Dir. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
To prepare for this movie I watched the original to remind myself of the general feel of the movies and the characters. I was pleasantly surprised to find that aside from some very dated and Bay-typical sexism and racism for laughs, the movie still held up pretty well. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are well-known for their comedic chops, but they also play the serious and emotional parts of Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett’s relationship to great effect. And unlike it’s sequel, which was already sliding down the Michael Bay Slope of Decreasing Returns, these characters are allowed to show genuine affection for each other which isn’t immediately “no homo’d” into the ground. I was delighted to find that Bad Boys 3 was far more in keeping with the original than the sequel in tone and overall, was a great time at the theater. It was fun, funny, action-packed and has enough heart to keep you invested in the characters even when the plot got a bit far-fetched.
The film picks up in present day and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) is still living like the 20-something action hero, doesn’t play by the rules cop of the 90s, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the passage of time. He’s disappointed to find that his partner Marcus (Martin Lawrence) isn’t as caught up in the old glory days and wants to retire after becoming a grandfather. In the midst of their squabbling, a rash of assassinations against Miami police and prosecutors, causes them to come back together for one last ride. They’re assisted on this mission by Rita, the leader of a new special-ops division of unclear purpose (who is, of course, also one of Mike’s ex-girlfriends).
This new team of youngsters consists of Seal Team Barbie (Vanessa Hudgens), the Cocky One™ (Charles Melton), and GI Joe gets a Tech Degree (Alexander Ludwig). All of these characters are essentially two-dimensional which normally I hate but it kind of worked in this instance. It was as though they knew their place in this ridiculous world and didn’t try to do more than was necessary. And however flat their characters may have been, they weren’t boring and I’d be happy to watch another movie starring them that has the room to give them depth. (And lo and behold, Bad Boys 4 is on the way!)
But the enduring stars of the show remain Will and Martin, who bounce off of each other like they filmed the last movie yesterday and not 15 years ago. They slid right back into those roles and it’s easy to believe Mike and Marcus have still been working together for the last two decades because the chemistry is that on point.
The villain of the movie is probably the biggest weakness. When I said the movie lacked the proto-typical racism and sexism, a better description would probably be that they kind of funneled it into one cringe of a character. She had a couple of “oh nice” moments, especially in the third act, but almost every scene before that just left me wondering how nobody gave her character more revisions. And weirdly enough the movie just become Gemini Man in the third act. Because maybe only 5,000 people nationwide saw Gemini Man, I’m sure Will will get away with it; but if you are one of those five thousand- the similarities take you out of the film a little bit.
Although this movie’s tone and execution is very much in keeping with the original, it benefits from the lack of Michael Bay. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah keep the aesthetic without the uncontrolled, indecipherable Bayhem that’s tainted his recent output. (His most recent film, 6Underground on Netflix gave me such a headache I had to turn it off 20 minutes in.) Yet all the same, I admit I was fondly emotional at the first circle shot and cheered at all the third act explosions. (Even when I swear a table blew up. A stone table.) While the plot admittedly descended into the ridiculous, the action was well shot; with long takes where I could follow individual characters and fun camera work that matched the pace of the fights on screen, the third act nicely capped off a great ride of a film.
Successfully breaking the curse of mostly unasked for sequel films that come out a decade after the original (Hello Independence Day 2, and MIB: International) only to disappoint audiences, Bad Boys for Life is a ride on a rollercoaster you know well but is just as much fun on the third go round. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have enough charisma to carry a far worse movie but happily they don’t have to; this one allows them and and a host of newly introduced characters to shine. It’s a wonderful popcorn flick and worth your money for a trip to the theater.