Is it possible to just appreciate a “Bad Boys” movie for what it is — Will Smith blasting away, Martin Lawrence bugging out, Miami beaming bright — without actually finding it very good?

And while the notion of kicking back once and for all is certainly mentioned in this second sequel to Michael Bay’s 1995 action classic, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence aren’t sitting the action out any time soon;,especially when considering the latest image from Bad Boys For Life has them both checking their guns before getting back into the swing of things.

That’s the curious position the action comedy “Bad Boys for Life” finds itself in as the series’ third installment about Smith and Lawrence’s tight-knit, personality-clashing loose cannon lawmen — although “installment” is perhaps not the right word for a movie coming a teenager’s lifetime after the last one, 2003’s pinnacle of macho chaos “Bad Boys II.”

Since that execrable sequel, when Smith had overtaken Lawrence (the original 1995 movie’s lead) as box office bait, and director Michael Bay’s popcorn overlord status was surpassing that of the franchise’s veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer, all the main players’ marquee power has taken a hit, not to mention the kind of loud, hyperviolent mayhem a “Bad Boys” movie represents. Which is why “Bad Boys for Life” (with everyone back, save Bay, who nonetheless pops up for a strange onscreen cameo) is both an amusing throwback and a tired retread at the same time, like a cruise through an old, beloved neighborhood in which one’s hope that the old feelings will return is more enjoyable than what you actually discover, which is that you’ve moved on.