Movie Review: ‘The Bad Guys 2’

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The Bad Guys have returned for another heist adventure in this sequel to the 2022 hit reuniting the impressive cast from the first film with some new cast/characters. With stunning animation, plenty of light-hearted comedy, larger than life action, and a few plot twists to keep you guessing, The Bad Guys 2 is fun and entertaining for people of all ages.

The movie opens with a flashback to the first heist of the newest member of The Bad Guys’ team. This brief scene does tie into later events but also serves to introduce the anthropomorphic characters and begin the movie with some action. Cut to five years later and The Bad Guys have served time in jail and are trying to start new lives as good guys. Unsurprisingly, society is hesitant, even unwilling to give them a chance to prove they have turned good. When a new villain copies their old calling card, frames them, and threatens to expose one of their closest allies, who has kept her criminal past secret, The Bad Guys must return to their criminal ways for one of the largest heists ever committed to film.

Honestly, I do not remember watching the first movie and I only barely remember the short film that was attached to the Dog Man pre-screening (and even that was fuzzy until I started writing this). But I still found this movie to be enjoyable with little-to-no knowledge of the first movie or the subsequent short films/specials. Sure, it would probably be better if you have seen at least the first movie, but this film quickly sets up and re-introduces all the main characters for its own largely stand-alone story.

In addition to other heist movies, like the Ocean’s series, the comparisons to Mission Impossible/Tom Cruise are likely inevitable since the movie has quite a few action scenes that are spectacular and reminiscent of blockbuster Tom Cruise movies. During the rocket launch sequence, I was actually thinking “I wonder if Tom Cruise would do that” and I bet he could. Being fully animated makes them a little less impressive than the MI stunts, but this was still fun to watch.