“Bad Boys for Life” Review
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are great in a film that isn’t afraid to get real with its story and well-filmed action.
Following a time when specific shows and movies failed to end on a strong note, it’s odd to know how the final entry in the “Bad Boys” trilogy serves as an example of not ending its own series spectacularly but fine. The movie’s solid entertainment and story value serves as a nicer treat, since I’m not a fan of the previous two films. As a foolish teen, I gave into the wild action, charisma of its leads, and the slick, fierce aesthetics reminiscent of a well-done music video. The older I get, though, the less these movies hold up for me. In spite of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s terrific chemistry with each other, the previous two movies’ overly speedy editing, obnoxious style, and downright disgusting sense of humor (Who in their right mind thought that spending millions of dollars on having two rats going at it was a good idea?) made for unpleasant viewing experiences for me in recent times. Not helping, of course, was the nihilistic and juvenile presence of Bay in the director’s chair on those previous two movies.
In “For Life,” you can tell that the makers behind it worked harder to bring a little more heart and make this film more investing and even emotionally considerate on certain occasions. The film never loses sight of being what it is at is core: an entertaining action movie with two brother-like cops cracking jokes, crime lords to tackle, insane car chases, and so forth. But the movie also holds enough restraint in its directing and tone to let its characters have serious moments and even tap into themes of family and legacy, thus fitting right in with its main leads who have clearly experienced much since their first film together.
Smith and Lawrence return to their roles as, respectively, detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. Over 20 years have come and gone, but their fantastic chemistry and bond remains intact. They riff on each other and point out the dumbness of the others’ mistakes with brutally honest and hilarious fashion, yet the fear and intensity in their posture and frigid eyes is no less real when they’re having a heart-to-heart debate with one another or watching the other in danger. Early on in the movie, Lawrence has a faith-related scene that feels sincere and is acted pretty well in a way that made me surprisingly feel more for the situation at hand, this time around, and recognize the close relationship that these two have. Smith and Lawrence act like brothers to their core, and much of this movie thrives from taking a little more time to let these guys talk one-on-one about reaching a certain age or determining what the best solution is to take down a serious threat to them and possibly others. In addition to that, they handle their rapid, snarky delivery with ease at each other and who they’re up against, and they have that awesome, steely look and fierce hold on their guns reminiscent of any cool buddy-cop duo.
“For Life” also possesses more serious moments than one would predict, taking time to tap into themes of dealing with what comes from getting older, recognizing what your legacy means as it goes on, and the responsibility to one’s family, whether it’s biological or otherwise. These scenes never feel forced, either, and they weave themselves well into the plot. Now, this action flick never fully dives into the intense tone and seriousness of, say, a Christopher Nolan film or a Daniel Craig Bond film. This entry does, though, know when to scale back on its humorous tone to bring more weight regarding its own characters, the harsh reality of their situation, and the firmness of their bond with each other. “For Life” shows more heart and soul than the other two movies attempted to give, and I highly appreciated that. It especially shows through how some unexpected developments also happen in the plot that didn’t blow my mind in any way, but I definitely held surprise to the route taken and cared about what I learned and what was going on with the people in the film in ways that I never would have felt for Bay’s previous films.
The antagonists in this movie are also pretty decent. Instead of focusing on a typical menacing foreign mastermind or what I refer to as a bargain-bin Tony Montana from the second outing, the adversaries here consist of a mother and son working together to regain something after terrible events apparently happened to them and their family in the past. This relationship dynamic offers something different that I haven’t seen from many films, such as this, in a while, and, in addition to making me fairly interested to see where their arc was leading, I also found its presence to interestingly tie into its themes regarding the importance of family and the heartache that can come from the bad events involving them.
Joe Pantoliano returns as the infuriated yet humorous officer in charge of Smith and Lawrence, and, while his manic side does show in a few scenes, he has his behavior toned down a little here, yet he’s still an entertaining and even charming sight to see. Instead of Bay, the directors for this project here are Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. It’s a change that works greatly in the movie’s favor. Bay’s absurdly over-the-top style and oversaturated colors are replaced by an approach that tries to provide a more steady balance of weight and thrills along with a color scheme that’s more vibrantly toned, welcoming in some nice appearances of turquoise and pink in the background. Shots will linger a little more over dramatic scenes and close-up just enough to get a sense of actors’ expressions upon certain moments. And, while there are plenty of rotating shots, they’re done with a steadier speed that tries to bring in a little more imagery from the background. The action itself is shot in a decent manner, too, keeping to the sides of the fighters and shooters to get a good glimpse of action while making it easy to see who hit or shot who and who was the target.
As far as other relationships in this movie go, there’s an apparent romantic connection revolving around Smith and another woman on the police force that gets brought up quite a bit in the first act, but the movie never really does anything bigger with it or gives it any development. Also, the technological team that Smith and Lawrence end up having to work with consist of characters who are pretty bland and not that interesting. True, they do try to avert further from turning them into the stereotypical “nerds with goofy looks who are highly into tech,” but they still don’t have enough backstory or personality to make them truly interesting to enjoy the ride with. Plus, Lawrence’s arc about retirement works alright into trying to tie into the theme of getting older and the changes that come from it, yet we know that he’s going to set it aside to join Smith again. His plotline gets a few chuckles, but it’s not really that funny, and it doesn’t really seem to head anywhere.
Still, for all of the gripes that can come with the writing at times, this was a decent action-comedy that made me fairly reflect on other good 90’s action movies that I enjoy, such as “Speed” and “Rush Hour.” There were enough emotional stakes to keep me interested, the movie is shot and performed in an effective fashion for something from this genre, and the story took more chances than anybody was probably expecting it to. It’s a fun and sometimes heartfelt ride that I admired and made me happy that I hopped in with some rather funny and devoted cops/brothers.
Grade: B