The Bad Boys Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are back together for one last ride in the highly anticipated Bad Boys for Life.

Almost 20 years after the second film in the series, ‘Bad Boys for Life’ comes into cinemas reuniting Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami cops Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. Given the lack of press screenings and general success (or lack of) of late sequels my hopes weren’t too high, but I actually found this to be an enjoyable movie that entertains without breaking any new ground. Mike and Marcus are much older than they were when we last saw them and their thoughts have turned towards retirement and getting older, with Marcus in particular ready to throw in his badge. An attempted assassination on Mike linked to one of his old cases draws them back into the fold, and they once again team up to try to catch the perpetrators.

Buddy cop films are less common these days but it’s a formula that works well with the right cast and solid material, and ‘Bad Boys for Life’ certainly has the charisma with Smith and Lawrence effortlessly slotting back into roles they played in their younger days. Lawrence has barely acted lately and he certainly looks a lot older than Smith, a fact the film pokes fun at throughout and the winks at the audience about age and the series history are one of the elements the film gets just right. I was surprised that the plot itself was fairly serious and played straight, with the laughs a little less frequent as a consequence, but I didn’t think that was necessarily to its detriment.

‘Bad Boys for Life’ isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel but this is a film that knows its strengths and how to play to them, and I thought it was an entertaining movie.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Nunez, Kate del Castillo, Jacob Scipio and Joe Pantoliano

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1502397/