Bad Boys For Life is real. It actually, finally happened, and there is a trailer for it and everything. The long-awaited Bad Boys sequel has been in development for so damn long that we forgot who the hell was even directing this thing—turns out it’s the filmmaking duo of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Snowfall), who replaced previous writer/director Joe Carnahan, who replaced original director Michael Bay, who is too busy playing with American flags and magic computer robots to hang with his old pals Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. But hey, Bad Boys For Life definitely looks like a Bad Boys sequel, complete with Joe Pantoliano (JOEY PANTS!) saying “fuck” no less than four times, the COPS theme song, action scenes with shiny cars, and a plot that appears similar to the previous films (an action-packed mission involving dangerous criminal types in Miami). Oh, and Martin Lawrence gets punched in the face by the guy that played Jerry Brudos on Mindhunter. It’s cute, is what it is.
Smith and Lawrence are joined this time around by some new, younger police recruits, including Riverdale’s Charles Melton, Vanessa Hudgens, and Alexander Ludwig. The sequel, which hits theaters on January 17, 2020, also stars Kate del Castillo and DJ Khaled. But listen, none of this matters. We know why you’re really here, and no, we have no idea if the end-credits of this movie will feature Will Smith performing a rap song with lyrics referencing the plot of Bad Boys For Life. To whom it may concern at Sony: There’s still time to do the right thing here.