Bad Boys for Life: Boys to Men
Bad Boys For Life (2020)
Directed by Adil El Arbi (as Adil), Bilall Fallah (as Bilall)
Starring Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig
You CAN’T make a third Bad Boys and not have it directed by Micheal Bay!
Wanna bet?
Many things have changed since Bay directed 2003’s Bad Boys II. While the world steered away from egregiously misogynistic and homophobic role models, the director immersed himself in quite possibly the world’s worst franchise. (I’ll give you a hint: “They’re more than meets the eye.”) Thank you to whatever stroke of luck made Bay either unavailable or uninterested when Columbia pictures sought to revive, what I believe to be, a better franchise. (Here’s another hint: “Whatcha gonna do?”)
If you’re co-directors Arbi and Fallah, what you’re gonna do is bring a new take to the buddy cop genre and focus on the ideological gap between Gen X-ers and Millennials.
In Bad Boys For Life, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence shine as aging leads Mike and Marcus. A new set of obstacles – the kind older men deal with – becomes comedic fodder for these great actors. The action is enjoyable and sometimes awe inspiring, but the comedic bond between these two men is the glue that makes this film fun. By the end I said, “Oh wow! It’s over already?” … which is rare for a two-hour action film.
From the strong yet caring Kelly (played well by Vanessa Hudgens) to the sensitive giant Dorn (played with confidence by Alexander Ludwig), the younger cast members do a good job of showing us that even Vice Cops in Miami don’t have to fit any sort of stereotype. As far as the antagonists go, the mysterious mother-son duo is both scary and relatable, a characteristic not common to Michael Bay movies.
Bay Boys For Life is one of the most enjoyable action films I have seen in quite a while, and I believe repeated viewings will only bring laughter and awe to whomever watches.
If Bad Boys was a B and Bad Boys 2 was a C, then this new take is an A….. for action!