Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses (2014)

Thanks for the memories!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: We open in Frank Vega's apartment. In the sequel he still has his dog, he still is old, but now he has the notoriety from the first film, plus he's an honorary policeman. Frank's flat connects to a boxing gym that he operates. The other side of the gym connects to a bodega that Bernie operates. Frank and Bernie have traded insults for the last three years. Manny has been a bit of a protégé of Frank's, and gives him a smartphone with a heartfelt message as a gift.Delineation of conflicts: Adolfo has a beef with Manny, and has his goons kill him. Manny seemed to have no idea what the beef was before he died. Frank would like more answers about Manny's passing, as would Rosaria.After Frank stops an armed robbery against Bernie's place, Officer Malark tells Frank that Manny's body was found with drugs on it of substantial street value. The trail starts for Frank when he questions Tuscon, one of Manny's friends at the gym. Frank gives the drug pushers a bruising, and destroys a load of drugs. At first, it seems like Frank has dealt with the folks who killed Manny, but of course there is more to it than that.Frank wants answers, Bernie wants answers, Manny's family wants answers. The perpetrators would prefer silence. This includes Adolfo and his father Leandro, who has the money and position in upper LA society to make things difficult for Frank and Bernie.Resolution: Frank makes some progress using his fists, but needs more than just direct force.

The original Bad Ass was not really a bad movie. Not great but enjoyable. So I thought it would be worthwhile to watch the second one as well. Danny Trejo and Danny Glover certainly sounded like it could be a fun combination. Unfortunately this movie was a bit of a disappointment.The movie felt tired a lot of the time. Danny Trejo was not bad but Danny Glover never really felt like a bad ass and his fart jokes was definitely more bad taste than bad ass.The story was fairly whimsical and unintelligent. Some things were just poorly done. Like for instance Frank blowing up a chopper by throwing a hand grenade at it from a car. It was so poorly done that I just sat there thinking what the f…? And then on the end where they kill (of course) the main bad guy and Bernie claims that there he got his liver and that they should put the guy on ice. It actually looks like whoever wrote that crap actually believed in it as well since the final scenes implies that Bernie got his liver transplant. What kind of an idiot writes something like that. Heard about transplant compatibility requirements? Oh, and that nonsense with the ice-pick. If you get an icepick showed all the way into your head through your eye you most likely die. You do not walk around the next day with nothing but an eye patch.Then we have this diplomatic immunity crap. It really doesn't work that simple. You might get away with a few speeding tickets but you cannot go on a crime spree and expect not to be expelled at least. That stuff might have been okay in Lethal Weapon but now it is really just dumb.On the whole I have to say that I was rather disappointed with this movie. The first one was better and that one was enjoyable but not great to begin with. There are some fun moments, some decent fighting and so on so it is not a total turkey but disappointing nonetheless.

I am at a loss to place this film, I'm not even sure if I enjoyed it or not, or if I could recommend it.This is an action film with a ridiculous plot where some old guys have to go and beat up some other guys; but that really isn't important.This isn't a 'serious' action movie like Die Hard or Transporter but it isn't a full send up like Black Dynamite or Gravy Train.The production is strange. Normally when someone throws a grenade you get a slow motion sequence of the grenade in flight, followed by a close up of the villains face, then a few seconds of explosion. Here grenade leaves hand the next frame is bad guy blowing up.There is lots of action, the fight scenes are fast and furious but aren't particularly well choreographed. Glover and Trejo deliver their cheesy lines and punch people adequately enough.Don't take this too serious and you may enjoy. I did... I think.

I thought I would watch this given the fact that I've seen the first one which even though was not great was at least watchable. The sequel in my opinion is better than the first one.Danny Trejo as Frank Vega & Danny Glover as Bernie Pope are an entertaining couple of grumpy hard-cases who take it upon themselves to avenge Vega's boxing Protégé who got involved with drug dealers and was murdered as a result. The movie is basically about them finding out who was responsible. The good points about the movie are that Trejo and Glover work well on screen. Sure, it's not equal to great buddy cop comedy action movies like Lethal Weapon, but given the story and budget it's still entertaining. There are humorous situations, like the two riding a bus in pursuit of justice, or taking a taxi to trail the main criminal whilst wearing what can only be described as ridiculous outfits (fanny packs included). Danny Glover''s character hitting on a college student about 50 years younger than him was funny as well. The bad points are that the movie is predictable, implausible, and has a lot of plot holes which distract from the story. At times there are even contradictions, like Vega telling a bunch of kids that drugs are for losers and then bribing a security guard with a bag of weed. The effects of the explosion in the movie are pretty bad too. The ending feels rushed and has a fairy tale ending feel to it. The fact that this is also predictable takes the movie down a notch. Overall though I would give it a generous 6/10 as it's not the worst way to spend 90 minutes if you don't have anything better to do. Just don't expect your brain to be engaged in the experience at all.