Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in ‘Bad Boys for Life’.
Directed by: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
Screenplay by: Chris Bremner, Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan, Story by: Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan
Based on Characters by: George Gallo
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Nunez, Kate del Castillo, Jacob Scipio
As I get older, it has been a pleasure to watch films whose intent is to recognize that its stars are not ageless.
In the case of “Bad Boys for Life,” co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah charge headstrong into a story that reflects this mode of thought. Long gone are the characters created by George Gallo but the script by Chris Bremner, Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan really drives home the theme through our legacies, both good and bad.
“Bad Boys for Life” suffers because of those charges.
It’s not that the mode of thought is incorrect. Rather, Mike Lawrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), who have been partners on the Miami PD force for the better part of 24 years, haven’t aged gracefully and they don’t accept their characters’ legacies with as much grace as, say Riggs and Murtaugh from “Lethal Weapon,” which felt like a huge influence on this film.
Marcus, who has found religion once again, is now a grandfather. We can see him fit easily into the retirement he has planned for himself and being a grandfather. But, Mike’s past catches up with him forcing Marcus out of fogginess of feigned retirement.
El Arbi and Fallah use some fancy editing techniques to build up sympathies for our favorite duo and for the most part, it works. They get some laughs out of us and in the end, we appreciate our intrepid heroes more than we have in the past. Joe Pantoliano steps back into the shoes of Captain Howard just perfectly, along with the requisite Pepto.
As the story gets more personal, our duo step up their game. The team assembled to support Lowrey and Burnett in this round offer some levity, especially Dom (Alexander Ludwig), Rafe (Charles Melton) and Rita (Paola Nunez) under the command of Vanessa Hudgens’s Kelly. In layering those characters and their antics, they have become more cardboard props than anything else, but they do alleviate the tension.
Lowrey’s legacy is just as important an element to the film as it was for Burnett. However, once the duo get ramped up, implications behind the brazen attacks on Lowrey’s history get fuzzy; the “optics” become less clear, blurred by frenetic editing that doesn’t do the story justice.
This isn’t to say that the film’s outcome is any less important, something that has been reflected in Will Smith’s roles since he returned from retirement last summer. In that regard, Kate del Castillo’s Isabel Aretas and Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio) made for formidable enemies.
There’s a pivotal moment in the film where the context of legacy changes and while it might have sounded really strong on paper, it changes the flavor of the film unnecessarily.
The third act benefits the most from Robrecht Heyvaert’s cinematography along with Lorne Balfe’s score, but the heavy handed editing made me feel like I was watching “A Good Day to Die Hard” all over again: bloviated action and frenetic pacing while abandoning the elements of the story that did work.
The fact that “Bad Boys for Life” is better than “Bad Boys II” says something about the story, the themes and the characters themselves; however, the film being ceremoniously put into a January slot is usually a death knell. Sony was hedging its bets that it would overperform like “Escape Room” this same time last year. If the first third of the film, which was fun and energetic, is any indication of what Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are truly capable of, then their own legacy is worth looking at. If we get more of the last act from them, then serious doubts emerge.
“Bad Boys for Life” suffers no fools: this uneven tale of legacies is certainly worth checking out on the big screen.
2.5 stars out of 4
