Five years ago, Will Smith was one of those stars in Hollywood who was infallible despite some huge career lows such as After Earth and even the pretentious The Pursuit of Happyness and the patronizing Seven Pounds. But a third Bad Boys movie following the disastrous Bad Boys II seemed like it was going to suck donkey balls. (If you can get that reference to the movie, you’re cool.)
Anyway, Bad Boys For Life was being released in the middle of January. On average, whenever a movie is released in January, it’s going to suck. This is how studios burn off duds they know are going to fail to fulfill a contractual obligation. Then, something good happened as the movie proved the naysayers wrong. It received good reviews and grossed over $426 million worldwide. It grossed over $200 million in America alone.
And then something bad happened as in the Covid-19 pandemic. Movie theaters shut down. This was good news for Bad Boys for Life as it ended up being the highest grossing movie of 2020.
Then there reports that his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was having an open relationship with or an “entanglement” with singer August Alsina. Will and Jada seemed like the best Hollywood couple or one of the best. And things went worse from there. People began to mock Smith for allowing it.
Next, he made a vanity project that was King Richard. The movie screams so much of Oscar bait it stinks profusely. Despite all this, Smith was considered a shoo-in to win a lot of awards. On Jan. 9, 2022, he won Best Actor in a drama at the Golden Globes. And then he was nominated for an Oscar.
But we all know what happened at the Oscars. Even if you weren’t born, you know now. And if you weren’t born, I compliment your reading skills. So, then a lot changed. Yes, Chris Rock might have been out of line but I don’t think there was any malicious intent. I mean, it’s not like Jada is dying and she had to shave her head following chemo therapy.
Regardless, it was later revealed that Will and Jada had been separated for years. And Jada said she was surprised Will was calling her “my wife.” Well, what the hell was she doing with him at the Oscars and the afterparties?
All that being said, it’s easier than expected to sit through the two hours of Bad Boys: Ride or Die mainly because the focus is also on Martin Lawrence’s Det. Lt. Marcus Burnett who is the better half of this marriage. Also, the directing duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have been able to learn from the mistakes that Michael Bay did with the second one while continuing on with the style he brought to the first one. Yet, they still make it their own movie.
The movie begins with Smith’s Det. Lt. Mike Lowrey getting married to Christine (Melanie Liburd) and trying to settle down. Yet, Marcus has a heart attack at the reception and goes into a coma where he sees a vision of their late Capt. Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who was killed in the previous movie. Conrad tells Marcus it’s not his time to die so Marcus feels he’s invincible.
As he recovers, Marcus and Mike learn that there is an investigation in Conrad’s activities when he was alive as allegations have arisen he was connected to drug cartels. They have a new captain, Rita Secada (Paola Nunez), who used to be Mike’s ex-girlfriend and she’s dating district attorney Adam Lockwood (Ioan Grufford). Marcus and Mike are given the go-ahead to clear Conrad’s name especially when they discover he left some private encrypted videos he made before his death.
And this also leads back to Mike’s son, Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), who was the one who killed Conrad. Yet, he says the assassination of Conrad was orchestrated by James McGrath (Eric Range), a former Army Ranger who was captured and tortured by the cartels. He’s since also orchestrated a plot to have Mike, Marcus and Armando all killed on a prisoner transport flight that results in them going on the run as fugitive.
Also, Conrad’s daughter Judy Howard (Rhea Seehorn), is now a U.S. Marshal, willing to track down Armando at any costs. So, Mike and Marcus now that she will probably shoot first and not ask questions later if they are cornered by her. It’s one wild and crazy story with twists you can see coming, but the joy of the ride makes it the best. When you ride a roller coaster, you know it’s going to loop and twist here and there.
So what? It’s fun.
It’s not a perfect movie, though. Mike’s wife and Marcus’ wife, Theresa (Tasha Smith), have little to do in the movie except being damsels in distress. Smith replaces Theresa Randle who probably read how little she does in the movie and decided it wasn’t worth it with what they wanted to pay her. I also could’ve done without the cameo by Tiffany Haddish, who by now, is playing the same character in every movie that got tiresome after Girls Trip.
The movie is the shortest of all three movie with a run time of 115 minutes, including credits, about four minutes less than the first one. And it also has a lot more characters to keep track of that are never really developed. But the chemistry between Smith and Lawrence has been what kept this franchise alive.
As of this posting there is no plans for a fifth movie. This one made over $400 million at the box office against a $100 million budget. And Smith and Lawrence aren’t getting any younger, so this might just well be a fitting swan song for the Bad Boys.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 