Bad Boys For Life (2020)

[ApathyMonger]

I didn’t like the first two Bad Boys movies at all, but Bad Boys For Life is a lot of fun. Not great, but very enjoyable. It feels like the movie that Hobbs and Shaw should have been, including an airplane scene as funny as the one in Hobbs and Shaw is terrible.

The twist genuinely surprised me too!

[BetterButter]

 

[announcergirl]

I really, really liked it! It was fun, slick, sexy looking, and lots of heart and action. The “twist” was fine, too!! I cried twice. 

[AimingforYoko]

Best (and most apt for this flick) line was from Marcus (of course): "That's some telenovela shit, right there."

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, I basically came out of theater thinking "This movie had no right to be as entertaining as it was."  Definitely not going to say it reinvented the action-comedy genre or anything, but compared to a lot of "resurrected dormant franchises", this one actually mainly worked, and I think might be my favorite of the series.

If nothing else, it reminded me of why I use to love Will Smith.  While I've been down on a lot of his choices lately, he really reminded me how charismatic he can be.  And even Martin Lawrence worked just as well, even though I usually find him hit or miss.  Overall, their banter and chemistry was on point, and they seem to really enjoy working together.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed the AMMO kids... err, squad.  Even though I never remembered their names, and they were just Badass Vanessa Hudgens, Reggie from Riverdale (seriously, Charlie Melton just played the character exactly like Reggie), and American Bjorn from Vikings as the tech whiz.  Although, it was obvious that he would eventually kick ass, because you don't get Alexander Ludwig and not have him destroy everything in his path!

Wasn't a fan of how they got rid of Captain Howard though.

Also, they obviously should have saved the title for a hopefully fourth film, so they could have called it Bad Boys 4 Life (sorry, sorry: I'll see myself out now.)

[bluvelvet]

Saw it and really enjoyed it. Did not expect the captain to die so viciously, wish they had found a way to save him.

Also making Mike's son a serial murderer didn't sit well with me, I do wonder what he meant in the end scene about paying down the debt. I wonder if that is a tie to a sequel

It was fun, nice seeing the boys back together again and also REGGIE!!

[ApathyMonger]

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Also, they obviously should have saved the title for a hopefully fourth film, so they could have called it Bad Boys 4 Life (sorry, sorry: I'll see myself out now.)

The movie is making a lot of money, so the fourth one's definitely going to happen. The directors are moving on to Beverly Hills Cop 4 though, so they might not be back.

Edited January 19, 2020 by ApathyMonger

[luckyroll3]

I enjoyed the heck out of this.  It was pretty well done, and I think Martin Lawrence really shined in this.  The action parts aren't really his thing, so they let him do what he does best and it worked. 

On 1/19/2020 at 12:00 AM, thuganomics85 said:

American Bjorn from Vikings as the tech whiz.

It's was bugging me the entire movie where I knew him from and my brain just couldn't place him.  But damn, I didn't realize how much of a big boy he was.  

On 1/19/2020 at 12:00 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Wasn't a fan of how they got rid of Captain Howard though.

Me either.  But as soon as I heard they got the original actor back, I knew he was goner.  

Looking forward to #4.  Hopefully they also get Gaby Union back.

Edited January 24, 2020 by luckyroll3

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

they obviously should have saved the title for a hopefully fourth film, so they could have called it Bad Boys 4 Life

When they were making this movie they probably didn't feel confident there'd be a market for a fourth film. Will Smith has run of poorly performing movies, at least the ones where he's considered the main star. Plus, Diddy may have a trademark on the "Bad Boy 4 Life" styling so the producers had to avoid an infringement claim.

Quote

It feels like the movie that Hobbs and Shaw should have been

It's the movie Hobbs and Shaw could never have been IMO because Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham don't have the proven historical chemistry Will Smith and Martin Lawrence do. Hobbs and Shaw felt forced to me, like they were trying way too hard.

I enjoyed this movie though I think 20 minutes could've been trimmed off with no ill effects. Am kind of squeamish about them setting up the son to be working for good guys in the sequel. I don't think his debt can be paid down at all, except perhaps with his own life. 

[moonorchid]

Finally watched this for the first time. I remember when the first one came out, I remember the bad boys 2. 
 

I remember the good word of mouth Bad Boys for Life was getting and how it was a surprise hit!

Still didn’t expect much...

But Dayum! This movie was hella entertaining!!! I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It was funny without being too corny, the action was top notch, I appreciated when the directors knew a shot would just look super cool! (I’m talking about when mike and Marcus were on that motorcycle and mike whips his gun behind him In slow motion, it should have been cringey but honestly it really was just an awesomely cool shot!)

They also had the mind set that this was prob gonna be the last one, so they really raised the stakes and I was pretty blown away by the risks and twists they not only pulled, but pulled off! When mike gets shot I literally went big eyed even though I knew he wasn’t going to die. 

Oh, and it really deserved it’s R rating, multiple times I said “oh shit!” When it came to the violence. I thought I was more desensitized then this, but apparently not lol. 
 

The AMNO squad should not have worked but they did! I liked them! Little police puppies who have things to learn but are very much capable of their job and super bad ass about it. There’s a throw away moment when they come to the abandoned house in Mexico and meet mike and Marcus, and as M&M shut the door they have this exchange: 

marcus: I feel better when they’re here

mike: yeah I know, me too

like damn that really hit me! It was sweet, showed growth! 

Maybe low expectations really paid off cause I wasn’t disappointed at all with this movie! 

[Empress1]

I rented this last week and I thought it was really good! It was much better than I expected. When Reggie showed up, I cheered (that would have been a fun moment to experience in the theater). There were some really funny moments, some "OH SHIT" popcorn blow-it-up moments, and some touching moments. Will and Martin still have chemistry.

On 1/19/2020 at 12:00 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Wasn't a fan of how they got rid of Captain Howard though.

I thought that was genuinely sad, especially when Mike said Marcus was right about him getting someone killed.