Bad Boys For Life Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

2. There's Some Fantastic Fan Service

Bad Boys for Life Joe Pantoliano
Sony Pictures Releasing

Unsurprisingly, Bad Boys for Life trades heavily in the nostalgia factor, and to that end there's some terrific fan service for those who've been waiting almost 20 years for this threequel.

In addition to the plentiful dialogue callbacks referencing events from the first two films, there's some great back-and-forth between the boys and Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who continues to be as exasperated as ever - now with a mane of presumably stress-induced grey hair.

Theresa Randle also makes a welcome return as Marcus' put-upon wife Theresa, and there are at least three fan-serving cameos too delicious to spoil. Needless to say, they're sure to bring the house down.

It's easy for nostalia-fuelled sequels to come off pandering and lazy, but for the most part, this film gets the balance right.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.