Bad Boys, Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do? Remember that tune? Remember that MOVIE? The original Bad Boys came out in 1995 starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as a hilarious but badass duo of cops taking it to the streets. This was such a great film AND, low and behold, 8 years later we got a sequel; Bad Boys II. The duo of Lawrence and Smith have such uncanny chemistry, they are both enjoyable films. I haven’t watched either in quite some time; however, my handy bible (iMDB) tells me that I rated both of them 7/10 – see, good knowledge. Now for the third installment, 17 years after the sequel…
I was a little nervous prior to watching this. Martin Lawrence has done one film since 2015 (The Beach Bum) where he starred as Captain Wack in a movie I’ve somehow never heard of even though it stars Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Zac Efron, Jonah Hill, and Jimmy Buffett. Okay, maybe there’s a reason. PRIOR TO THAT, he did a one year TV series, a couple bad movies (Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son [more on this in a minute]), and then Death at a Funeral which was enjoyable at least. Oddly, looking at his movie history, Lawrence isn’t in a ton of films. Okay, but listen. Big Momma’s house was such a great movie. Why in the hell…WHY IN THE HELL…did we need not one but TWO sequels?! They are both absolute garbage. Why not just let the one damn movie be good enough? I think it hurts the legacy, honestly. So, why a third Bad Boys film 25 years after the original? BECAUSE THESE TWO ARE GOOD.
Lawrence and Smith are absolutely perfect together. It’s like they haven’t missed a beat. And you know what, I REALLY enjoyed this movie. On iMDB (the Bible), Bad Boys got a 6.9 rating with 237k reviews; Bad Boys II got a 6.6 rating with 229k reviews and thus far, Bad Boys for Life has a 6.6 rating with 118k reviews. So not a lot of drop between movie 1 and movie 3. Why is that meaningful? The aforementioned Big Momma’s Trilogy is as follows: Big Momma’s House – 5.2 (criminally low) with 80k reviews; Big Momma’s House 2 – 4.7 with 40k reviews; and Big Momma’s House – Like Father, Like Son – 4.4 with 25k reviews. Maybe not that drastic – another example: Final Destination 1 was a 6.7; 2 was a 6.2; 3 was a 5.8; 4 was a 5.2 – so you can see the typical trend of sequels and trilogies that are a little odd. I would lump Bad Boys into this. A sequel wasn’t needed. A trilogy certainly wasn’t – but they did well with it!
To get into the storyline would ruin some pieces of the film – but essentially Smith gets shot, Lawrence retires, then they have to band back together and take care of the “bad guys”. The bad guys, in this case, have quite the history with the group. It’s intriguing, there’s a tension filled love story, and it’s the new school vs. old school. It’s pretty enjoyable overall and the two are as funny as ever while still tackling some serious issues as well.
Overall, a great message about friendship, teamwork, and somehow, love. Mixed with comedy at the highest level – this is a must see. I don’t think seeing the prior 2 is a requirement, but it is recommended.
Rating: 7.8/10