By 'DaSKRASH.' Positive/Major Spoilers

'Bad Boys' was the surprise sleeper hit of spring 1995. It was a time when Will Smith wasn't worth $20 million a picture and a time where him and Martin Lawernce had their own competing TV sitcoms. And a time when producers Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer made their comeback in the 90s with the film, after such flops as 'The Ref' & Days Of Thunder. After such huge success, Columbia ordered a sequel that was to start shooting spring 1997...but got delayed....for a while.

Script re-writes were being penned every which way, from 1997 to currently 1999, where Brian Helegand (creator of uber-friggin cool PAYBACK) is writing, and Tom Dey is still attached to direct. One thing's for sure: the sequel's plot will take place around the world, beacuse the title is 'Bad Around The World' (according to an Access Hollywood report). Well, I managed to get my hands on the script re-write by Dan Gilroy (who rewrote the sequel last winter, then Helegand came in). I think the same story was kept in Helegand's draft, let's hope so, because it sounds like Columbia has a major new franchise on their hands. Although this story is pretty thin, (as thin as Lethal 4's), i think Helegand will punch it up real good into something servicable.

In 'Bad Around The World', there is much more of the outlandish humor and repitoire from "Bad Boys", and this time it gets a one-two punch because Will Smith's character, Detective Mike Lowery (who was pretty square-jawed in the orginal), is a lot funnier and plays off of Detective Marcus Burnett's harmless comments about sex, marriage, and work with endless debates. It's of course gonna be easy for Martin & Will to sell the gags because they're two very funny guys and can handle the comedy pretty well with their offbeat chemistry. There's also lots of jokes about Paris, England and a running gag about how the authorities in Paris don't recognize the two black cops from Miami's authority.

The plot? Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowery return, and this time they are being rewarded for the big bust of the drug dealer 'Fouchet' (the French villain from BAD BOYS). The Miami Police Department let the boys loose and tell them to take a big vacation for their hard work. Burnett can finally get his 'quality time' with his wife and Lowery can finally get back to his 'player' status. Somwhere down the road, in one of the script's hilarious scenes, Burnett busts a French perp, says French gibberish, finds a golden jewel worth $20 million on him, cashes it in and decides to spend it on a much-needed vacation in Paris with his bad buddy Lowery (of course Burnett steals the golden jewel back). At first Lowery is suspicious of how Burnett would ever get enough money to get to Paris, and he's even reluctant to go. But through a series of charades, fast talking and whining, Lowery goes along.

Lowery and Burnett are on the plane to Paris, in first class, teasing the stewardesses, pulling childish pranks and getting in controversial arguments about marriage, sex, etc. Burnett asks for lots of food & wine, and even steals a bottle to take home to his wife. Here is where you can groan: a French terrorist named Geronz happens to be on the plane, waiting for his 'connection' (the French perp Burnett busted) that will give him the golden jewel (there's a lot more about the golden jewel, but let's save that for later). Geronz sees that Burnett is wearing the jewel, and goes over and tries to take it from him by sieging the plane. After a small fist/gunfight between the terrorist and the bad boys (in which some people are killed), the plane has to make an emergency landing in England. Lowery and Burnett turn the guy into the authorities, who happen to be waiting as soon as the plane arrives in England. The authorities aren't really authorities; they're more of those French terrorists that are part of the French mafia.

Geronz makes it loud and clear to the mafia that they've got a big probelm on their hands: Marcus & Mike. You see, mafia needs the gold jewel (which is from a famous don) so they can sweeten the deal with a corrupt cop, who is holding the don in jail. Because when the don gets out, the french mafia plan on assainating a crucial candidate of the government of Paris. Why they really need the don to do this when they can do it themselves? Because he's got the blueprints to get into a 'city hall' of somesort, which will lead right up to the candidate's cosy bedroom. The French mafia's plans get deadlier when Marcus accidently takes the wrong suitcase off the plane (it has all of the mafia's $$$ they need to pay off the cop, and their plans and otehr stuff). The mafia soon sends out hitmen all over England, looking for Marucs & Mike, which leads to a wild car chase in the streets of England, which leads to another chase (of course when the car breaks down) on motorcycles, then when the motorcycles break down, they use something too cool to spoil here to get rid of the hitmen.

After all that, Marcus & Mike uncover the jailbreak/assasination plot and globe-hop to Paris, where they find that they're not really welcome (aren't we all). They're here to do four things: find the corrupt cop, make sure the French bad guy stays in jail, locate the French mafia as soon as possible and save the canditate, who doesn't really like them and who yells a lot of profanity (this character was so unlikable, you wish they would have shot him). Once they get to the jailhouse, they find that the French bad guy is gone.....out of his cell.....and the corrupt cop is gone, too. Wassup? Then to Marcus' horror, he finds out that the hitmen must have took the golden jewel back in England...

Now for the villain, whos name in this draft was 'Reboir', he probably won't be as scary as 'Fouchet' (since he's only written briefly, like in 10-20 scenes the most, and most of his scenes are in jail). He is very menacing though. he's written as a strong, tall, imposing guy who can tear off a a helicopter's fire arm and use it (which...um...he does).

Which leaves me for the final climax, which seems pretty silly, although producer Jerry Bruckheimer will make sure it won't look that way (if this story was still kept in Helegand's draft, taht is). The climax is an ascending chase up the Eiefel Tower, and to the top, kind of like the final scenes from "Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade", where Indy is cornered by the bad guys on that tilting bridge. Marcus is always behind Lowery going up the tower, as Lowery gets more aggressive and pissed than usual at this villain. Pretty predictable stuff, but it doesn't seem like it'll rival the great car race scene from the original 'Bad boys', though this sequence is kinda written that way.

Overall, the comedy should be great, the action should be passable, but it's like I said, the comedy in this one will make up for any flaws this script has...even the thin plot (although I really think since Helegand's writing the current draft, it's gonna be more wanton violence & dark, sarcastic humor).