Mark Reviews Movies: BAD BOYS FOR LIFE

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 16, 2020

Following the recent trend of long-belated sequels, Bad Boys for Life arrives 17 years after the previous movie in a series that began in 1995, helping to make Will Smith a star and giving a momentary boost to the career of Martin Lawrence. That first film worked, primarily because of the dynamic between Smith's tough guy and Lawrence's constant jester, but its sequel drowned its potential for humor in tasteless gags and a level of wanton destruction that, while a calling card of director Michael Bay (a newcomer when he made the first film), was excessive, even by Bay's standards.

This third entry brings back Smith and Lawrence, naturally, but it also injects some new blood to the series, namely directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, as well as a trio of first-to-the-series screenwriters (Chris Bremner, Peter Craig, and Joe Carnahan). The "bad boys" of the Miami police are also joined by a new team of crime-fighters with a slightly different perspective on police work. While Smith's Detective Mike Lowrey and Lawrence's Detective Marcus Burnett are all about the fast cars and gunplay and acting before thinking, this other team, called AMMO, uses technology to make an actual case against a criminal. When action is required, they load up the rubber bullets and ensure that their members are wearing body cameras.

Times have changed, and that's a good starting point for this new, late arrival to a series that previously lionized the gung-ho, take-no-prisoners, and violence-solves-everything approach of its protagonists. To be clear, this one ultimately finds Mike and Marcus' brand of tactics to be the right one, but at least the movie challenges them a bit.

The biggest challenge for the pair of detectives, though, is time. The opening sequence has Mike racing through the streets of Miami, with Marcus again in the passenger seat, commenting upon and cracking wise about his partner's recklessness. Say what you will about the inherent formula and flaws of these movies, but even after almost two decades apart, there's little denying that Smith and Lawrence still possess an undeniable comedic chemistry between them. Unlike the previous movies, which often relied on intrinsically homophobic jokes to make light of the bond between these characters, this one actually treats that relationship with sincerity.

They're rushing to the hospital. Marcus has become a grandfather, and holding his grandson for the first time, the veteran cop has a realization: He wants out of this work.

Mike doesn't, and that's where the real tension of this installment rests. It's not about the new cops, who respect the veterans but obviously believe they know better, and it's definitely not about the plot, which has a mother-son pair of Mexican criminals looking for revenge against the people who locked up their husband/father. Mike is on the kill list of Isabel (Kate del Castillo), a self-proclaimed witch who escapes from prison, and Armando Armas (Jacob Scipio), her son. When the latter decides to go after Mike first, Marcus' resolve to put an end to the violence he has brought into the world is strengthened, but Mike's determination to get his own revenge is only hardened.

There's a certain degree of self-reflection in this development—both for the characters and the movie itself—that's kind of refreshing. Matters of age arise, because, despite the various action scenes in which they participate, these guys aren't spring chickens anymore (The two men agree to a footrace to decide if they'll retire together, and their still-frustrated captain, again played by Joe Pantoliano, half jests, "I'm betting on a torn ACL").

Marcus' realization of how much death and destruction he has caused over the decades leads him to a crisis of faith of sorts. For all of his amorous escapades over the years, Mike keeps finding himself looking at Rita (Paola Nuñez), the leader of AMMO, with more than a hint of regret in his eyes.

The filmmakers don't take any of this too seriously, which is a bit of a shame—although also to be completely expected, given the series' history. Those ideas about aging and regret and learning late—but not too late—about what really matters in life are here. They're often offset, though, by a jokey tone (A montage has Mike returning to the game as a vigilante juxtaposed with Marcus enjoying retired life) or, especially as the plot about hunting the vengeance-seeking criminals becomes the focus, lots of action. Marcus' determination to lead a peaceful life is dismissed almost immediately—with a joke, of course—once the Armas' body count rises enough.

The weird thing is that the movie shows it can take itself seriously, considering a late revelation about Mike's intimate connection to the Armas duo (It's the stuff of a soap opera, which the movie acknowledges—for a laugh, of course). There is something beneath the surface of this installment that's clever and—dare it be said—a bit wise about how these characters could stand a change or two in their lives. Then, Bad Boys for Life ends with a chaotic shootout and series of fights, set amidst the blaze of a crashed helicopter, and we're right back where it all started.

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