Title: BAD BOYS FOR LIFE
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Núñez, Kate del Castillo, Nicky Jam, Joe Pantoliano, and Thomas Brag
Movie length: 2 hours 4 minutes
What it is: The long-in-development third chapter in the Smith/Lawrence-starring BAD BOYS franchise and a sequel to the 2003 $273 million dollars grossing Bad Boys II.
Set nearly seventeen years since the last movie, we pick up with Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett considering retirement while Smith’s Michael “Mike” Lowrey is still on active duty with no plans to retire when a mob boss attempts to seek revenge on Lowrey for the death of his father.
Along with the return of the charismatic lead pair, the film sees the welcome return of Joe Pantoliano as Captain Conrad Howard and Theresa Randle once again is in the role of Marcus’ wife Theresa.
What I thought: The script itself was not the greatest but the action scenes more than made up for it. But great actions scenes are to be expected with a movie that Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer are involved in (albeit here in Executive Producer roles).
The score was composed by Lorne Balfe and he has done a great job mirroring the scenes with the music to get the audience into the bombastic spirit of the film – the cast isn’t the only returning elements, the iconic Inner Circle song BAD BOYS is used prominently throughout the film.
While the focus of the movie was on Smith and Lawrence’s characters the supporting cast including the returning Pantoliano, as well as newcomers Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Núñez as fellow officers all were great in their limited roles. Likewise the main villains played by Kate del Castillo and Jacob Scipio were great in their roles as foes for the stars.
The directors, as well as the stunt coordinators and crew, did a great job with the many action scenes and vehicle chases throughout the movie.
Oh, and there is one scene that takes place right before the credits that seems to set up a potential sequel.
My grade: B-. While the script wasn’t the greatest (and I won’t go into spoilers why I thought that), the action scenes were terrific and helped my grade for the movie. If you want a good summer action movie in the middle of Winter this is one you need to see on the big screen.
