Surpassed by Age and a PC Culture

You know the song.  You know the movies and the actors within who have returned in their iconic roles. Everyone came back and the antics are about the same, almost. The things that were funny before have been PC rehashed making them far less insensitive and more inline with today’s culture.  Those changes definitely resulted in a lackluster delivery Bad Boys have been known for.

Whatchu Gon’ Do!?

What you gonna do when they come for you? When it came to the first iteration, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence delivered fast punching lines that accompanied their rapid punches. All that amidst a slew of bullets that stained the streets of Miami in this potty mouth franchise about two cop buddies. The first Bad Boys delivered a classy and glammed up version of cop justice that would make SJWs today cringe to the point of spinal atrophy. It was fun, funny, violent and full on action comedy at its best in the 90s. The sequel proved to be equally entertaining and flashier. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer always knew how to deliver the explosions while making the cops and military shine in the best ways. Between Joey Pantoliano and the infamous villains, everything about Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2 delivered fast paced action and infamous one-liners in order to keep the streets of Miami safe from traffickers and drug cartels.

They Did Nothing This Time

This time around they didn’t do anything. Age has certain caught up to both Smith and Lawrence as they aren’t as flashy as before. Will Smith’s character, Mike Lowrey, is reaching the age where his antics of chasing down a younger crime crowd is affecting him and his performance. That, while Martin Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett, is owning up to his age by calling for retirement. 

The main plot centers on a crazed woman from Lowrey’s past who has shown up to seek revenge through her son who now has taken control of a portion of the Miami underground. However, he is basically acting like a one man army to exact revenge on Lowrey. It is quite frankly a game of cat and mouse until the climax where everything is revealed and the bad guy is taken out resulting in a mildly happy ending.

More Twists Than a Miami Barrio

Where to begin with this lackluster flick? Lowrey used to be a BAMF. Now he’s degenerating and is in denial of his old age. Burnett is still the bumbling moron who’s too afraid to do anything. At one point in the movie he retires thus confirming what we all know and can see: bruthaz got old! 

The narrative devices, plot holes and plot devices were thick! The villain of the movie had no real motivation other than being a mama’s boy. The villain behind the villain also had no motivation other being a jealous, jilted lover. There is no real development of character and, in fact, it seems like everyone was just tired and wanted to hurry up to put a wrap on this blasted movie franchise. Overall, the entire movie seemed boring and rushed. The attempt to address the generation gap was painfully obvious. Lowrey and Burnett were at one time two no holds barred cops. Now not only have they have gotten old, but society has progressed beyond their old school antics which are not acceptable anymore. The efforts to force the movie to bend its universe around these two super cops is far too obvious resulting in an experience that is less than appealing for the viewer.

Final Verdict: Put the Guns Down

It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t impressive, everything was rehashed and made for a drab movie that nobody really asked for. Even in the midst of this being a trilogy, what made the other two so great was the world building and character interactions. The characters were big, bombastic and had giant personalities. This movie had none of that as everything seemed rushed and undeveloped. Nothing in the script and none of the characters resulted in any real motivation to come from the screen. This is unfortunate because the potential is there to make even this release a fun and captivating finale. Bruckheimer did not choose that route and must have wanted to just make this movie to make it. It was underdeveloped and under delivered based on what we knew Bad Boys to be.

Bad Boys For Life should be titled Meh…Boys For Now because there is nothing about this movie that makes you want to ride or die with them. There were a few funny moments which reached back to the previous flicks. For this movie, put the guns back in their holsters and enjoy your severance packages because we don’t need this unoriginal bad mouth buddy cop style movie anymore. Nobody asked for it. Even in a sequel franchise, it’s just a rehash lacking any originality!