Bad Boys For Life (2020) brings the action Lethal Weapon 4 missed

Directed by Adil El Arbi (Gangsta) and Bilall Fallah (Gangsta, too)

Written by Chris Bremne (Bad Geminis 4?), Peter Craig (Hunger Gemini: Mockingjay), Joe Carnahan (The A-Gemini), and George Gallo (Midnight Gemini, characters)

Starring Will Smith (Gemini Man), Vanessa Hudgens (High School Gemini 3), Alexander Ludwig (Hunger Gemini), Martin Lawrence (Big Gemini's House 2), and Paola Nuñez (El gemini de la abuela)

Bad Boys Mike and Marcus are back in action, learning important secrets and dropping one liners almost like they used to. 

Action movies in the nineties were an interesting breed. You had your franchises like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, your Jackie Chans, and your odd sci-fi like Timecop and Fifth Element. Bad Boys hit right in the middle with fun light action and buddy comedy almost echoing Beverly Hills Cop or Tango & Cash. Now the franchise continues with the third installment almost fifteen years later, and it shows both fresh action, touching heart, but some stale humor.

     Mike and Marcus, the titular Bad Boys, are still at it in Miami causing lots of damage and shooting bad guys. When an old foe of Mike's comes back to settle some scores, the two of them are split. Mike wants revenge, and Marcus wants to retire. With a new group of young cops along for the ride, shit's gonna get blowed up real good.

     Michael Bay hands off the direction to Arbi and Fallah, allowing new blood to crash around the screen. Even from the opening chase, the directors show a new direction to cause mayhem. Miami looks great, almost like a theme park where all the rides are equipped with rocket propelled grenades and mini-guns. Adding in a great villain duo, this is an upgrade in all ways. It's a lot of fun to see such fresh action.

     Without some heart, the action would seem empty, though. The screenwriters as well as the acting of Martin Lawrence give the whole thing a heart to beat along with, thumping along and making the violent threats all that more dangerous. It's been a while since I saw Lawrence, and I was worried he would be as, well, dull as Will Smith has been lately with films like Gemini Man. Turns out, he's just what Smith needed, giving both of them an injection of life and a lack of self-importance. In short, it's good to see Smith having fun again.

     All that being said, the movie's humor is rather lackluster. Like last year's Hobbs and Shaw, I found the constant sniping at each other kinda boring. Sure, grown ass men often will needle and joke with each other, but after two decades as partners I figure they would have better things to go at each other with than Marcus's wife or Mike's driving. It gets old in a "been here, seen this" kinda way. The punchlines often land, but they rarely hit.

     See this one in the theater for the stunts if you can, but don't be afraid of the matinee.

Here are my notes, beware of spoilers

Title grump

Look, they wasted this. Bad Boys. Bad Boys 2. Bad Boys 3? No. Bad Boys for Life. Have we learned nothing from Fast and the Furious? Bad Boys 4 Life is the fourth entry, dammit. I get that it fits the death angle, but com'on! Even Bad Boys Ride Again or Bad Boys Go Mexican. Okay, that last one maybe not.

Great Escape Mexico

After the opening chase, we get our female villain breaking out of prison in what can only be called "Silencio of the Lambs." It's just super well done, proving our new danger is violent and smart.

Will Smith Down

Gotta admit, taking down Mike Lowry during a Lethal Weapon 2 plot surprised the hell out of me. Watching Will Smith get gunned down is just not a place I thought they would ever do, and I applaud it.

Michael Bay Toast?

Wel, I did say he passed the torch up top, and Bay does so by literally giving a toast at a wedding in the middle of the film. Well done and pretty good.

Fridge Pants

Oh, man, they killed Joe Panteliano, AKA Joey Pants, AKA a solid actor who really does an amazing job in most things he does. It's a fridge moment, though, only there to propel our heroes to get some revenge. As one of the best parts of the franchise, I am saddened by this as I was confused by his weird-ass horse moralizing right before the shot rings out.

God talk

I know I said I liked Martin Lawrence, but I got tired of hearing Marcus talk about God so much. He's no Samuel L. Jackson, and I don't really care if he thinks who is guiding them along their path or punishing them. And now I want a Pulp Fiction Kung Fu-type sequel again with Jules walking the earth.

Another Dad movie

Holy hell I am tired of men dealing with their sons or dealing with their own daddy issues. As soon as we learned the villain and Mike had a romantic past, you could see that the guy was Mike's son. It's a nice turn that the crazy murderer had morals, but it was too little to get me to care.

Mike in Coach?

Why does Mike fly coach to Mexico? Marcus, sure. But the guy who drives a Porsche and wears fancy suits? 

Will in ruins

Once again, Will Smith with daddy issues in ruins. I get that most action movies end in warehouses and ruins and other broken places that we don't care get blowed up, but… It felt like Gemini Man and that made me sad.

New kill old

To be honest, I don't know what this means. So, hey, the new kids sure are fun, huh? Enter the old and young jokes.