10 Most Shockingly Improved Movie Sequels

It was incredibly easy to picture a reality where a third Bad Boys movie, released almost 20 years after Bad Boys II and without Michael Bay's involvement no less, just felt like a depressing afterthought. After all, decades-later comedy sequels rarely perform well with audiences or critics.

So, what a shock it was that Bad Boys for Life released to 76% on the Tomatometer - more than the combined scores of the first two movies (43% and 23% respectively).

While there's an argument to be made that the action sequences didn't quite hit the chaotic highs of Bad Boys II, the juvenile excesses of Bay's filmmaking sensibilities were nevertheless hugely reined in, resulting in a sequel that worked far more effectively as a broad action blockbuster.

Even more surprising than this? Bad Boys for Life not only became the highest-grossing film in the series at $426.5 million worldwide, but due to the pandemic shutting cinemas down two months after it came out, it remained the highest-grossing Hollywood film of 2020.