BAD BOYS FOR LIFE (2020) - Movie Review

Director: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Kate del Castillo, Jacob Scipio, Joe Pantoliano, Paola Nunez, Alexander Ludwig, Vanessa Hudgens, Charles Melton, Nicky Jam, Theresa Randle
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Writer: Chris Bremner, Peter Craig, Joe Carnahan
Runtime: 124 min
Rated: Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, sexual references and brief drug use
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), 4K Ultra HD, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

The original Bad Boys, Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), are back. After a string of assassinations and an attempt on Mike’s life, he convinces a hesitant Marcus to hold off retirement and partner one last time. Together, they team up with AMMO, the new hotshot division of the Miami PD, to take down the merciless head of the Aretas Cartel.

Review:

The threequel "Bad Boys For Life" was heavily marketed as "one last ride" for titular cop duo Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), and yet four years later a fourth installment was released. You really can't trust Hollywood to give up a golden goose, and because of how well these movies are still doing in theaters, they might even make a fifth one. But they'd better hurry up, because these guys aren't getting any younger.

It's been 17 years since "Bad Boys II", and the bad boys are not really boys anymore, which requires age appropriate narrative twists. For the most part, the writers nail the transition for these older characters, and find new and interesting ways to evolve their relationship in ways that don't feel forced. The introduction of a new pair of villains played by Kate del Castillo and Jacob Scipio raise the personal stakes in unexpected, and even darker ways, which is a welcome tonal shift from the cartoonish silliness of the previous movie. Scipio is pretty badass, and perhaps the franchise's only truly menacing villain. That being said, I couldn't help roll my eyes when a very cliched personal connection between characters is revealed towards the end of the movie.

The old is balanced with the new, as an ensemble of youngsters played by Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and Charles Melton are recruited for the new Advanced Miami Metro Operations led by Lt. Rita Secada (Paola Nunez), and assist the detectives in their new adventures. The new kids are pretty bland, but overall harmless and mostly there to lend credibility to Smith and Lawrence surviving all those crazy action sequences and provide crucial information to move the plot forward. They're basically plot devices.

Belgian directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah replace Michael Bay and while their visual style is not as flashy and crazy, they still prove worthy successors, emulating the Bayhem as closely as possible, without compromising their own vision. It's much more toned down and grounded than "Bad Boys II", as the story and action are more evenly balanced. The set pieces are exciting with lots of great stuntwork, but also some very obvious CGI. The scale is less epic, but that's not a bad thing. I always felt that the second film went a little too far in that regard.

Another thing I really liked is that composer Lorne Balfe brought back the main theme from the original "Bad Boys". That score, composed by Mark Mancina is still the best of the series, but Balfe does an honorable job bringing back that old school vibe while also providing new work that fits in well enough.

"Bad Boys For Life" is an elegant mix of the low-budget old-school charm of the original and the big budget insanity and mayhem of the second movie. Adil & Bilall managed to do something I didn't expect was possible: breathe new life into a two-decade-old franchise. It's not a groundbreaking action movie, but it manages to sidestep a lot of issues that sequels face and delivers an entertaining threequel that is arguably better than the previous two films, if only by a very slight margin.

SCORE: 7.5/10