Creative Differences Episode 197 | Fancast Friday – Robin Hood

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Movie Review: Bad Boys for Life

Y’all don’t understand how excited I was for this movie. Or maybe you do, especially if you’ve heard our podcast about our most anticipated 2020 movies. But in case you haven’t, I was HYPED! I’m the biggest Will Smith fan I know, and I thoroughly enjoy both of the first two Bad Boys movies. So I went in VERY excited, and this movie lived up to my expectations in pretty much every possible way.

Bad Boys for Life follows my favorite duo of reckless Miami cops, Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett, as they team up “one last time” to handle a particularly personal case. If you’ve seen either of the other Bad Boys movies, you know what to expect. If you haven’t, you might wanna do that first.

Let’s talk about the aforementioned Bad Boys and their supporting cast.

But first, I gotta say, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are the key component of this franchise, and they’re both as great as ever. Their chemistry hasn’t lost a step.

Mike Lowery: Over the years, there have been dozens of the “trigger happy cop who plays by his own rules” character. Mike Lowery is without a doubt my favorite version of that. He’s reckless, he’s fearless, he’s good looking, and he’s good at what he does. Is he a good cop? No, an actual cop with this mentality would be terrifying. Actually, a lot of cops seem to do what they want without consequence, but that’s not what this is about.  What it boils down to is, Mike is extremely fun to watch. I did wonder how someone could be like this well past their 40s with no discernible character development, but we get some in this movie!

And before you ask, yes, Will Smith being Mike is a big reason why I love him. I’d watch Will play this role 100 times if I could. Will handles the comedic and dramatic moments of the character perfectly, and brings a great flavor to the role.

Marcus Burnett: Since 1995, we’ve been watching Marcus be Mike’s stressed out and tired partner. Marcus has been gettin’ too old for this for the last 25 years. Considering these actors and characters(?) are both in their 50s now, Marcus’s character makes a lot more sense this time around. His character is every bit as enjoyable as Mike Lowery, but for different reasons, and that’s why they work so well together.

Just like Will Smith, Martin Lawrence handles the comedy and drama wonderfully in this movie. This movie makes him more of the comic relief and gives more of the dramatic acting to Will, but when Martin gets a chance to go serious he makes it worth it. If I have a complaint though, it’s that there are one or two instances here and there when a serious moment didn’t need a funny line from Marcus, but we got one anyway. I’d venture a guess that that was more on the writers or directors than on Martin, though.

Rita: Rita is the lieutenant in charge of AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations), a group of younger officers using new tactics to fight crime. She is one of many police officers who is tired of Mike’s antics, but she’s also his ex, so that comes with its own tension. She’s as badass as the Bad Boys when it comes to fighting crime, but in a more by the book way.

Paola Núñez is great in this movie. According to her Wikipedia, this is her first movie with an English title, so that explains why I hadn’t seen her before. I’d love to see more of her, though. No, I haven’t seen The Purge show yet.

AMMO: Kelly is a professional and extremely efficient young officer with Vanessa Hudgens level good looks. Dorn is an impressively large man with tech skills that are just as impressive, and he has an adorably gentle and polite demeanor. Until he doesn’t. Rafe is a charismatic young officer who’s an ass for no discernible reason, but he gets over that. These characters are played excellently by Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, and Charles Melton, respectively.

Captain Howard: Captain Howard is definitely one of the best aspects of this franchise. He’s been spending the last couple of decades finding creative ways to express his stress with Mike and Marcus, and it’s amazing every time. He takes on a more mentoring role to Mike in a couple of scenes this time around, adding some more depth to the character. Shout out to Joe Pantoliano for bringing his special brand of angry to this role for so long. He’s great.

Isabel Aretas: The Wicked Witch of the South, bro! If you’ve seen the movie (and are aware that Kate Del Castillo stars in a show called La Reina del Sur (Queen of the South) AND have seen this video), you probably got that reference. She’s the main antagonist, and is terrifying in the best way. Well, the best way for a non horror movie. She exudes a certain power that makes you not want to cross her and makes you fear for her enemies. La Reina del Sur was definitely the right woman for the role.

Armando Armas: The other main antagonist, who is essentially Isabel’s weapon of choice. And what an effective weapon he is. This boy ain’t playin’ no games. Jacob Scipio is another actor in this movie I hadn’t seen before, but who I look forward to seeing more of in the future.

I spent so long on the characters! There are so many, and they’re all interesting! But moving on now. I don’t know if anyone goes to a Bad Boys movie for the story, but this one actually has a solid narrative. It’s not just a bad foreign criminal targeting someone close to our heroes. I mean, it’s that too, but not just that. This one has a good story to go along with the explosions, fast cars, and attractive people. Kudos to Chris Bremner, Peter Craig, and Joe Carnahan.

But let’s talk about those explosions, fast cars, and attractive people. Our directors this time around are Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. I’m always happy to see directors take on a franchise and do their own thing while not taking it too far from the vision of the original director(s). In this case, Adil and Billal did a great job of injecting just enough Michael Bay into this movie without overdoing it. It still feels like it fits within the Bad Boys trilogy because the action is great, the colors are intense, the explosions are plentiful, the violence is everywhere, and the people are very good looking. It checks all the Bad Boys boxes and to be honest, Adil and Billal probably made the best of the three movies.

And in case you’re wondering, it’s every bit as funny as the last two, if not more so.

Alright, that’s my glowing review for Bad Boys for Life, the newest installment in what I’ve recently realized is one of my favorite film trilogies now. Definitely in the top five trilogies for me. I loved it, and when they inevitably ignore the “one last time” for Bad Boys 4, which I’ve heard is already in the works, I’ll be sitting front and center. Well, not in the front actually, because my wife likes to sit in the back. Anyway, you get it. The movie is dope.

tl;dr: It’s pretty much everything great about the Bad Boys franchise, but with some more interesting characters added in. And, ya know, the Bad Boys are older now.

Rating: 9 out of 10.