end. Based on Aaron Blabey’s graphic novel series, The Bad Guys 2 is powered by charm, originality, top-of-the-line animation and voice acting.

The Bad Guys 2 is currently running in theatres