It’s been 17 years since the last installment of the buddy-cop Bad Boys franchise, and we now find Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) looking considerably older.
Sure, they dye their goatees with a little Just for Men and need glasses to shoot straight, but, thankfully, they’re not much wiser.
This time around, we find half of our favourite cop duo really leaning into middle age. Marcus is dreaming of a retirement spent in an easy chair bingeing on telenovelas, a thought that horrifies Mike, who thinks they’re as young as ever.
An attempt on Mike’s life is the push Marcus needs to hang up his badge, but when Mike recovers he’s hell-bent on revenge and partnerless to accomplish it.
Enter AMMO, a new high-tech squad full of computer-savvy youngsters (Vanessa Hudgens, Charles Melton and Alexander Ludwig) run by Mike’s ex Rita (Paola Nunez).
They attempt to put the pieces of the case together with Mike as more officials are taken out – dragging him into the 21st century of police work – computer hacking, rubber bullets and drones.
The good news is that while this film by no means reinvents the genre, Lawrence and Smith exhibit a fantastic chemistry, one they figured out a long time ago and still readily accessible. The real-life friendship and camaraderie they bring to the standard roles of straight-laced cop and wild cop is what sets them apart from the never-ending catalogue of explosion-filled buddy-cop movies.
Despite the occasional groaner of a joke, the film is surprisingly funny and has a pretty solid twist midway through.
Injecting life into a franchise that hasn’t seen action in 17 years is a tough task. This time around, we can thank directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah for taking over from Michael Bay and adding a human touch while retaining the explosions.
If you loved these bad boys two decades ago, you’ll love these still bad but slightly more refined men. My only suggestion — refresh yourself on the lyrics before going, because by the end you’ll want to sing along with their iconic song.
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do …
Vicky Sparks is a Bright’s Grove native and movie critic for Global TV’s The Morning Show, which airs nationally on Fridays. Journal Reviews cover movies playing at Galaxy Cinemas Sarnia