Bad Boys For Life ends by having Will Smith's Mike Lowrey confront his past, while Martin Lawrence's Marcus Burnett decides about his future - and together, they put an end to an extensive killing spree that sets up a future sequel in Bad Boys 4. Coming 17 years after Michael Bay's Bad Boys 2 released in theaters, Belgian filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah successfully revitalized the long-dormant franchise with Bad Boys For Life, which has already become one of January's highest-grossing movies.
Bad Boys For Life begins with Marcus' daughter having a baby boy with her longtime boyfriend (and future husband) Reggie. Marcus uses this as an opportunity to look back on his life, particularly his life of violence, and decides to retire. Meanwhile, an assassin shoots and nearly kills Mike, all for the revenge of a case that Mike worked on decades prior, which resulted in the imprisonment of the shooter's mother, Isabel Aretas. Little did everyone know, there was a bigger connection between Isabel, Mike, and the shooter, Armando Armas.
Not long after Marcus retired, he rejoins the fold for one last mission with his best friend. Mike and Marcus head down to Mexico for a final confrontation with Isabel (Kate del Castillo) and Armando (Jacob Scipio). And they were joined by members of Miami PD's new AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations) initiative, including Rita (Paola Núñez), Rafe (Charles Melton), Dorn (Alexander Ludwig), and Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens).
The Bad Boys For Life ending sees Mike and Marcus traveling to Mexico City to bring justice to Isabel and Armando, with the backup of Miami's former AMMO members. Mike first meets Isabel inside Hidalgo Palace, using himself as bait, but when Marcus is captured and AMMO's surveillance equipment is knocked out and disabled, AMMO infiltrates the building and a shootout occurs between Mike, Marcus, AMMO, and Isabel and Armando's henchman. Isabel and Armando try to escape by boarding a helicopter, but when Marcus shoots the pilot, the helicopter crashes into the building and explodes on the first floor.
It all culminates with a fight between Mike and Armando - with Marcus quickly taking out Isabel in the room above - in which Mike heeds Marcus' advice earlier in the film to "penetrate [Armando's] soul with his heart". Rather than simply shoot and kill Armando, Mike tries to bypass the usual violence he doles out and breakthrough to his enemy. It was a last-ditch attempt to show Armando that he wasn't the person Armando thought he was - or the person that Isabel made him out to be. And it worked. Armando stood in the way of Isabel shooting Mike, and was in turn wounded himself. Thanks to Mike and Marcus, Armando survived and was later imprisoned in Miami for his numerous murders.
Mike wasn't just the person who put Isabel away over 25 years ago, he also broke her heart and betrayed her. In her eyes, he was a traitor who abandoned her (after the two fell in love), and so, seeing him suffer after all these years was the revenge she wanted. Putting a "bullet in him" would be mercy, according to her. But when it ultimately came time to kill Mike, Isabel wanted Armando to be the one to do it and the one to tell him their secret message, "hasta el fuego". Everything would click for Mike at this moment before his death.
On the surface, Isabel's plan was simple yet cruel. She wanted Mike to feel the pain that she felt in her years in prison. To make sure that her plan was carried out in full, Isabel made her son believe that he was getting revenge for his father, who died in jail as a result of Mike's investigation. She wanted everyone associated with the case - from the CSI investigator to the case's judge - to be killed, with Mike dying last. It was revenge for the Aretas cartel but also personal revenge for Isabel. That's why the final person to die was the person closest to Mike.
Shortly before his death, Captain Howard repeated to Mike what Marcus was telling him for months: retire. It was clear at this point that Mike wasn't the "bulletproof" person he thought he was; the legend of Mike Lowrey was slowly fading. And if he continued to push himself into the investigation, there would be consequences; someone would die. Unfortunately, that someone was Captain Howard, who was not only part of the initial investigation into the Aretas cartel but also the person responsible for setting Mike on his path. Mike was like a son to Captain Howard, so forcing the son to watch his father figure die in front of him was the lowest Mike could go. Captain Howard was the final domino to fall before Isabel was ready to have Mike killed.
Prior to Bad Boys For Life, the only aspects of Mike Lowrey's backstory leading up to the first Bad Boys movie was that he graduated the police academy and became a narcotics officer with Marcus Burnett in the late 1980s. However, Bad Boys For Life reveals that Captain Howard had pulled Mike out of the academy early and gave him an undercover assignment within the Aretas Cartel. He became Isabel's driver and ultimately fell in love with her. They planned to run away together, but when Mike found out who she truly was - a "cold-blooded killer" - he turned her in along with the rest of the cartel members.
Earlier in Bad Boys For Life, when Mike was recovering from his gunshot wounds and Rita confronted him at his home, he utters the phrase, "Hasta el fuego". Rita didn't know what it meant, but Mike used it as an excuse to want to get back into the field and solve the investigation himself. It's later revealed that "hasta el fuego" is something that Mike and Isabel came up with together and would say it to one another, almost like a promise to be together no matter what. "Hasta el fuego" has no direct translation in Spanish, but the closest meaning is "up to the fire" or "until the fire".
What's interesting is that "hasta el fuego" brought Mike and Isabel's story full circle. By promising that they would be together until the fire, they fulfilled that meaning to the letter, with Rita shooting Isabel and her falling into the fire and dying at the bottom of Hidalgo Palace. It ended where it all began - and it ended in fire. Isabel may have made Mike Lowrey into the clothes and sports car-loving person that he's been since the first Bad Boys movie, but by giving him a son and indirectly forcing him to take responsibility for his actions, she also inadvertently turned him into the person Marcus wanted him to be - a person willing to settle down with a family and let go of the violence.
Before Mike gave up Isabel in his investigation, they planned to run away together; he was going to give up everything for her. And she was going to give up everything for him. But Mike didn't know at the time of that she was a month pregnant. Their son was born eight months later while she was in prison, and that son was Armando. Mike was only able to put this twist together upon hearing Armando say the words, "hasta el fuego" to him. So letting Armando loose on Mike was a form of poetic justice for Isabel. Although Mike didn't have the time or the means to have a DNA test done right away, he knew Armando was his son because Isabel's husband - the leader of the Aretas cartel - was sterile.
Upon coming to this realization, Mike thinks of Armando as the crazy version of himself, but in reality, they are both alike in many ways; they're both drawn to violence but long for the father-son relationship they never had (Mike as the father and Armando as the son). Mike didn't know Armando was his son, and the person who Armando thought was his father died in prison when he was only a child. Despite the fact that Armando committed several murders, including killing Captain Howard, Mike saw this as an opportunity to be some sort of father figure to Armando and help him face justice - and atone - for his crimes. This is perhaps why Armando's immediate reaction to Isabel pointing her gun at Mike was to step in front of the barrel and take the bullet himself. Mike's decision wasn't rational, but while told Marcus on the plan to Mexico that he planned to kill his son, he just couldn't do it when the moment presented itself.
By finding out Booker Grassie was the dealer who supplied Armando with the custom-made P90 bullets, Mike proved that his old-fashioned detective ways still work. But when he went into the department to report on his findings, AMMO already knew about it. In a roundabout way, Bad Boys For Life highlights the benefit of old school tactics but also the advantage of state of the art technology. Mike and Marcus were saved numerous times by the members of AMMO and their fancy equipment. So while they could've potentially taken on the remainder of the Aretas cartel by themselves, as they had done with other criminal organizations in Bad Boys and Bad Boys 2, it's obvious that there are perks in working with such an outfitted team.
Of course, AMMO was shut down at one point in the film, but with Rita as the new police captain, it makes sense that she would move to reestablish AMMO and all of its members. However, as the police captain, it's unlikely that she will be able to run the operation herself going forward. Mike ended up taking a liking to the team, so with him and Marcus back in the game, they may take over AMMO in Bad Boys 4. Regardless, though, AMMO is Miami PD's future in the Bad Boys franchise. Without them, Mike may not have been able to follow through on his hunch that Isabel was behind everything and that Armando was his son.
The first two Bad Boys movies were primarily about Marcus and his family, so it makes sense that Bad Boys For Life would flip the script and focus on Mike's family - even though he didn't know it was his family until the final act. While Mike was dealing with the consequences of his actions, Marcus wanted to atone for all the violence that he caused in his career as a police officer and detective. That's why he promised God he wouldn't bring any more violence into the world if God gave Mike a second chance.
However, Marcus had an epiphany during his and Mike's car chase with Zway-Lo: he was essentially a vessel of God's. As a detective, he was protecting the world. So while he could choose to not harm anyone, it was in his nature to be a "bad boy" for life. Leaving his best friend alone almost got Mike killed, and that's not something he was willing to contend with in retirement. Bad Boys For Life's title isn't just part of Mike and Marcus' age-old mantra, but it's also a code that they live by and will continue to live by for years to come.
Bad Boys For Life was, at its core, about dealing with the past. Nostalgia was a big part of it, but Mike and Marcus both understood they weren't the same people they once were. As Marcus said, they have more years behind them than in front. But instead of hanging it all up and retiring, as Marcus tried to do for a short period of time, they became accustomed to the new rules. And so, the Bad Boys For Life ending could be broken down into "out with the old, in with the new". Rita is the new police captain and AMMO is expanding - and Mike and Marcus are fully on board with both.
In addition to keeping Mike and Marcus on as detectives, Bad Boys For Life teases Armando playing a role in Bad Boys 4. In the Bad Boys For Life end-credits scene, Mike approaches Armando with an opportunity to have him trim some time off his prison sentence. It's not immediately clear what that opportunity would entail, but it stands to reason that it would involve Armando working with Miami PD in an investigation. Considering that Armando is the last surviving member of the Aretas cartel, he could be used to investigate other cartels operating in the area.
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