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I saw this earlier today, I think your review is perfect. Bad Boys came out while I was in high school, and I thought it was just the best movie ever at the time. I loved Will Smith in Fresh Prince, and I thought Martin was the funniest show on TV at the time (until I discovered Seinfeld.) So when they came together, I was in heaven. I even remember asking my father "Why are black people funnier than white people?" Bad Boys 1 has great action, great acting, the actors are young and fresh and fit, beautiful girls, and absolutely horrible directing by Michael Bay (haha fuck him). The boys were fucking funny in it. Then Bad Boys 2 came out, and they had to increase the kill count, increase the action, and raise the stakes. It was really good. It's an easier re-watch for me.
Needless to say, I was excited for Bad Boys For Life to come out. Part three to my favorite "cop buddy franchise"? Fuck yeah! The trailer was underwhelming, the actors look old, out of shape, and slow. I lowered my expectations going into the theater, but was pleasantly surprised that the movie was better than what the trailer suggested. Maybe 50% better than expected. A lot of the action scenes were very weak, maybe because they tried to keep them somewhat realistic in terms of things that could potentially happen by skilled police officers, keeping the age of the actors in check, and not making them become essentially superheros like, for instance, Hobbs & Shaw. Interesting that we are bored with reality, right?
Despite the tame action, the movie had a lot of heart and a lot of comedy. I laughed out loud countless times in the movie. Martin can still deliver a line, even if he looks medicated while doing so. He had like ten good jokes in a row about the "bruja." There were plenty of callbacks to the previous movies. And Michael Bay has a cameo as the marriage officiant at the wedding. So they did a great job with the comedy and the heart in keeping paces with the prequels. I don't remember any parts of the movie that felt like it was dragging, or that I was bored with. The new team was all pretty solid and enjoyable and believable. And they setup the ending for a part 4 for sure. I just hope they don't wait another fucking decade to make it.
Criticisms? Besides those mentioned above, there were two major things for me. First, the CGI bullet wounds were absolutely horrible, they looked like 1992 MS Paint. Particularly the ones on Smith at the beginning and on the Bruja at the end. The other major complaint was the HORRIBLE sound editing, at the end, when they are in the abandoned hotel and Smith and Bruja are seeing each other for the first time. There are extremely loud noises of like planks creaking, and this bizarre creepy music playing. It was so over the top and ridiculous and made no sense. Your in this brick hotel and there's only two people there and all these floors are just randomly creaking. It was so bad. I never give a shit about stuff like that, so for me to notice it is indicative how just how awful it was. One more thing... one thing in the first movie that really worked is that Marcus and Mike would get in these fights when they are doing cop work but they were always secretly working together, like they would yell at each other then at the right moment work together. I missed that in this movie.
Overall, for fans of the franchise, it's a perfectly fine, serviceable sequel. It's not breaking any new ground, but it's fun, and I'd watch it again. 7/10.
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