Bad Boys For Life

Seventeen years after Bad Boys II, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back with arguably the best instalment yet in the Bad Boys series. The action and the comedy are as good as ever, but this time it’s really upped its game in terms of character and drama too – fans will love it, and new viewers should be won over too.

Premise:  After being partnered for 25 years, Miami detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) face an uncertain future as Marcus considers retirement following the birth of his grandson.  But Mike finds himself in an assassin’s (Jacob Scipio) crosshairs when the head of a Mexican crime cartel (Kate del Castillo) escapes from prison and vows revenge on those who she blames for the death of her husband.

Review:

I think it’s fair to say that, with the possible exception of those actually working on Bad Boys For Life, no one really expected this belated threequel to be anything special.  Coming 17 years after Bad Boys II (and 25 years after the first Bad Boys in 1995), this third instalment had been stuck in development hell since around 2008.  The general consensus was, if the film ever actually got made, it was probably only going to be something that was of interest to die-hard fans of the series.

Now I have to confess, I am a die-hard fan of the series.  The release of the first Bad Boys film in 1995 was perfect timing for me – I’d grown up watching action-comedies like Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop on VHS, but I’d been too young to see them in the cinema, so in many ways, Bad Boys was the first buddy-cop action-comedy that really felt like it belonged to me.  It’ll always hold a special place in my affections, and even though the sequel that followed 8 years later was a slight disappointment at the time, I have a real fondness for Bad Boys II simply because I love spending time with those characters.

“…for fans of the series, this is the film you’ve been waiting 25 years to see…”

But it’s fair to say that Bad Boys II is a fairly stereotypical Hollywood sequel – it basically follows the same plot as the first one, just with more action and bigger explosions. So when they announced that a (very) belated threequel was actually going to happen, I did expect that it would basically just be more of the same.

How wrong I was.  Everyone involved in Bad Boys For Life feels like they’ve upped their game in every department – script, acting, direction, all feel like they’re the best they’ve been in the series.  Far from only appealing to existing die-hard fans, Bad Boys For Life is a great action-comedy that should appeal to all fans of the genre – although if you are a fan of the series, then this is certainly the film you’ve been waiting 25 years to see.

“…Will Smith really impresses as the cracks start to appear in his carefully constructed façade…”

The plot to this film gives the cast, and Will Smith in particular, plenty to sink their teeth into.  While Marcus Burnett is surrounded by a loving family and is welcoming his first grandchild into the world, he worries that Mike Lowrey is trapped in a superficially glamourous life that’s devoid of any real, genuine emotional connections.  Both characters have to face up to getting older and considering their own mortality, with Marcus accusing Mike of secretly dying his beard to hide the grey.  Martin Lawrence does a great job of playing Marcus’ concern for Mike, but it’s Will Smith who really impresses as the cracks start to appear in Mike Lowrey’s carefully constructed façade.  The Mexican cartel’s attacks on Mike are as much psychological as they are physical, and Will Smith does a great job of conveying Mike’s pain and doubts behind his eyes.

Add to the mix the welcome return of Joe Pantoliano as Captain Howard (who gets to do some more heartfelt stuff this time, instead of just the bluster he had to work with in Bad Boys II), and Paola Núñez, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and Charles Melton as the next generation, hi-tech police unit Advanced Miami Metro Operations (or “AMMO”), and you have a genuinely impressive supporting cast behind Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.  But all heroes are only as good as their villains, and Kate del Castillo and Jacob Scipio as the mother-and-son heads of the Aretas crime cartel are definitely the franchise’s most intimidating villains so far.  There’s an air of genuine jeopardy that hangs over the entirety of Bad Boys For Life, making it feel like the heroes are playing for real stakes, and that they are facing some truly dangerous adversaries.

“…matches the humour of the previous films, while also being more dramatic, more raw & more emotional…”

That’s not to say that Bad Boys For Life has lost any of the comedy wisecracks or natural chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence that made the first two films so enjoyable.  When it’s funny, it’s really funny, and there are great one-liners throughout.  But Bad Boys For Life manages the match the humour of the previous films, while also being more dramatic, more raw and more emotional – to quote Marcus from Bad Boys II, it feels like “this sh*t just got real”.

Behind the camera, Belgian directing team “Abdil & Bilall” take over from Michael Bay (who directed the first two instalments), and they do a tremendous job.  The action is directed with flair and inventiveness, but also in such a way that the geography of the action sequences is never lost.  Long tracking shots move in, out and through the action, and it’s engaging without being distracting.  I’m not saying that Abdil & Bilall are better than Michael Bay was in his prime … but if you look at how the action was directed in Bad Boys For Life and compare it to Michael Bay’s recent 6 Underground, it’s clear that the former is head and shoulders above the latter.

“…objectively speaking, the best film in the series…”

I also want to mention Lorne Balfe’s fantastic, propulsive score, which I’ve been listening to on loop since it was released.  I think it’s his best score since Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and like that score, it ramps up the film’s momentum while also heightening its emotional impact.  Creating new riffs on Mark Mancina's musical themes from the first film (which I also loved), this is already on my shortlist for the best score of 2020.

If you’ve not seen the first two Bad Boys films, then Bad Boys For Life is still a great, 4-star action-comedy that’s well worth a watch.  But if you are a fan of these films, and you’ve loved these characters over the last 25 years (like me), you could definitely argue the case for bumping this up to 5-stars.  While this first Bad Boys will always hold a special place in my heart, objectively speaking Bad Boys For Life is the best film in the series – and who saw that coming?