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Bad Boys for Life

Mini Non-Spoiler Review

[January 23rd, 2020]

[R | 2h 4min | Action, Comedy, Crime | January 17th, 2020]

It's been awhile...

I may not be that familiar with the original two Michael Bay films but I know their reputations really well and going in without any high expectations that diehard fans would have certainly set me up for a different moviegoing experience. As an action film, this definitely in the upper echelon and as a Bad Boys sequel, I believe this would be worth the seventeen years wait.

Yes, there's too much time has passed for the boys to get back into the same groove they used to and they smartly use it to their advantage rather than letting it bogging them down, having the Martin Lawrence's character retiring while Will Smith's character is still up for more. The shocking incident at the start of the film shows there's an actual stake this time around and really highlight the main themes for this iteration: vengeance and family.

The chemistry between the duo is still the best thing going for the franchise and their brotherly bond is as strong as ever. While they can't really go just like they did in their prime (although Will actually still really sprightly for his age, following up last year's Gemini Man with another active role), that's where the new crop of new talents came in the form of AMMO and each of them performed really admirably especially in the number of action sequences. Speaking of which, there is a lot of where that came from and while they do not reach the level of Bay-hem of the two predecessors, you will not leave the cinema feeling disappointed at all with all the ingenuity and the carnage they brought with them.

There's a lot of returning faces and callbacks to their previous outings and the storyline itself plays into it really well, juxtaposing their wild and zany youthful start to this more realistic and grounded down look of their lives at the eve of their careers. (Did I use that right?) The level of testosterone isn't as high as it used to be but they make up for it with life truth. Oh, I have to mention the MVP of the game though: the main villain played by the ever relentless Jacob Scipio! He is one mean machine... 

There's a setting up of potential followup if the flick is celebrated positively (and there's a high possibility of a generous box office success) and I would think they certainly deserve it.

Watch it for the humour (definitely much more crass and adult), the pulsating action and the surprising heart. It might have been fifteen years too late but considering the odds are against their favour, they knock this out of park for sure!

-  IMDb 7.4 - official - RT (78%)  - wiki -

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