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Bad Boys for Life
Directors: Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Will Smith, Vanessa Hudgens
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The first two Bad Boys films saw Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, two of the funniest actors around, collide on the big screen.
The third go-around, Bad Boys for Life, is directed by Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi.
The first two were directed by Michael Bay, who subsequently sold out to giant computer-generated robots in Transformers.
In the films, Smith is Mike Lowrey and Lawrence is Marcus Burnett, and the pair had a believable charm about them when they were much younger.
In this installation in the franchise, we return to Miami in the US for flashy cars, bikinis, board shorts and shoot-outs at noon.
The film starts with the loveable pair rushing through the streets.
Lowrey is still a suave, rich cop, but he and Burnett have lost a step – they have been on the force for 25 years, and their adversaries are younger, more skilled and more motivated than either of the “bad boys”.
A slightly doughy Burnett is planning on retiring and balancing his karma by putting down the gun and badge.
He wants nothing more than to step away from the ride-and-die together approach to life that the pair had adopted, and move towards an easier, chilled life.
They’re still detectives working with captain Conrad Howard, who still brings everything he can to this funny supporting role.
We were all looking forward to this film, and we waited for it for 17 years. Unfortunately, it wasn’t worth the wait.
Strangely enough, it felt like it missed Bay, though he did direct one scene in this film, and you’ll be able to spot it.
Just think back to the moment in the past films when the pair realise the situation they are in is infinitely worse than they thought it was just two scenes before.
What was enjoyable was the comedic sparring these two are renowned for.
In the beginning, the one-liner delivery is a little rocky, but Smith and Lawrence get into it, as you would expect.
The slow motion used in the film was impressive to see – it has a bit of a Matrix feel to it, with bullets flying out of the gun’s chamber at a staggering rate.
I imagine the experience must’ve made Smith feel a little better about turning down the lead role in that prolific saga.
The two encounter a foe so hell-bent on seeing them dead that they are paired with a unit called Ammo, which has four young cops who use technology and thought processing instead of bravado and exotic automobiles to bring the baddies down.
Vanessa Hudgens appears alongside Alexander Ludwig, but they are underused.
Hudgens is a lot better than her High School Musical days and Ludwig is the lead in a TV show that he even got an Emmy for, so give them some lines.
Seeing the guys looking old and catching so many beat downs was weird and it didn’t make sense, even though ageing is just part of life.
Lawrence and Smith are in their fifties and they obviously weren’t up to many of their usual stunts, which led to some scenes looking flaccid.
Saying “bad boys” six times in two scenes inspires nostalgia, but it quickly gets annoying.
