Bad Boys for Life trailer reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for one more explosive mission

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back together, and judging by the trailer for Bad Boys for Life, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are nowhere near ready for a quiet retirement.

The third instalment in the Bad Boys franchise reunites the two stars for another action-heavy adventure filled with high-speed driving, gunfire and the familiar banter that has defined their partnership.

But this time, both men have reached very different points in their lives.

Marcus has become a police inspector, while Mike is struggling through a midlife crisis. With retirement apparently getting closer, it seems their years of dangerous missions together may finally be coming to an end.

Then an old enemy returns to settle a score.

A revenge mission forces Mike and Marcus back together

The pair are pulled into action again when a Romanian mob boss targets them as part of a revenge plot connected to his brother, whom Mike and Marcus previously defeated.

That threat arrives just as the longtime partners are preparing to step away.

The trailer makes clear that their latest mission will once again put both men directly in danger, with footage showing the pair racing through the streets at high speed as someone becomes determined to kill them.

But unlike earlier adventures, they will not necessarily have to handle everything alone.

A younger team joins the Bad Boys

The film introduces a new tactical unit known as AMMO.

Vanessa Hudgens appears as Maya “Lethal Gun” Dunsmore, alongside Vikings star Alexander Ludwig and Riverdale actor Charles Melton.

The younger team even becomes the target of one of the trailer’s jokes when it is described as a “High School Musical boy band with guns” — an especially fitting reference considering Hudgens’ history with the Disney franchise.

The new recruits suggest Mike and Marcus are entering a world where a younger generation may eventually take over.

But the original duo clearly aren’t ready to disappear quietly.

Marcus delivers an emotional warning

Among the explosions and comedy, one exchange suggests the third movie will put greater emphasis on the friendship between its two central characters.

As Mike prepares to place himself in danger, Marcus refuses to simply stand aside.

“Family is the only thing that matters, so I’m not letting you go on a suicide mission alone,” he tells him.

The pair then agree to do it “one last time.”

Those words immediately raise a larger question about where the franchise is heading.

After years of missions together, could this finally be the end for Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett?

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return to their signature roles

Smith and Lawrence have been at the centre of the franchise since the original Bad Boys arrived in 1995.

Their contrasting personalities became one of the series’ defining ingredients: Mike as the confident risk-taker and Marcus as the partner frequently trying to survive the chaos around him.

Bad Boys for Life places those characters at a different stage of adulthood.

Marcus has advanced professionally and is considering retirement, while Mike is confronting his own age and future.

Yet when danger returns, their old partnership quickly comes back to life.

The trailer promises the familiar ingredients fans expect — cars, weapons, jokes and enormous action sequences — while introducing a question that hangs over the entire adventure.

How many more times can the Bad Boys really say “one last time”?

Bad Boys for Life was scheduled for release in cinemas on January 17, 2020.