‘Bad Boys For Life’ Movie Review Roundup: Will Smith & Martin Lawrence Sequel Gets High Marks

Twenty-five years after Bad Boys and almost 17 years after Bad Boys II, the franchise has returned with the release of Bad Boys For Life. However, the film has one noticeable absence, although you wouldn’t know just from watching the film. Michael Bay, the director of the first two Bad Boys movies, decided to step away from the camera this installment and be one of the film’s producers.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return to the roles of Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett, two Miami detectives who often find themselves going on wild, high-octane adventures. Mike is still acting like he did back in the first two Bad Boys movies, getting himself into car chases and shoot-outs with Miami’s hardened criminals. Marcus, meanwhile, has recently become a grandfather and wants to settle down. Marcus wants to retire, but Mike wants to keep on doing the job that he loves. Then, Mike is almost assassinated. Mike and Marcus team up one last time, joining forces with AMMO, an new elite squad at Miami Police Department, to take down the would-be assassin.

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According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 75% on the “Tomatometer,” with an audience score of, 96%. Critics and audiences alike seem to enjoy the film. The movie, “doesn’t aim to raise the bar on its genre or rewrite the blockbuster rulebook, but it’s a blast watching Lawrence and Smith revisit these characters and find a sensible place for them in the current Hollywood landscape,” writes David Ehrlich for IndieWire. Put another way, “Action junkies can rest assured that this stylish, derivative and fitfully fun third outing will at least give them their money’s worth in slashed throats, impaled torsos and bullet-riddled bodies,” writes Justin Chang for the Los Angeles Times. 

However, not every review of the movie is positive. “What’s the point of making a Bad Boys movie without Michael Bay?” writes Ignatiy Vishnevetsky for the AV Club. Vishnevetsky continues, writing, “Bantering back and forth, Lawrence and Smith manage to recreate some of their screen chemistry—though not enough to make anyone want to go on another bumpy ride.”

Bad Boys for Life is rated R for Strong Bloody Violence, Language Throughout, Sexual References, and Brief Drug Use