Screening now in Hoyts Cinemas
(Reviewed by John Glennie)
It’s been 25 years since the first Bad Boys movie and 17 years since its sequel. The two ageing cops Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are back – Will still looking pretty fit and Martin a whole lot chubbier. Some regulars have made their return too, such as Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano – why does he always have to shout whenever he speaks in all his movie roles???).
The movie starts in a Mexican prison where a notorious female prisoner, quite brutally and ruthlessly, escapes. And that is where the revenge begins and one of the key targets is, of course, Mike Lowrey. He is targeted early and, after recovery, is shattered to hear Martin has decided to retire. However, this is when the carnage and mayhem starts.
He joins a new high-tech unit as “an observer” to help track down whoever is responsible and to work out why all the victims were targeted and how they were linked. It is the typical Hollywood blockbuster with heaps of action and super-human feats. Telling Mike Lowrey to be an observer and not to engage in any heroics is like telling a duck to keep away from the water.
It never ceases to amaze me how these heroes start running out of harms way when a helicopter is shot down and heading right towards them. It narrowly misses of course, and the resulting explosion and fireball always seems to go in the opposite direction. Must just be luck! Also interesting that backup never arrives until after the bloodbath.
There are some interesting twists and turns but a still fairly predictable outcome. Great entertainment if you are a fan of the action movies and with the usual snippet of humour than Smith and Lawrence inject into their films. Let’s hope though that the producers know when it is a good time to stop with the sequels!
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