The Chronicle
February 27, 2020
A5
BUSTA’S MOVIE REVIEW
Did ‘Bad Boys for Life’ leave us wanting 4?
BY BUSTA BROWN
A bus full of passen
gers is driving toward
a blue a Porsche. “Bus!
Bus! Bus!” screamed the
passenger. My two sons
and I are about to wit
ness a head-on collision,
barely at arm’s length. My
heart is pumping as fast
as the Porsche is moving,
which has to be well over
30 miles over the speed
limit, down an extremely
busy city street in Miami,
Florida. The driver of the
Porsche barely misses the
bus and, unfazed, quickly
opens the door and hits a
fire hydrant. He is startled,
yet unconcerned about the
damaged door on the slick
Porsche. Two men walk up
to a warehouse and then
the driver kicks down the
door. Looking through
the window, you see him
taunting and interrogating
a very tall and extremely
large male inside the ware
house.
That’s when the non-
stop, sitting-on-the-edge-
of-your-seat action begins.
Will Smith and Mar
tin Lawrence reprise their
roles as detectives Mike
Lowery and Marcus Bur
nett in “Bad Boys for
Life.” The film hit theaters
by storm on Jan. 18 and
the streets have been talk
ing ever since. Smith and
Lawrence bring their A-
game to the action-packed
thriller that debuted at
number 1. And as of this
past weekend, it’s hold
ing strong at number 5,
grossing nearly $200 mil
lion in the U.S. alone. As
my mother, Deborah Jean
Brown, would say, “That’s
big money right there.” In
this action-packed film,
there are all the bells and
whistles of guns, knives
slinging, martial arts, fast
cars, helicopter and car
explosions, and even some
witchcraft. We’ll get into
that later.
Will Smith (Mike Low
ery) is still up to his play
boy antics, well dressed
and seemingly bitter. Mov
iegoers find out why near
the end. Martin Lawrence
(Marcus Burnett) is a bit
more laid back, but he still
brings the big laughs. One
of my favorite scenes is
when Marcus tells Mike
he wants out of the fast life
as a detective, “I’m done.
I’m retiring.” “Here we go
again,” Mike replies. Mar
cus gives his partner of
17 years a look of frustra
tion and then replies, “Do
you want your legacy to
be muscle shirts and body
counts? I’m retiring.”
Mike gets upset, “What
happened to bad boys for
life?”
I loved that scene for
multiple reasons. I’m at
that family man point in
my life, so I truly enjoyed
Lawrence’s family man
flow. I could also relate to
his busy lifestyle, yet he
made time for his grand
child, and loved that he
was afraid to make deci
sions without his wife’s
approval. I think that’s
most married men over 50.
The other reason I loved
that scene: after Mike
asked Marcus, “What
happened to bad boys for
life?” the audience was on
edge. We knew that some
serious drama between the
two bad boys was about
to get crazier than reality
TV. We were wrong - it got
even crazier than I imag
ined, and I have a wild
imagination.
Burnett did retire, and
he became every male re
tiree that 1 know. His jour
ney was hilarious. Lots of
failed home improvement
projects, sitting around in
his robe and boxer under
wear, watching TV and
driving his wife crazy. It
was nice to see veteran ac
tress Theresa Randle back
as Mrs. Burnett, and she
looked great. After Mar
cus went into retirement,
he also promised God that
he was done with violence.
Then this conversation
happens: “In these streets,
I never trusted anybody
but you. I’m asking, man,
bad boys,” said Mike. His
buddy asked, “One last
time?” Mike becomes very
emotional and then replies,
“One last time.”
That one last time was
nearly three hours of the
wildest, mysterious, head
spinning, edge-of-your-
seat, nail-biting, roller
coaster ride ever. The au
dience was laughing out
loud, screaming, jumping,
and air braking during the
high-speed car chases.
Does Marcus eventu
ally break his “no more
violence” promise to God?
This was more than your
normal Mexican drug
cartel thriller; it also had
a wicked romantic twist
and an unexpected family
tie that leads this dynamic
duo to Mexico City. If you
haven’t seen it yet, the re
union in Mexico City will
leave your jaw hanging.
Does Mike Lowery finally
find true love? The fight
scenes were epic, remi
niscent of Danny Glover’s
and Mel Gibson’s fight
scene with Jet Li in “Le
thal Weapon 4.”
Smith and Lawrence
both looked great in the
movie, but Martin didn’t
have the same physical
agility as Smith. Both
were fantastic in their own
right. “Bad Boys for Life”
is a cinematic thriller at
its best, yet it managed
to add that warm human
touch that makes it a great
date night or even a family
night out for parents with
older high schoolers. The
cast, directing and writing
were near perfection. But,
if I’m going to be a true
up-and-coming film critic,
I must be transparent about
the down side to this film.
So, here it is ... It ended.
It was over and I wanted
another three hours. Bad
Boys, you left us wanting
more; so, give us 4.
P ADAMS
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE AIN’T DONE YET....
It has been a blessing to serve this community during
the past ten years, Together we have accomplished
great things, but we still have a lot to do,
WINSTO
CITY CO
NORTH WARD
REELECT DD ADAMS FOR
WINSTON-SALEM CITY COUNCIL
NORTH WARD
aid for by DD Adams for Winston-Salem
VOTE MARCH 3
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