The Bad Boys franchise had been dormant for nearly two decades when Bad Boys for Life came along. There had to be some question about whether or not audiences would still care, but that question was answered in the affirmative in a big way. The film is still the highest grossing movie of 2020 (though certainly the lack of new releases is part of the reason for that), but beyond audiences loving the new film, critics did as well, making Bad Boys for Life the best reviewed film in the series.. Co-star Joe Pantoliano agrees that it's the best one so far.
Soeaking with our own Reelblend Podcast Joe Pantoliano says that there are two reasons that Bad Boys For Life is the best one, one is the script, and the other is the cinematography. According to Joe P...
The script, Bad Boys 3 was much tighter. It was on the page. With 1 and 2 there were certain sequences that you knew needed work, and some of them did. Their DP on 3 was just amazing, to see how he moved that camera. And the technology that supports the kind of moves you just couldn’t do five years ago. So for me Bad Boys 3 is the best of the franchise.
It's not entirely uncommon for production on a film to start without a completed script or a complete plan for filming that script. Especially, in the case of action heavy movies like Bad Boys, those complicated action sequences may not have been entirely laid out. However, in the case of Bad Boy For Life Joe Pantoliano says that the script for the new movie was much tighter and there were no open questions when production got underway.
The other reason the new movie works so well is because of technology that simply wasn't available when the first two Bad Boys movies were made. Joe Pantoliano says the Director of Photography was able to really impressive things to capture great shots. Those camera moments are going to be key to making your action look as good as it possibly can, and in this case advances in filming only aided the movie.
Whatever the reasons, they all worked together quite well to make a movie that surprised a lot of people with how good it was. The first Bad Boys movie not directed by Michael Bay, and one that came so long after the last entry, had a lot of fans curious, but most everybody loved the movie they got. It was so popular with fans and critics alike that we won't be waiting years for another film, Bad Boys 4 has apparently already been given the green light.
Chris Bremner, who wrote Bad Boys For Life has reportedly been brought back to pen the new script, and that hopefully means the next movie will see a script much like Bad Boys For Life, that's done on the page when production begins.
