{"id":21742,"date":"2025-07-25T02:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T02:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/21742\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T02:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T02:36:08","slug":"sam-rockwell-in-criminally-fun-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/21742\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Rockwell in Criminally Fun Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFollow-ups to animated films are not immune to the Hollywood groupthink that they have to be bigger and more lavish than their predecessors. Such is certainly the case with the sequel to The Bad Guys<\/a>, the 2022 hit adapted from Aaron Blabey\u2019s best-selling graphic book series. Beginning with an elaborate caper and car chase through the streets of Cairo that would make Tom Cruise jealous, The Bad Guys<\/a> 2 seeks to outshine the original at every turn. It smacks of overkill, but fortunately the film, smartly directed by Pierre Perifel, also features the same wit and charm that proved so appealing to youngsters and adults alike in the first movie.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the film\u2019s beginning, the Reservoir Dogs-style-named anthropomorphized animal criminal group \u2014 consisting of leader Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell<\/a>), safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron<\/a>), comically inappropriate master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson<\/a>), quick-tempered Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos<\/a>) and hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina<\/a>) \u2014 have been released from prison and are attempting to go straight. But it proves difficult considering their criminal past, as demonstrated by a very funny scene featuring Mr. Wolf applying for a job at a bank he\u2019s robbed multiple times. Needless to say, he doesn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Bad Guys 2\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n

\tBigger but not badder.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date: Friday, August 1
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonee, Maria Baklova, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayodade, Lilly Singh, Alex Bornstein
Director: Pierre Perifel
Co-director: JP Sans
Screenwriters: Yoni Brenner, Etan Cohen
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRated PG,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 44 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSo it\u2019s not surprising that they find themselves pulled back into committing another heist. This time, they\u2019re partnered with the distaff Bad Girls: snow leopard Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks<\/a>), their ruthless leader; wild boar Pigtail (Maria Bakalova<\/a>), their science wizard; and raven Doom (Natasha Lyonne<\/a>, right on the heels of her stellar voice work in Smurfs<\/a>), with whom Mr. Snake has been romantically involved. (We get to see them in a make-out session, involving Mr. Snake hilariously unhinging his jaw).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe caper, involving the theft of a rocket ship from a tech billionaire (Colin Jost) bearing no small resemblance to a certain chainsaw-wielding real-life figure, is silly enough to justify the film\u2019s use of the term MacGuffinite as one of its principal elements. It definitely smacks of James Bond, from its Moonraker-like foray into outer space to its diabolical plot to steal the world\u2019s entire supply of gold.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong the way, there are colorful episodes galore, including one involving a Mexican wrestling match, and the return of numerous supporting characters from the first film. One highlight involves Wolf\u2019s love interest, the literally and figuratively foxy Governor Foxington (Zazie Beetz), visiting the villainous Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) in prison looking for advice. Now seriously bulked-up, the massive guinea pig greets her like a rodent Hannibal Lecter.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film features far too many fart jokes courtesy of the ever-flatulent Mr. Piranha, although that can be readily forgiven in an animated film since the small fry always find those hilarious. But the screenplay by Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen is generally much smarter than that, featuring a plethora of sly one-liners revolving more around characterizations than pop-culture references. It helps mightily that they\u2019re delivered by such a stellar ensemble of performers, who actually seem to have been cast for their vocal abilities rather than their names (although there\u2019s no shortage of star power).<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of them are absolutely terrific, but the clear stand-out, now and before, is Rockwell, who invests his portrayal with the same flair and precision evident in his live-action performances. <\/p>\n

\n\tDisplaying the same visual dynamism as its precursor, The Bad Guys 2 garners even more laughs with its abrupt edits that land like animated mic drops. Daniel Pemberton\u2019s lively musical score adds to the antic fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow-ups to animated films are not immune to the Hollywood groupthink that they have to be bigger and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[13912,13913,13914,13838,13839,96,13915,13916,2839,10482,13842,13917,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-21742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-alia-shawkat","9":"tag-anthony-ramos","10":"tag-awkwafina","11":"tag-craig-robinson","12":"tag-danielle-brooks","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-marc-maron","15":"tag-maria-bakalova","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-natasha-lyonne","18":"tag-sam-rockwell","19":"tag-the-bad-guys","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}