‘Bad Boys for Life’ is kinda bad

Cannes does ‘right thing’ in appointing Spike Lee to lead

TBy Mark Kennedy

he third edition of the “Bad Boys” franchise starts as it must do: With a gleaming Porsche swerving at impossible speeds through Miami traffic under the expert control of Will Smith, with Martin Lawrence growing very sick beside him.

The engine snarls, the car repeatedly fishtails and strains. Smith looks over to his partner with alarm and points out that the interior of the sports car is hand-stitched leather. Lawrence’s cheeks bulge; he’s about to hurl: “You better drink it,” the driver barks.

All is good. We’ve again got Smith’s cocksure Detective Mike Lowrey beside Lawrence’s more cautious Marcus Burnett. There’s the customary playful banter between opposites. We’ve got sunny, titillating Miami and we are inches from death but really never that close. We’re in our ‘90s comfort zone. You can almost hear it: “Bad boys, bad boys/ Whatchagonna do, whatchagonna do/When they come for you?”

So it’s so disappointing that “Bad Boys for Life” soon swerves into weird neighborhoods and gets bloated as it tries to get deep, trying to explore topics like religion, mortality, biological determinism, individual legacy and aging. It’s oddly flat and unfunny and has strayed so far from its gritty roots that it might be called “Bad Boys for Life Insurance”.

Sure, you can’t stay still. Smith and Lawrence are both past 50 and their characters can’t keep to the same formula of “muscle shirts and body counts,” as Burnett argues. But do we really want Burnett to straight-faced tell a Buddhist parable about a horse and then ask Lowrey about how he can overcome his own trauma: “Where are you going, Mike?”

The first film in the franchise hit theaters 25 years ago, giving us foreign baddies with beepers, Tea Leoni in little skirts, many, many bricks of heroin and an exploding airplane hanger. Eight years later came “Bad Boys II”, a slicker flick with slow-mo sideways shooting, a feisty Gabrielle Union in a white suit, the annihilation of many cars and many, many ecstasy pills.

“Bad Boys for Life” doesn’t have drugs – if you don’t count Viagra jokes – but instead has a murder plot to assassinate everyone connected with an old drug case Lowrey worked on before he teamed up with Burnett. Someone is out for revenge and they are exposing skeletons in Lowrey’s closet, uncovering a backstory inconsistent to the Lowrey we have come to know. We add cliches – a team of smart, young, sassy cops – on top of some twists worthy of Shakespeare.

PARIS:

Soundtrack

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have taken over from Michael Bay in the director’s chair but the look of the film essentially mimics its predecessors, with saturated colors, quick cuts, muscular stunts and lots of pretty women. An understated Vanessa Hudgens plays a cool cop and Kate Del Castillo is on the opposite side in more than one sense, playing an absolutely unhinged cartel boss wife who uses witchcraft. Joe Pantoliano returns as the Pepto-swigging detectives’ boss and DJ Khaled has a small role as well as putting together the lively soundtrack.

There are sly references to the previous films – a private conversation between the detectives is accidentally broadcast as in the second film and rats make an encore performance in the new one – but the filmmakers have forgotten that what makes this franchise work: The interaction of Smith and Lawrence in stressed environments. So often in the new film they are separate, dealing with their own stuff. “Bad Boys” only works when the bickering cops are center stage.

Also:

American director will lead the jury of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the first black person to hold the post in the event’s 73-year history.

Festival organizers hope Lee will “shake things up” among the world’s cinema elite at the festival which runs May 12-23. And anti-racism campaigners hope Lee’s appointment wakes up the French cultural world to persistent discrimination and the damaging stereotypes it perpetuates.

Lee said he was “honored to be the first person of the African diaspora” chosen for the prestigious position.

Festival organizer said Lee is the first black president of any major film festival, calling the decision a “message of universality.” Speaking on France’s RTL radio, Fremaux said it wasn’t a political decision, but noted that black artists are underrepresented in the cinema world.

Many of Lee’s films have been shown at and his “BlacKkKlansman” won a major prize at Cannes two years ago. This year’s festival runs May 12-23, and the rest of the jury members will be announced in April.

“When I got the call ... I was shocked, happy, surprised and proud all at the same time,” Lee said in a letter. He said Cannes “changed the trajectory of who I became in world cinema.”

Several of Lee’s films first screened at Cannes, including “Do the Right Thing” in 1989.

Without explicitly mentioning Lee’s career-long fight against racism or other political views, the festival said Lee’s “perspective is more valuable than ever” and that “Cannes is a natural homeland and a global sounding board for those who (re)awaken minds and question our stances and fixed ideas.”

whose film “Les Miserables” echoes some of Lee’s work and tackles tensions between police and minorities in a poor suburb, hailed the move by festival organizers. “Les Miserables” screened at Cannes last year and won an Oscar nomination Monday for best international film.

The honorary president of French black rights group CRAN also welcomed the appointment of a filmmaker who confronts viewers and powers-thatbe with strong opinions about discrimination and police violence. (AP)