The Michael Bay original and sequel were basically a star vehicle for Will Smith, featured typical Michael Bay action (a certain Ferrari highway chase comes to mind), scantily clad women in Miami, and a catchy theme song.
By my recollection, they were nothing all that special other than the Smith - Lawrence pairing was fun and this was at a time where people still "liked" Michael Bay.
Well he's out as director for this one - but still able to make an awkward, forced cameo - and we're given this sequel because...well...I'm not sure really. There certainly isn't a need for Bad Boys for Life to exist other than to round out a trilogy that took 25 years to complete and to satisfy internet rumors that it was happening.
I'd truly assumed, with the inconsistency of Will Smith's career lately, that this January-dumped film would be a dud. Maybe not aggressively bad, but super-duper forgettable. Luckily, time has been kind to this franchise in an odd sort of way. There's almost a new genre being formed in Hollywood around "Reboot an older franchise and have the main stars deal with their age, mortality, new tech, etc." That's exactly what's done here and while BBfL doesn't rewrite any of the rules, it manages to be an entertaining and sometimes thoughtful time at the movies.
This review will likely be a shorter one because I find with films like this, the best summary I can give is that it's perfectly good without ever becoming great. If anything has elements of potential greatness, it would be the action. Unfortunately the action ends up being fairly inconsistent with a handful of forgettable moments balanced out by some stunning choreography that's over before you know it. To a certain extent, it misses Michael Bay's flourish, but it's hard to say the film would have been better with him at the helm because of all the other baggage that comes with him as a director. And Lord knows that the editing is better without him here.
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| Old Boys, Old Boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do without prune juice? |
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| Even without Bay, the film still has visual flair (and better editing!) |
That said, "old cops getting old" leads to some great laughs too, particularly from Lawrence. It's an R rated film for its action, but most of its humor is surprisingly wholesome. The two are able to reignite their chemistry as if it never left and their characters different attitudes to how they want to live out the rest of their lives lead to both some well-earned touching moments, as well as funny ones. Like everything else in the film, this stuff is totally "just" good, and never anything more than that. But you'll soon come to realize that you're perfectly ok with that because the film is entertaining.
Bad Boys for Life deserves credit for being better than I thought it would be, and even past that, it's just a good, entertaining time at the movies. It won't light the world on fire, but it's a solid finale (or is it?) for this series that didn't really need to happen in the first place, but it eagerly makes it's case for existence and [mostly] succeeds.
CONS
- Pretty bad special effects when they are used
- Not all the jokes land
- Action is inconsistent and some segments are really forgettable
- Cringe-worthy Michael Bay cameo
- Path to get from start to end is not how you'd expect. Also introduces some more background into the franchise
- Can be very funny, strangely off mostly wholesome humor
- Has enough visual flair to entertain, without the added headache of Michael Bay's other tendencies
- Handful of entertaining action segments
- New characters are fun
- Good soundtrack that really pumps through the Miami vibe
- Not outright bad at anything and manages to be (only) good at most everything
Rath's Review Score | 7/10
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