Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nunez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffud, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime: 115 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2024
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Bad Boys are back with their iconic mix of edge-of-your seat action and outrageous comedy but this time with a twist: Miami’s finest are now on the run.
Quick review: probably what everybody was expecting. So, it all depends on audience expectations. Young audiences who enjoyed the original Bad Boys movie in 1995 are now approaching 50 (or have reached it). Audiences enjoyed a sequel in 2003 but there was a 17-year gap before the third Bad Boys movie in 2020. And, here they are again. Lawrence a bit larger than life, playing a grandfather, while Smith has an adult son, Armando, in prison for murder and drug dealing, who appeared in the third film.
So, that is the setting and the expectations – and, quite a number of the cast of Bad Boys 3 reappear, including Pantoliano who has been in all four films as Captain Howard, who died in the previous film. Still dead he appears in videos he had made as well as in some near death experiences for Lawrence’s Marcus.
In the middle of the film, Smith’s Mike has a panic attack and Marcus slaps his face, vigorously. So, reference to the famous Oscars slap by Smith on Chris Rock. Clearly, it is now time to look at the slap in perspective, an acknowledgement, some rehabilitation.
So, we get to know the Bad Boys once again, the jovial repartee and banter. Marcus has a heart attack, near death experience which convinces him that he cannot die now. And it happens at the wedding when Mike surprisingly becomes a husband again. But, we get into a whole lot of drug dealing, cartel brutality, the framing of the dead Captain Howard, his police daughter angry with the Bad Boys, their being targeted by her as well as by the cartel leaders, especially the ruthless Joe McGrath, played with sinister relish by Dane.
As expected, there is a lot of action, helicopter and small plane crashes, lots of shootouts, lots of fights, lots of Bad Boys heroism. And, there is quite some sentiment – nostalgia, memories and friendships.
Audiences can congratulate themselves because as soon as a smarmy character steps onto the scene early in the film, we are sure that he is going to turn out to be the smarmy contact with the cartels. And, as the climax builds there is reference to a giant albino alligator at the abandoned amusement pier, we are sure that his villain is going to end up in the alligator jaws. Not a spoiler because we can work that one out for ourselves.
With its immediate box office success and Will Smith restored to popularity, it looks as though this Bad Boys film was what worldwide audiences were looking for.
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