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Plot:
The movie begins with super cop Mike (Will Smith) getting married, and his partner/best pal Marcus (Martin Lawrence) having to be hospitalized after having a heart attack on the dance floor of said wedding. After a quick death-dream chat with the late Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), Marcus finds himself with a new zest for life … while also being certain that he can’t die. Meanwhile, Mike is dealing with panic attacks, plus there’s the troubling detail that Captain Howard is being framed for having been a cartel mole. In other words, it’s your pretty standard **Bad Boys** entry in that Mike and Marcus must overcome some personal challenges while racing against the clock to bring down a big time criminal.
Cast:
- Will Smith as Mike
- Martin Lawrence as Marcus
- Vanessa Hudgens as...
- Alexander Ludwig as...
- Paola Núñez as...
- Eric Dane as...
- Ioan Gruffudd as...
- Rhea Seehorn as...
- Jacob Scipio as...
- Melanie Liburd as...
- Tasha Smith as...
- Tiffany Haddish as...
- Joe Pantoliano as Captain Howard
Release Date:
The movie is set to be released in theaters on June 7, 2024.
Behind the Scenes:
The movie was filmed in various locations, and the production team used a combination of practical and visual effects to create the action sequences. The cast and crew had to work together to create a sense of tension and fear, as the movie relies heavily on suspense and humor elements.
Bad Boys for Life
Bad Boys for Life was something I never expected to happen – even when it was announced – but I was intrigued on what a Bad Boys film would look like all these years later. Surely a film as hateful and outwardly repugnant as Bad Boys II couldn’t exist today, so I anticipated something more tame (especially with the news that Michael Bay wasn’t returning). What I didn’t expect was something utterly regressive – taking the magic of the previous installment and boxing it into mere nostalgia, consequently making it into a generic action movie aimed to momentarily please.
The Problem with Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II is practically a monolith of the manic action genre of this century, and my take on it hasn’t changed a bit after all these years. It’s a film that takes the tired tropes of the more famous buddy cop movies, and flips them on their heads, doubling (maybe tripling) down on the excess, and almost refusing to paint our main characters as actual heroes, as most of those films do. It’s essentially a mockery of all the adored films it unashamedly borrows from. Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowery, the titular bad boys, are genuinely bad people – abusing their power at every turn, endangering innocent people and society, invading Cuba, and are quite literally an exact depiction of what the song (used as a theme song in Cops, how ironic) seems to convey. Throw in the trigger happy antagonist, and the hyperbolic captain (played by the hilarious Joe Pantoliano) and in my opinion, it couldn’t be more obvious.
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The Disappointment of Bad Boys for Life
So you can imagine my surprise when Bad Boys for Life attempts to add character development to the caricatures Michael Bay so effortlessly created. Not only does it undermine the subtext of its predecessor, but it takes it in a direction that converts it into generic dreck, snatching away the derisive magic flowing through Bad Boys II. It’s lightning in a bottle, so following it up with something so contradictory is outright sacrilegious.
However, I don’t completely hate Bad Boys for Life. There’s one thing it totally gets right: the undeniable chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Even if I rolled my eyes at almost every attempt at “character development,” I really did enjoy both leads being as snappy and funny as they once were. There are plenty of moments both of them get to flex their comedic chops, proving they’ve still got it, and both characters carry over their big personalities that fans once loved.
The Verdict
I’m sorely disappointed that a movie that’s such an anti-blockbuster and cynically encapsulates an entire sub-genre will now be a second installment in a soon-to-be franchise (a fourth one is already in the works). It just doesn’t feel like this is the way it was supposed to go, and although I’m not the biggest fan of Michael Bay, his fingerprints and style don’t feel anywhere near this, and it suffers because of it. It’s not really special anymore, and soon won’t be any different than the Fast & Furious franchise, and unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be tuning in anymore.