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‘Bad Boys for Life’ enjoyably tones down the excesses from the Michael Bay era (Movie review)

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he obvious conceit for “Bad Boys for Life” would be to laugh at two middle-aged dudes getting into explosive, camera-spinning shoot-’em-ups and lamenting how this was easier in their younger days. But directors Adil and Bilall pick a smart alternative direction: They tone down the excesses of the two Michael Bay-directed films – from 1995 (vintage Bay) and 2003 (over-the-top Bay) – and focus on the banter and life situations of Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence).

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Throwback Thursday: Lawrence and Smith continue to elevate the material in funnier, stupider ‘Bad Boys II’ (2003) (Movie review)

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he most fun-to-watch (and possibly the most fun-to-make) parts of “Bad Boys” (1995) are the action sequences, and that’s again the case in the sequel. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that returning director Michael Bay and the four writers of “Bad Boys II” (2003) came up with action sequences first, then strung a loose screenplay around them.

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Throwback Thursday: ‘Bad Boys’ (1995) holds up largely because of the sheer will of Smith and Lawrence (Movie review)

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ad Boys” (1995) is one of those movies that all my friends watched 100 times (or at least parts of it 100 times) back when watching movies via flipping through TV channels was a thing. For whatever reason, I wasn’t in that group – I’ve never been a channel surfer, and I don’t have a hunger for cop-and-crime films – but I can see the movie’s appeal. As Miami Police Department partners, Martin Lawrence (who is actually top-billed) and Will Smith smoothly transition from sitcoms to the big screen and are totally into the spirit of a screenplay laden with off-the-cuff, curse-filled quips.

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