In a minivan, but still riding
The comedic chemistry of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith has to do a lot of heavy lifting in Bad Boys For Life, the third buddy-cop action movie to feature the pair as maverick Miami detectives. They get the job done — delivering a mildly enjoyable movie that committed fans of the franchise will rate a lot higher — but they have to hack through a lot of by-the-numbers plotting and indolent characterisations to get there.
The opening sequence depicts Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey at the wheel of a Porsche, speeding furiously, while Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett shouts loud enough to drown out the engine. As it’s been 17 years since Bad Boys II, one might smell a midlife-male punchline, and sure enough, they are in a hurry to attend the birth of Marcus’ grandson. Marcus, hence, would like to stop and smell the roses; Mike thinks retirement is a dirty word.
A vengeful assassin, the son of a drug cartel matriarch on a mission, bloodies the waters of their argument by taking a few shots at Mike. Six months later, a new division of the Miami PD, led by a former paramour of Mike’s, is puzzling over the ammo that hit the detective. (Ammo is also the acronym of the new, tech-savvy division, Advanced Miami Metro Operations.) Going rogue, or roguish, Mike finds its source, forms an alliance with the new kids, and, over the objections of good ol’ Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano, here channelling a demon hybrid of Joe Pesci and Rudy Giuliani) gets in the ring, with a very reluctant Marcus following.
The screenplay by Chris Bremmer, Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan offers buddy-cop greatest hits dialogue like “He dies last”; “We had a deal”; “If it’s the cartel, she’s gonna have serious backup”; and the ominous “One last time? One last time”. But Lawrence’s riffs almost always land.
They especially need to in the final quarter, when the movie sets the bar high for this year’s Dopiest Movie Plot Twist competition. It’s a moment that’s meant to enhance character and raise emotional stakes, and the movie takes it seriously for maybe a minute and 45 seconds before Lawrence’s character starts making light of it. This is as it should be. As for the action, directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (taking over from Michael Bay, who has a coy cameo as a wedding MC) blow things up real good and do so in ways that are more often buoyant than grisly.
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Lawrence’s riffs almost always land