Bad Boys for Life
/“Ride together. Die together.”
Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4
“Bad Boys for Life” is the third film in the 'Bay Boys' franchise. It thankfully was not directed by Michael Bay. "The Bad Boys," Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, are back together for one last ride when a vicious hitman begins killing people close to an old case of Lowrey's. "The Bad Boys" deal with getting older and the ramifications of that.
When it comes to this franchise, I hate the first two films with a burning passion. They are indescribably stupid, bloated, and juvenile. So the bar was set very low for this third film along with the January release date, but with Michael Bay out of the director's chair, perhaps something could be salvaged.
It may be because the bar was so low, but I can't believe I'm actually going to praise a lot of this film.
It was shocking that this film has dramatic elements to it. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are past their prime and the film was meta about that fact. Each of them have their own ways of dealing with their aging and I found the drama in this film to be very impactful.
It's also very funny, but not in the disgusting Michael Bay way. There felt like actual set-up and paid-off jokes in this film and the chemistry between Smith and Lawrence really amped-up the comedy, but not in a way where they are constantly shouting over each other for the entire runtime like the previous two films.
What I loved was that this film also has consequences for mistakes made by the two leads. One in particular was so shocking that it was actually quite emotional. There are many twists and turns and I found all to be very effective on the narrative and they roped the villains into an interesting subplot.
What I still dislike is how this retains the visual style of a Michael Bay film. It brought this miasma to the film that took a while to get over. I also feel the film is too long. There is definitely a ninety minute cut of this film and that would be accomplished through cutting action scenes down, which aren't too memorable anyways. There is also a cameo by Michael Bay that it made my skin crawl.
This film definitely blind-sided me, but perhaps it's because the bar was just so low that it was through the floor.
Rating: See It
-Nolan