★★
Old-school cops Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett team up to take down the vicious leader of a Miami drug cartel.
Classification: 15
After 17 years the boys are back in town as the latest franchise to be unearthed with a brand spanking new legacy sequel are Will Smith and Martin Lawerence's signature Miami cops known for kicking all kinds of ass. Unfortunately, the duo has seen better days as Bad Boys For Life is a convoluted mess of subplots, sporadic action and misplaced sentimentality that leaves your head aching as if someone had been burrowing into your skull with a crank drill. With the time that has passed, it's only natural that Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett are reflecting on their lives as they enter middle age with themes of family and loyalty driving their partnership into new obstacles. When Lowery's life is threatened by an emerging criminal figure in the drug game, and with Burnett's retirement in the wake of his grandson's birth the two are split apart by their differing views on their violent ways. Lowrey seeking violent retribution against the film's antagonist and Burnett wishing to live the rest of his life in a loving, pacifist manner. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah struggle to balance out a narrative that gives these characters "one last ride" as the script duplicates story beats, rehashes tropes from modern action films, uses hackneyed Latin American stereotypes and forces the Bad Boys to play by the tired modern rule book rather than the one they built.
Some audiences may find the original director Michael Bay's absence a blessing although his presence hasn't been entirely scrubbed clean as Bad Boys for Life's camera work still low spins around its stars when the moment calls for it. But it's that rough, pure 90's action bonanza flair from his unique eye that is sorely lacking from the new instalment and it feels less like the characters have been tamed by the year's and domesticity but that their very genre has had to conform in order to still be relevant. The star-driven buddy cop movie is almost a thing of the past, as multiplexes now prefer the work of team-based superheroes such as Marvel's Avengers or Universal's Fast and Furious franchise and so the Smith and Lawerence are forced to play second fiddle to a high tech team of youthful law enforcers. Or as Lowery eloquently states "high school musical boy band with guns" in a not subtle tactic from Sony to try and make the franchise more viable for younger audiences and possibly set up a new cinematic universe spinoff. Advanced Miami Metro Operations or "AMMO" is the team that Lowery's case is assigned and it all just feels like an awkward excuse for millennial bashing as Lowery's old school ways clash with the more tactical tech centred work of the youthful team.
Essentially the Bad Boys are forced into the Fast & Furious film mould and the overall effect leaves the audience cold to what they really wanted; Smith and Lawrence back together again. Except now they share screen time with underdeveloped stereotypes; Charles Melton's brash, cocky asshole, Alexander Ludwig's big teddy bear softie who hates violence, and Vanessa Hudgens as a girl. Although she has braids in her hair, I guess that's a character trait now, the three are led by Paola Núñez's Rita, a detective with a romantic history with Lowery but none of the characters add to the dynamic in any meaningful. Continuously shoehorned into the conflicts by the screenplay like a deus ex machina any time Smith and Lawerence need some exposition thrown at them or to be reminded that they are old. Their presence takes away from the idea of Lowrey and Burnett teaming up one last time, risking their lives and although Joe Pantoliano's return as Captain Howard is amazing; short tempted and downing Pepto Bismol like a jello shot, the supporting cast has little to add to the long-awaited on-screen reunion.
The saving grace to the film is Martin Lawerence as after almost a decade off-screen, he steals just about every scene he's in as his hilarious stylings make most of the mediocrity to the film bearable. After a poorly structured first act, Bad Boys For Life seems to just take on a similar style to a typical Will Smith action vehicle such as Gemini Man as Lowery has gunfights, rooftop fights, motorcycle fights, and is put through the wringer with Burnett awkwardly standing to the side or offscreen when most of this occurs. Lawerence doesn't get to have his classic action hero moments as he did in the first two instalments, every moment he does get to be involved it's played more for comedy. Whether it be him needing to wear glasses in order to properly aim a gun or having a spiritual crisis when he discovers a Gatling gun in a motorcycle sidecar during a chase sequence (while the film can be migraine-inducing, Smith and Lawrence in a bizarre Wallace and Gromit meets The Warriors bike chase is pretty damn fun) Lawrence seems to just be the comic punching bag to Smith's action hero at times. Although the chemistry between Lawrence and Smith hasn't missed a beat as right from the opening scene featuring the two joy riding through Miami's glorious sunlit, bikini-clad streets and beaches audiences are drawn right back into the iconic dynamic.
The script and direction of the film are overstuffed with repetitive arcs and poor editing, Bad Boys For Life definitely feels like a film that been in development hell as several ideas from previous scripts are stapled together to form its lumbering plotline. The first and second act essentially have the same shocking climax, making the first act even more laborious in pacing and the sudden third act reveals forces the tone to go in a wildly different direction. The few moments when the film shines are in the classic back and forth between Smith and Lawerence giving the film its shining points of levity but also when the drama strikes, the film actually does pause to let it resonate. The mortality and fears of Lowery and Burnett make for the best scenes as it forces two seemingly impenetrable action heroes to reckon with their own vulnerability, the direction doesn't hone in on this interesting thread as much as it should but it allows Smith and Lawerence to give some depth to their performance. The Bad Boys are older now, their methods questioned and limited in every direction but the film can't let them be what they used to be and what it does turn them into doesn't do justice to their history. The film also features troubling stereotypes of Latin America and some misogyny as Kate del Castillo's character is reduced to a "bruja" stereotype so the script can make several disparaging jokes about her. Bad Boys For Life's scenes in Mexico City and Latin American characterisation just kept giving me flashbacks to not so subtle xenophobia of Rambo: Last Blood, this film was nowhere near as bad but I worry this will be a continuing trend in action films.
Bad Boys was never the most PC of films in the first place but Smith and Lawerence's return still has its moments as comedy and action blend well with that honest enthusiasm both actors have in being these characters again. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah along with the three screenwriters just needed to trim the fat, let the story breathe and have the emotion of the film revolve around the partnership rather than force them into an uninspired Fast & Furious reject script. For many, it will dumb, loud fun with plenty of zingers to break it up but its bloated handling of the many plot threads that leaves much of the emotion unresolved or unsatisfied. Bad Boys For Life doesn't build itself into a gratifying return for the action franchise it's more like charging headfirst into a wall repeatedly, desperately hoping that the flashy action and star power will hide all of its shortcomings.
Director: #AdilElArbi and #BilallFallah
Cast: #WillSmith, #MartinLawrence, #VanessaHudgens, #AlexanderLudwig, #CharlesMelton, #PaolaNúñez, #KatedelCastillo, #NickyJam, #JoePantoliano
Release Date: January 17th 2020
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Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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