Marcus and Mike (Lawrence and Smith) are working with a high-tech drug-hunting unit trying to catch top drug boss Johnny Tapia (Molla). But Tapia is not only moving vast quantities of ecstasy and cash, he's also taking on the Russian mafia head-on. Meanwhile, Marcus' sister Syd (Union) is in town for a visit ... but she's actually on an undercover DEA investigation into Tapia's operations. Soon much of Miami (and Cuba as well) lie in waste as Marcus and Mike never do anything without leaving piles of smashed cars, bullet-riddled bodies and, of course, massive explosions in their wake.

Yes, this is another Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay concoction (see also The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, not to mention the first Bad Boys), so we're talking about films that emphasize spectacle over any concerns of plot or character. Not only is this film no exception to that rule, but it's also the most empty-headed movie they've ever made. There's basically nothing to it at all, which is kind of clever since the film is two-and-a-half hours long (it feels like five episodes of a TV series). The story is contrived and ridiculous, the characters complete stereotypes, the dialog packed with comedy that, while often funny, feels manufactured to be as offensive as possible (recurring "comic" themes include necrophilia and homophobia).

That said, Smith is very good, Lawrence is more bearable than usual, and the superb Union gets a decent action-girl character until the lame Hollywood plot kicks in and forces her to be a helpless victim. This is a huge film with one astonishing action sequence after another, vehicular destruction on a massive scale and a lot of extremely grisly death and dismemberment, all in Bay's increasingly showy directorial style augmented with a lot of digital trickery. As far as big, loud movies go, it's quite watchable really. But not very enjoyable.