On Friday (17.0.2020) I was privileged to watch the premiere of the American action-comedy film ‘Bad Boys for Life’ at the Anga IMAX cinema in Nairobi.
The film is the third sequel in the Bad Boys franchise, following ‘Bad Boys’ released in 1995 and ‘Bad Boys II’ released in 2003.
The film recorded an expected success, collecting a staggering $59.2 million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday last week in its domestic debut. The premiere was the highlight of my weekend, spicing up my “two months” of January, proving that something good could actually happen in January after all.
‘Bad Boys for Life’ enjoys a very good critics’ review of 76% and an excellent audience score of 97% according to the film review website Rotten Tomatoes.
The film stars two detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) who are at the tail end of their careers as cops. While Marcus really wants to retire, Mike still feels he has got energy left in him and still wants to take down the bad guys.
Their back and forth on whether to retire or not is cut short when the villains; a mother-son team comprising of Isabel Aretas (Kate del Castillo) and Armando Armas (Jacob Scipio) start a series of murders, targeting all individuals involved in an old case that resulted to the death of the boss of the Aretas cartel, who was Isabel’s husband.
Mike was to be killed last but was fatally shot for his involvement in the case, this ignites a need for Mike to catch the bad guys even if it means doing it alone. This forces the detectives to combine forces with Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO); a Miami police department’s elite team armed with high-tech skills to help the detectives track down the criminals and put a stop to these killings.
There is a surprising and ironical plot twist when it comes to the viewers’ attention that Isabel had had an affair with Mike during his undercover mission in Mexico. Her villain son Armando is, in fact, Mike’s son, yet Isabel has not confessed to Armando that their biggest enemy, Mike, is his own biological father.
Despite criticisms that Mike and Marcus portrayed themselves as more of good boys than their traditional bad-boy personas in the previous films in the franchise, the film is undeniably funny, majorly due to Mike and Marcus’ charming chemistry and frequent comedic banter. The film is also action-packed as the villains give Mike and Marcus and the AMMO team a run for their money.
As reported by The Sauce, Jamaican music legend Buju Banton features on the ‘Bad Boys For Life’ soundtrack alongside Dj Khaled, J Balvin, Rick Ross and Jaden Smith. Buju’s song on the soundtrack is titled ‘Murda She Wrote’, a nod to the 1994 dancehall classic ‘Murder She Wrote’ by Chaka Demus & Pliers.
‘Bad Boys for Life’ was fun to watch and I would definitely recommend you to add the film to your watch list if you have not watched it already.