You know when you have those movies that you know you shouldn't love? For some of us it's Howard the Duck for others it's Showgirls or Striptease, and I will freely admit, I like all of those movies way more than I should, I have a serious soft spot for straight up buddy cop action movies. Is the Bad Boys series the best of those? Not really but they are damn good movies to sit down, turn off the brain and just let the movie take you for a ride. The humor is always present and usually works really well, the last movie might have been a little over the top but what can we expect when Martin Lawrence and Michael Bay get together for a movie, neither one knows how to tone it down, and that's freaking awesome.
I'm not going to lie, I went into this expecting to be disappointed and let down, let me tell you, I was not. The decade of Martin Lawrence not being funny and being more of a punch line than the joke teller may be over, he's back and he's actually funny. Apparently a decade of having very little to do has taught him to reign it in and focus on the storytelling as well as the jokes. Ladies and gentlemen, Martin Lawrence is funny again. Will Smith is playing, well, not surprisingly he's playing Will Smith, he's charismatic, funny, emotional and fun to watch.
There is a miracle in this movie, it's not shot like a Michael Bay movie, it's not written like a Michael Bay movie, it does have a few of his tropes, but it's has a great vibe to it. Directors Adil and Bilall did an amazing job bringing back these characters and breathing new life into a mostly dead franchise. In many ways, this is a leap forward for the franchise. It's shot beautifully like most action films are, the story is actually interesting besides the more obvious tropes that they clung to, but we can forgive them for that, not like this is going for the gold at the awards shows.
I have to say, again, that press screenings with the public are so much fun, the crowd at my viewing had a great time, they laughed when they were supposed to laugh, they scream "Damn!" when they were supposed to, they got so quiet you could hear a pin drop when you were supposed to and even I didn't look at my watch the whole movie. It's just a damn good time.
If you are a fan of the first two movies, you're going to love this one, if you aren't then you probably didn't read this anyways, and if you did you stopped way before this and are just looking to see what score I gave it, so here you go, one score for the movie I really enjoyed, despite its flaws.
I have to say, again, that press screenings with the public are so much fun, the crowd at my viewing had a great time, they laughed when they were supposed to laugh, they scream "Damn!" when they were supposed to, they got so quiet you could hear a pin drop when you were supposed to and even I didn't look at my watch the whole movie. It's just a damn good time.
If you are a fan of the first two movies, you're going to love this one, if you aren't then you probably didn't read this anyways, and if you did you stopped way before this and are just looking to see what score I gave it, so here you go, one score for the movie I really enjoyed, despite its flaws.
Trevor West
