Bad Boys For Life (Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah)

[Henry Gale]

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[Henry Gale]

What a bizarre but pleasant surprise.

As someone who sees Bad Boys II as one of the more amazing pieces of cinema ever concocted, while also thinking it's mostly gross, idiotic trash (though 13 y.o. me would stand for none of such slander), I'm not sure what expectations I went into this with, but it certainly wasn't for it to really aspire to and mostly succeed at feeling like a real movie, with nuanced stakes, potent consequences, tangible heart, a wide emotional range, pathos and everything! Will and Martin commit to giving weighty, emotional performances! And then they also pull off all the banter and comedic beats as strongly as ever! It's a weird (but quite gratifying) thing to behold!

But okay, on the less exclamation point-y side, it's not as visually or spatially interesting as Bay's chaotic formal work in the previous two, and though it feels more rightfully "modern" in its action, it doesn't quite reach the heights of a John Wick type fervent energy that it's clearly going for in fits and starts. There was a big, fun action climax that I was very happy to see it go out before realizing we were only at the end of Act 2, which then takes a turn I'm not sure I love, while also making the whole thing feel like a different sort of movie all of a sudden.

But again, aside from the buddy action comedy foundation, it's the introspective, sorrowful elements of it that are what oddly sells it, even though that's definitely not what anyone in the audience may sign up for. But it's also a movie where DJ Khaled and Michael Bay himself make very over-the-top cameos so don't think it doesn't also know how to be very silly when it wants to.

[Skitch]

Perfect. Exactly what I want.

[Morris Schæffer]

Going tonight. This shit just got real :)

Edit: on course for 60-70 mil opening! This is huge!!

[Morris Schæffer]

More enjoyable and engaging than part 2, but what does that mean exactly? I mean, if Bad Boys 1 and 2 were the Terminator and T2 respectively, would Bad Boys for Life really cut it?

I found it tonally a bit out of whack. Yeah, Lawrence has 1 or 2 unexpectedly poignant moments, but much of the movie is still pretty dumb and tiresome. Why not begin with a really thrilling car chase with real stakes, like the opening of Lethal Weapon 2 for example? Instead, it's a fake-out because Burnett becomes a grandpa?!. Maybe because they're bad boys, this kind of behavior is par for the course, but why not write the movie in such a way they they're bad-ass motherfuckers because of their moral stance? Because they never give up? Because they face heavy opposition and emerge victorious nonetheless? Why does it have to be so asinine? Is John McClane not a bad boy? And let me be perfectly clear I do not mean 2013 John McClane.

The movie is pretty coherently shot, but lacks some of the sustained energy of a Michael Bay-directed Bad Boys flick. I wouldn't expect a bad boys chase to have the viscera and urgency of The French Connection, but there is a motorcycle chase with the pursuing bad guys unable to make a single shot hit their target. When that forms a picture in my mind of Roger Ebert's 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' review, my enjoyment of the movie is compromised. It's less of an issue when the escapees are in a car, but exposed on a motorcycle?
Burnett is then somehow able to find a gigantic machine gun in his sidecar, which he is unable to pivot to shoot at the pursuing foes, but wouldn't you believe that suddenly some motorcycles turn up in front of them so he can blow them away all for the sake of our gratuitous enjoyment.

Bad guys? Better than that dude living with his mom in the 2003 flick, but I still saw a snot-nosed punk inserted into a movie in favor of franchise-extending shenanigans. The mother was more terrifying, but she wasn't really front and center.

Finale with CGI chopper was decent, nothing more.

[Mal]

Its fine. Credit to Adil and Bilall as directors, mugging Michael Bay in the best ways (and I'll definitely check out more of their work). Action scenes that feel strong and confident, easy to watch and enjoy. Colors that are vivid but not garish. And, despite Will Smith's character being a blowhard, I did find myself enjoying Martin Lawrence's bit as a man set on retiring from the Boys' chaotic habits. This was a reluctant watch for me, though by the end I was pleasantly surprised that this ridiculous movie ended up being something I could get into. That does not mean I'm going to watch Bad Boys 2 (since I didn't care for the first one anyway!)

[Pop Trash]

The "vulgar auteurism" brigade on letterboxd loves Bad Boys II.