Plot
Two years after the events of the last film; Mike is now married, and Marcus has suffered a near fatal heart attack at his wedding.
They learn that their former late Capt. Howard is linked to drug cartels, they try to clear his name. With the help of Mike’s son, who Capt. Howard’s daughter Judy, a US Marshal wants dead.
Direction
#3 Directors Adil and Bilall return, and bring their style from that film back here. There are some pretty great action sequences, such as the two plane crash sequences, some great use of drone work, and some homages to Michael Bay’s iconic 360⁰ shot.
My personal favourite moment was when Mike and Marcus are watching some screens of Marcus’ house while it is under attack from the bad guys – the camera zooms into the screen and dissolves to the attack on Marcus’ house (shout out to Reggie for this moment).
Cast/Characters
Almost all the cast from the previous films are back (bar Theresa Randall who played Marcus’ wife Theresa).
This movie’s version of Mike is quite possibly the most like the original film, and I found him the most likeable that he has been since that film. He is written more maturely – I’ll touch on this in screenplay.
Returning from BB3 is Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig who play Mike and Marcus’ partners. It was good to see they got a bit more growth here too.
Newcomers to the franchise, Rhea Seehorn as Judy gets to flex some action moments that I’ve not seen her do yet. Her Better Call Saul character was more character and dialogue. Eric Dane is okay as the primary antagonist, but he never really felt like a big threat to the boys.
It was nice to see Fletcher back as we hadn’t seen him since #2, and despite his character being killed off in #3 – Joe Pantoliano returns in pre-recorded videos and dream like sequences.
The MVP goes to Dennis Greene as Reggie, in his third appearance in the franchise. – Who gets to have a couple of full circle moments within the film.
Despite such a congested cast, each character feels like they add to their part of the film.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
There is a humorous moment at Mike’s wedding where he mentions to one character that he ‘had to grow up’ and she retorts ‘you were 50’. I found this quite amusing, but also refreshing to see Mike back to his old personality from the first film.
There is some well written nods to earlier films – like the Haitians and Sid from BB2, and of course there is quite a bit more from BB3 with Mike’s son Armando returning, and the relationship between the two expanding.
Score/Soundtrack
One big issue I had with #2 was the removal of the original score, and it is back once again here. There is also a very funny moment where the boys tell some local ‘country’ residents they like Reba McEntire and then her version of Bad Boys plays – which she recorded just for this.
Overall
I was pleasantly pleased with how much I enjoyed this. Being a fan of the franchise for (thirty?) years – I thought this was a solid (end?) to it. Especially given how tainted it was by one of the stars personal lives. I’d give this one a recommend. It’s especially fun to see the Reggie storyline too.
3.5/5
Ryan's Movie Reviews 