Every Michael Bay Movie Ranked Worst To Best

And here it is, in all its glory. Bad Boys came out in 1995, Michael Bay's directorial debut and to this day his best film.

Gaining a cult following since its release, Bad Boys succeeds on every front: both Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are on top form as bickering cop partners Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett; the villain is intimidating and effective; the action is high-octane but well controlled; and the plot offers everyone involved the opportunity to show off their dramatic and comedic abilities.

Underneath all of this, Bad Boys is also much darker than any other of Bay's feature films. But this tone, mixed with some effective comedy and a solid dynamic courtesy of Smith and Lawrence, makes Bad Boys Bay's most fully-formed and cohesive film.

It may be slightly cliched and even formulaic in parts, but when a film is this unabashedly fun and rewarding, it's impossible not to love and watch again and again.