Bad Boys for Life

Bad Boys for Life

By James Davidson

    The bad boys are back. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reprise their roles as detectives Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett, everyone’s favorite “bad boys for life”. Mike and Marcus are facing the abject reality that they are now middle-aged and not the young, hip officers that they once were. While in the midst of midlife crises, the two friends also discover that there is a new, evil drug lord who is hunting down a lot of their associates. Mike discovers that this new threat, who is also out to kill him, is a ghost from his past coming back to haunt him. With this knowledge, Mike tries to pull  Marcus out of a premature retirement to help him hunt down this new drug boss.

    It has been a while since I’ve seen the first two Bad Boys movies and I didn’t remember much about them. I didn’t have time to watch them before I went to see this film, so I was worried that I might be a little lost on some of the story. Luckily, this movie didn’t rely on the other two, at least from what I remember about the first two. I wasn’t lost at all and enjoyed the movie quite a bit.

    This movie is everything that I expected from a Bad Boys movie. It had amazing action scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat, as well as lots of on point humor. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence work very well together and played the roles of aging action heroes perfectly. A lot of the humor is based off of the two friends experiencing midlife crises and trying to keep up with the younger detectives. Smith and Lawrence pull this humor off seamlessly and had me laughing throughout the entire movie. 

    If I had one complaint about the movie, it is that some of the acting left a lot to be desired. There were a couple scenes that felt very rehearsed and not authentic. However, I wasn’t expecting Oscar winning performances in a big action flick like this. While the level of acting wasn’t the highest, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the movie at all. The actors were funny when they were supposed to be and got their message across efficiently. The humor and actors’ chemistry made up for the slightly weak acting. I also wish that some of the plot was fleshed out a bit better. There were a couple of loose ends that I thought the filmmakers could have tied up in a better way. A lot of the characters’ stories were left open-ended, including some which I thought had endings that were pretty obvious. The filmmakers did leave a bit of an open ending for a sequel down the road and I would be interested to see how works out. 

    While the humor made up for some subpar acting, the action scenes almost made me forget the flaws completely. I was expecting a lot of fast-paced action since this is a Bad Boys movie, but I felt that this movie really outdid itself. The action was exciting and shot well. While it was, at times a little unbelievable, I remained enthralled and enjoyed every minute of it. There were plenty of explosions, car chases, and fight scenes to drive the pace of the movie forward and keep the audience on the edge of their seat. 

    This movie is rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, sexual references, and brief drug use. This movie would not be appropriate for families with young children, it’s definitely geared toward adults. This would be a great movie to go see with friends, especially if you are a fan of the first two films.

    “Bad Boys for Life” is a typical action flick, with engaging action and well-timed humor.  Although it leaves a little to be desired in terms of acting, this movie follows in the footsteps of its predecessors and is everything that I expected from a Bad Boys film. This is a fun, enjoyable time at the theater; I will definitely be watching this movie again and recommend it to anyone who is a fan of action movies. It earns 3 out of 5 stars.