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Will Smith and Michael Bay have made magic together. Twice, actually. The actor and director helped each other breakout with the 1995 action classic Bad Boys. It was Smith’s first starring role, and Bay’s first film period. They ran it back with the bigger, louder, and even more successful Bad Boys II in 2003.
Now Smith and Bay are linking up a third time. The duo are reportedly joining forces the for new film Fast & Loose. Deadline reports that the film revolves around a man who wakes up without any memories. Eventually, though, he learns that leads a very dangerous double life, and has to figure a way out.
We know what you’re thinking. No, it’s not a remake, and yes, you’ve seen this exact same film done a dozen times over the last few decades.
The premise has been done to death
The notion of combining Smith, who has experienced a commercial boost as of late thanks to the Bad Boys films, with Bay, who, as previously mentioned, helped to establish Smith in the first place, makes sense on paper. We just wish it came with a more novel concept.
Fast & Loose will reportedly pose Will Smith in two different identities: a notorious crime kingpin and an undercover CIA agent. We aren’t going to list off all the films that toy with this same exact premise, because we’d be here until Fast & Loose comes out, but are going to list a few to make the point.
Liam Neeson did this same exact premise with Unknown (2011). Geena Davis had a memorable turn as an amnesiac operative in The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Jesse Eisenberg put a comedic spin on it for American Ultra (2015). Matt Damon arguably perfected the amnesia subgenre with the Bourne franchise. So on, and so forth.
Will Smith is trying to revive his 90s peak
Look, we get it. Will Smith has had a rocky couple of years. He slapped Chris Rock the night he won his first Oscar, and he was pretty fairly maligned for it. Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024), a pretty clear throwback to his 90s heyday, helped to repair his public reputation somewhat.
What do you do if you’re Smith? More of the same. Bad Boys: Ride or Die, and its predecessor, Bad Boys for Life (2021), have been the best-received Smith films in a decade, excluding the sports film that won him the Oscar, King Richard (2023).
Smith, like Tom Cruise, can only do the retro action thing for so long. Tom Cruise is wrapping up Mission: Impossible and getting back to work with auteur filmmakers like Alejandro G. Inarritu. Smith is going to have to be careful not to lean too heavily on 1990s nostalgia, because it will quickly wear thin.
The last time he attempted a throwback action film with a gimmick premise was Gemini Man (2019) and it tanked at the box office. Hopefully Fast & Loose avoids a similar fate.