After catching glimpses of "Bad Boys" for several times on TV I finally decided to watch the whole thing intact. But after doing that I found myself puzzled. For what reason is "Bad Boys" so highly regarded as a great action movie? In my desperate attempts at trying to grasp any form of entertainment from this feature I finally came to the realization that it's impossible for me to like it. Much to some people's surprise I found the film's "style" to be a shallow, incompetent imitation of John Woo's ultra kinetic Hong Kong films. Everything that "Bad Boys" does has been already made, only much much better.<br /><br />So what is "Bad Boys" all about ? Well, uh, it's about Will Smith running around in slow-motion while talking a lot, and yeah there's this other guy Martin Lawrence who also talks a lot. They're cops, they are the Bad Boys who talk their mouths off, run their legs off, shoot their guns off. Naturally Michael Bay does all that in slow-motion, because that's what action movies are all about you know, slow motion. Oh and did I forget to mention that there is a generic bad guy, not bad as the two titular anti-heroes mind you. This character, he's your basic action movie villain who is obviously evil for the sake of being evil. And of course is the person who our two brave "Bad Boys" must defeat in an epic slow-motion battle to the death filled with over-the-top explosions, one-liners and car chases all directly taken from the "generic action movie clichés" handbook.<br /><br />"Bad Boys"'s overly simple plot exists for the sole purpose of providing us with enough reasons to watch the series of action sequences the movie's made of. That wouldn't have hurt all too much had these scenes been directed capably, yet Bay demonstrates an inept ability to create an entertaining action piece. All such sequences are bleak and devoid of originality, stuffed with slow-motion, randomly used, making less sense as to why it was added. The usual reason would be to enhance certain dramatic moments in a movie, or for stylistic approach during complex action scenes. Seeing as the first one is impossible to integrate here and the second is just not directed with any understanding of detail what we are left is an approximately 40 minutes of slow-motion that does it's job in extending "Bad Boys" into a near two hours length. Making this already boring film into an test of will. More than once I was tempted to turn off my TV and stop wasting time with the predictability on screen, fighting of the urge to laugh it all off in denial.<br /><br />I'm not actually sure there's anything more to say about "Bad Boys". It's such a sub-par movie that it's action becomes forgettable soon after viewing, leaving only the flaws to remind me why I should never watch anything stamped with the sign "Hollywood Action Movie". Then again it's not such a big surprise why so many people liked it. It's crude visuals could prove to be impressive enough for people not as familiar with the genre as the more hardcore fans. Then again I don't count myself amongst genre fans so it's anybody's guess why it appeals so much to audiences