Good luck finding a film with a more lusty zeal for the militarisation of the police force. Oh, who are we kidding? Lowery’s modus operandi here, as in the two previous Bad Boys films, is to turn lawbreakers into Swiss cheese with a barrage of bullets, or just blow them up. Marcus’s partner, however – the never-married Mike Lowery ( Will Smith) – is forever committed to putting the baddies behind bars. “All our lives we’ve been Bad Boys,” he says in one of the film’s more humiliating moments. He needs glasses for distance, is infrequently intimate with his wife and hears the Barcalounger calling to him. If he was endearing as a young man, he is doubly so at the age of 54, with his Bad Boys character Marcus Burnett a new grandfather eager to retire from the Miami police force. He uses an exclamatory “Oh shit!” the way Rembrandt used oils. Each time it is funny for a different reason. Lawrence, who can tell an entire story on his face in one reaction shot, must shout “Oh shit!” a hundred times in Bad Boys for Life. So, while Bad Boys for Life has a completely asinine story, generic action, predictable plot beats, moronic dialogue and truly reprehensible politics, I still had a good time. With absolute seriousness, I will be forever grateful. When I went to see his dopey 2001 comedy Black Knight, it was the first time I truly laughed with abandon post-9/11. Martin Lawrence may not have starred in a motion picture for close to a decade, but he has a special place in my life.
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