The wait is over. The highly anticipated sequel with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reprising their roles in Bad Boys for Life shoots it’s way into theaters this weekend only to compete with Dolittle for king-of-the-hill even though the latter is geared towards the younger generation.
It’s the same ol’ action sequences with Vanessa Hudgens for added scenery. Mike Lowery (Smith) and his sidekick Marcus Burnett (Lawrence). In the wake of the “John Wick” “Lethal Weapon” or “Die Hard” franchise that had hard hitting results at the cinemas, the chemistry between the dynamic duo hasn’t changed. Oh, let’s not forget “48 Hours” that stared Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in the buddy cop days. Of course Nolte was actually the cop with Murphy being drug in as a bad-boy ex-con partner.
Will Smith scored a perfect 10 with last year’s high grossing Aladdin and this MLK weekend shall give him another chance to rise to the top. Mike and Marcus are still patrolling the Miami streets when Mike barely survives an assassination attempt. That gets him rethinking his “Bulletproof Mike” status but now has a taste of revenge. Marcus wants to sit down as a new grandpa and stay glued to the boob tube as the attempt on Mike was enough for him. This is where the film doops a tad but the chemistry is still present.
Mike convinces Marcus to “ride together, die together” one more time. They seek out on one more brutal mission with the same mayhem as in the previous two. The fight scenes were spectacularly choreographed even though it was easy to tell the stuntmen and actors apart especially with the fight scenes. The conveniently placed escape routes and shiny cars were still incorporated with directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah keeping most of the material fresh as they stepped in for Michael Bay who took the chair for the first two. It’s intensely humorous and with it’s two hour run time (stay for post credits) the action film is over just like that. Of course CGI is still displayed, the music score is very upbeat but more importantly it brings back 17 year old memories. Maybe the bad boys for life will ride together for a fourth installment. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? 3 1/2 stars
