Bad Boys for Life review

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE: 

THE BAD BOYS GO BACK TO THEIR ROOTS FOR AN ACTION-PACKED FINAL RIDE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back in Bad Boys for Life

            Will Smith (Independence Day, Men in Black trilogy, Enemy of the State) and Martin Lawrence (Martin, Blue Streak, Big Momma’s House trilogy) return as Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett in Bad Boys for Life, the third installment of the Bad Boys trilogy and the first (Thankfully) not to be directed by Michael Bay. The first film released back in 1995 was Michael Bay’s film debut and helped kickstart Will Smith into superstardom with Independence Day and Men in Black following soon after. 

Before Bay became the director we know and loathe today, he brought to the screen a cheesy, over-the-top buddy-cop movie that while undeniably flawed ended up being a very fun action-comedy thanks to the charm and appealing chemistry between Smith and Lawrence, well-executed and high-octane action sequences, and what would soon become Bay’s trademark tropes being kept to a minimum. However, things quickly went downhill when the 2003 follow-up, Bad Boys II was released and showed audiences exactly what kind of director Michael Bay would be from this point on, unlike the first film where his directing was more reserved the second film from beginning to end had Bay’s fingerprints all over it, atrocious action sequences filled with constant shaky-cams and fast editing, terrible jokes, and absolutely dreadful sexual humor and racial stereotypes, literally all that was missing was Optimus Prime and Megatron and it could have been a Transformers movie, Bad Boys II isn’t just a lousy sequel, it’s downright heinous, long before Michael Bay’s equally infamous Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. 

Now, 17 years after the release of Bad Boys II, we have the third film, Bad Boys for Life with Smith and Lawrence reprising their roles and reuniting producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, The Rock, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) and in the director’s chairs this time we have Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Black, Snowfall, Beverly Hills Cop 4), who were definitely influenced by many of Bay’s tricks from the previous films. Can this third installment possibly redeem the Bad Boys franchise or has its reputation been permanently tainted by Bad Boys II? The short answer is, this ain’t no Bad Boys II that’s for damn sure. 

Bad Boys for Life takes the franchise back to its roots and kicking Bay out to the sideline and focusing only on what worked in the previous films and removing everything that didn’t. The end result: A pretty good Bad Boys movie. 

It’s nothing new or groundbreaking, but the film doesn’t try to be more than what it is, a cheesy, over-the-top, action-comedy and that’s kind of all it needs to be and the chemistry between Smith and Lawrence is still very strong, not to mention the directors are able to take various Bay tropes and have them work to the film’s advantage. Despite positive reactions from both critics and audiences, don’t expect anything game-changing or something that will change your perspective on the Bad Boys films, it’s a dumb action flick that’s more of the same, it’s done well don’t get me wrong, but it’s the same stuff we’ve already seen in the other movies. 

The film follows Detective Lieutenants Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) being called back into action when a mysterious assassin emerges with a link to Mike’s past and is murdering specific targets across the world. Many of said targets are personal to Mike and Marcus and with the help of the AMMO team led by Mike’s ex-girlfriend Rita (Paola Núñez-Destino, The Son, The Purge (TV series)) they set off on one final ride to bring this assassin down. 

The film also stars Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical trilogy, Bandslam, Freaks of Nature) as Kelly, Joe Pantoliano (The Fugitive, The Matrix, Memento) reprising his role from the previous films as Captain Conrad Howard, Alexander Ludwig (Race to Witch Mountain, The Hunger Games, Vikings) as Dorn, Charles Melton (American Horror Story: Hotel, Riverdale, The Sun is Also a Star) as Rafe, Kate del Castillo (Under the Same Moon, The Book of Life, The 33) as Isabel Aretas, Nicky Jam (XXX: Return of Xander Cage, El Ganador) as Zway-Lo, Theresa Randle (Malcolm X, Beverly Hills Cop III, Space Jam) reprising her role from the first two films as Marcus’ wife Theresa, Jacob Scipio (Some Girls) as Armando Armas, Massi Furlan-The Dark Knight Rises, Live by Night, Jumanji: The Next Level) as Lee Taglin, and DJ Khaled as Manny the Butcher. 

Overall, Bad Boys for Life breathes new life into this long-dormant franchise with a thoroughly action-packed, funny, and stylish third entry that utilizes many of Michael Bay’s directing and filmmaking tropes but with a lot of thought put into them as well as a coherent narrative under the hood and minus the choppy editing. By comparison, this is a huge improvement over the abysmal Bad Boys II and shows that there is a right way and a wrong way to use your “Bayhem” and I hope while Arbi and Fallah drew influence from Bay’s directing, Michael Bay can take some pointers from these two newcomer filmmakers for future projects. 

The plot granted isn’t all that spectacular, but it does allow for some genuine character moments and explores the backstories of both Mike and Marcus showing how they became the way they are. As much as I enjoyed the first film I’ll admit, the character development is pretty bare minimum in that movie and were established enough to get the story rolling, this one expands on the motives of the main characters and I ended up growing more attached to Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s characters than I did in any of the earlier movies.

However, what really surprised me about this movie was the villain because if I had to point out a glaring problem with the first movie is that the villain is pretty lousy and forgettable, and it didn’t really feel like anything was at stake in that film. This movie on the other hand isn’t another throwaway drug smuggler but rather a person connected to one of the main characters’ past and has resurfaced to get revenge because of something they’ve done, it helps make the story a little more interesting and when it’s revealed you kind of understand where the person is coming from, but at the same time he/she is doing all this bad sh*t. 

The dynamic between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence is still strong after all these years and is literally the driving point of all three movies. Obviously, a take on the good cop, bad cop scenario and acting as polar opposites, but Smith and Lawrence bring plenty of their charisma and wit to this buddy-cop duo, and it works. 

Bad Boys for Life gives you exactly what it advertises, a dumb, fun action-comedy that’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s funny, charming, and exciting enough. Whatcha Gonna Do!?!