Bad Boys for Life is the 3rd film in the Bad Boys franchise which follows the exploits of two Miami Police detectives, Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Bennett (Martin Lawrence). Michael Bay directed the first two films in this franchise, but he handed off Bad Boys for Life to directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The time between films has been quite a long time, 8 years between the first and second and 15 years between the second and third. However, this is not at all unusual with action franchises.
This time out, Lowery and Bennett are celebrities in Miami. Like most celebrity cops, they have gathered a few enemies from killing allies or putting criminals in prison, and one has come back to haunt them. This film resembles all the other Bad Boys films in many ways. These two directors wanted to copy the style of Michael Bay, instead of coming up with their own style. This makes the film nothing special — just a copy of what Bay has done two times before. The slow motion action scenes, the lens flares, and the most ridiculous story are all retreads of Bay and so many other films. This stuff only happens in the movies.
They try to throw in some humor to offset everything we’ve seen so many times before. Sure the action scenes are entertaining, but they are not enough to make this film worthwhile. This film lacks cohesive dialogue! Every word that comes out of the characters mouths just seemed like a bunch of drivel, especially that from Martin Lawrence. It was like listening to nails on a chalkboard, which made it almost unbearable to watch.
Bad Boys for Life was released in January 2020, and January is considered the worst month of movies. Although Will Smith has had a resurgence in his career over the last couple years with films like Concussion, Spies in Disguise, and Aladdin, he has done some entertaining films. Bad Boys for Life is a step backwards for him. It makes sense that it came out in January. It’s a shame they are moving forward with this franchise! Please stop the pain now. This franchise is terrible and needs to end!
2 stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 