Bad Boys for Life review: A surprisingly self-reflective return to Michael Bay’s hyperkinetic franchise

Dir: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah. Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Nunez, Kate del Castillo. 15 cert, 124 mins.

“All our lives we’ve been Bad Boys,” Marcus (Martin Lawrence) tells his partner Mike (Will Smith). “Now it’s time to be Good Men.” It’s been 25 years since these rogue cops first graced the silver screen – maybe they’ve earned the right to a few dad jokes. But, oddly enough, this throwaway punchline reveals a lot more about Bad Boys for Life than its creators likely ever intended. The first Bad Boys, released in 1995, marked the relatively humble debut of future machismo juggernaut Michael Bay; when he returned for the sequel eight years later, he’d adopted every bad habit he’s now notorious (or wryly celebrated) for. There was the hyperkinetic camera work, the orgiastic explosions, and the gun-toting authoritarian viewpoint.

Bad Boys for Life, which sees Belgian duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah step into Bay’s shoes, seems borderline apologetic for what came before. Their approach is just as flashy, packed with dizzying helicopter shots and montages of bikini models, but notably less cynical in tone. The Bad Boys may not have quite reformed, but they’ve grown softer. Marcus is now a grandfather who finds simple pleasure in a bathrobe and a BarcaLounger; Mike’s still pursuing the bachelor life, but refuses to admit to a single soul that he dyes his goatee.

What’s surprising is that – despite the general air of pointlessness – the film still finds plenty of ways to entertain. Arbi and Fallah pick up a few tricks from both the Fast and Furious and the John Wick films; the car chases are as improbable as can be, while the fist fights are balletic and tightly choreographed.

The film relies heavily on Smith and Lawrence’s tried-and-tested chemistry, though Chris Bremner, Peter Craig and Joe Carnahan’s script avoids sliding too much into cheap nostalgia. Lawrence, who’s barely made an appearance on film in the past decade, never drops the ball here. He bulges his eyes and shrieks “Oh s***!” with perfect timing, as if all he did during his time away from the scene is bulge his eyeballs and shriek “Oh s***!”. Smith is as watchable as ever, fleshing Mike out in unexpected ways. While Marcus is ready to hang up the badge, his partner convinces himself that staying in the game and refusing to retire will stave off the inevitable march of time.

The pair’s differences are tested when Isabel (Kate del Castillo), the widow of a Mexican drug lord Mike helped apprehend, sends her son (Jacob Scipio) to track the cop down and kill him. The two are forced to work with Ammo, a group of new recruits tactically cast to please younger audiences: there’s High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens for the millennials, Riverdale’s Charles Melton for Generation Z. For the most part, their tactics are non-lethal. Mike bristles at the idea. He can’t imagine doing anything other than charging in gun first. And it’s his way that eventually wins out, in a climactic rain of bullets. But Bad Boys for Life still allows for some self-reflection – they’re not Good Men, but they’re at least Slightly Better Dudes.