Rating: C+
Dir: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
Star: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jacob Scipio, Paola Núñez
Seventeen years after the previous installment, Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) team up again. This time though, Michael Bay was not behind the camera. It’s not clear exactly why: cost is the most-common explanation, though it clearly didn’t stop them in part II. Perhaps the studio were concerned that, after such a long gap, audiences might have moved on. Success wasn’t guaranteed here. Bay had also just finished 6 Underground, so simply may not have been ready for another production. Whatever the reason, it seems to have been amicable enough, with Bay popping in to do a cameo as a wedding DJ.
This edition went through a slew of writers, with intended director Joe Carnahan also leaving the project due to either “scheduling conflicts” or “creative differences”. He retains a writing credit. I can’t say why replacements Adil & Bilall, with no track-record on a project this size, were brought in. Though again, the original Bad Boys was Bay’s feature debut. They certainly helped reduce the cost, this one coming in at $90 million, less than half the cost of part two, after you adjust its budget for inflation. The Belgian duo seem like the Diet Pepsi version of Michael Bay. Or, perhaps more accurately, the “0% alcohol Guinness” version, intent on making a Michael Bay movie for people who don’t like Michael Bay. All the car-chases and explosions! None of that annoying old-school chauvinism!
Wisely, there are some adjustments made. Lawrence is now in his mid-fifties, and so Marcus just wants to retire and enjoy time with his family. On the other hand, Mike is still all sports cars and resolutely single, even though Smith is only three years younger. Things take a sombre turn when Mike is gunned down in the streets, one of several victims in a vendetta carried out by Isabel Aretas, a Mexican crime boss known as La Bruja (the witch). She sends her son Armando (Scipio) after all those who got her sent to jail, and that includes Mike. He survives – the only person attacked by Armando to do so, what are the odds? – and vows to track his attacker down, with or without the help of Marcus. But preferably with.
As always, the film comes to life when the two leads are riffing off each other. Yet, for one reason or another, there seems less of this than normal. It is occasionally nicely self-aware, such as Marcus proclaiming “This is some real telenovela shit!” at one point as the plot thickens. That’s especially appropriate since La Bruja is played by Kate Del Castillo, best known for playing the original Queen of the South in one of the most successful of Mexican narco-soaps. The action is solid, likely peaking with a chase through the Miami streets, yet lacks much in the way of truly memorable moments like the freeway chase. It’s all polished, to an extent that any edge has been entirely removed, and is largely unmemorable as a result.