Bad Boys for Life – Review

So, how did we get here? Almost two decades and a lot of calories later, we have a new directing crew, and some new actors after the project bounced around trying to get rolling for a while. Will our bad boys survive without Michael Bay? I am pretty sure this film did struggle to get budgeting and scripting and ran into all sorts of other road blocks, so when it finally found the light of day, I don’t think there was much anticipation of quality.

With the most passive plot reveal yet: Lt. Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) is a grandpa, the film is off the races. In more nefarious happenings, some dark grimy South American crime prison bad things happen. A high-profile prisoner named Isabel Aretas (Castillo) makes a daring escape with the help of her son, Armando (Scipio).

This sets the pair on a revenge course for Armando’s deceased father, a man who hid millions that they will now recover and use to take revenge on their enemies, which includes some familiar sounding Miami cops. Per Isabel’s orders, Lt. Mike Lowrey (Smith) is to be killed last.

After the birth of his grandson, Marcus is looking for retirement. Less high-speed chases and slow-motion gun fighting, more donuts and diabetes. Big Mike says nah, ride this bitch ‘til the wheels fall off. As an inciting incident pushes the cops’ world to the edge, how will they respond to a new and deadly force attacking them close to home?

Bad Boys for Life brings a decent enough script with some okay humor and action despite the clichés included. It can’t help but maintain some standard beats, flips a few generic switches and go for a familiar trope or two by the end, but… after so long away, the series shows surprising maturity with its characters, its dialogue, its humor and its ability to entertain as an action franchise.

Losing Michael Bay’s signature look and some of the budget didn’t mean the film shifted visual style’s too much to notice unless you are a Bay aficionado, but like, is that even a thing? This film’s director duo have their own vibe and bring you right into the shootouts while enjoying slow motion as well. Oh yay! Cast additions are nice like Hudgens and Núñez, script and direction and adequate, and despite a few regular beats to it all this one avoids some of the bloat that part II held, so for me this one is a step up.

There are a quick couple ‘o end credits snippet scenes. Gabrielle Union’s character and Marcus Burnett’s sister Sydney Burnett does not show up in this film, as she instead was on a TV spinoff “L.A.’s Finest,” which ran two seasons, and had 26 episodes during 2019/2020 and paired her with Jessica Alba.