Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return to the big screen to reprise their roles for the 3rd film of the Bad Boys franchise. Detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Bennet (Lawrence) team up to ‘ride or die, one last time’. Filled with fast car chases, gunfights, and guttural belly laughs, this film is going to be exactly what you’d expect. If you’re a fan of the first two Bad Boys films, this one will not disappoint.
I loved the first two Bad Boys films when I was growing up and I was quite skeptical when I saw that they were making another one. I was even more skeptical when I discovered that this would be the first one that was not directed by Michael Bay. Now I’m not a big Michael Bay fan or anything, but Bad Boys (1995) was his first feature film and is what put him on the map as being THE action movie director of the late nineties / early 2000s. It’s kind of a shame that he wasn’t at the helm of this film as well, but for everyone involved it was probably for the best. Rumor has it, he’s kind of a nightmare to deal with on set. I did find it strange that they passed the wheel over to an unknown director duo, Adil El Arbi, and Bilall Fallah. Seeing as though the franchise started with an unknown director, it seems almost poetic to do the same thing again for another installment to the story. I think they did a fantastic job with their first big-budget action film and they were able to deliver a solid experience. There are things that I could sit and nitpick at, but at the end of the day, it’s just an above-average action movie that lacks stimulation for me to consider anything other than the one-dimensional aspect it portrays.
Even after 17 years since the last movie, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence still have an on-screen chemistry that is so damn entertaining to watch. They gracefully jumped back into their characters and made it seem like they never skipped a beat. Their charm, charisma and comedic timings are what made this franchise so much fun and this film continues that with plenty of laugh out loud moments throughout. This film tries hard to play the heartstrings with some overly dramatic sequences that teeter on the line of being too cheesy, but because the cast is filled with seasoned veterans, they were able to pull it off for the most part. It almost feels like they took a few notes out of the Fast and Furious franchise and turned this sequel into a soap opera. Once the film takes its turn towards the 3rd act, it kind of falls apart and it becomes a testosterone-filled ‘Telenovela’. They make a few jokes about it in the film so it’s not as bad as it could have been. I’m glad that the directors were able to poke fun at themselves and laugh at their own expense.
There are no boundary-pushing aspects of this film that would make me rank this one above Bad Boys 1 & 2, but it is an acceptable sequel that I had fun with. If you are a fan of the franchise, you should definitely check this one out in theaters.
Bad Boys For Life |
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DIRECTOR: | Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah |  |
| STUDIO: | Sony Pictures | ||
| GENRE: | Action, Comedy | ||
| MPAA: | Rated R | ||
| RELEASE DATE: | January 17 2020 | ||
Curt Cook
