Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (Adil & Bilall, 2024)
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence once again prove their worth as a formidable comedic act in the vibrant and colorful Bad Boys: Ride Or Die.
The fourth entry in the long running franchise feels pretty inspired, even if it’s clear that we’re still dealing with the kind of formula filmmaking that’s not gonna win any prizes for originality.
Having said that, there has always been lots to enjoy, starting with the first two movies (from 1995 and 2003), directed by Michael Bay, who makes a funny little cameo in this one.
Bad Boys For Life (2020), directed by Belgian duo Adil and Bilall, rejuvenated the franchise after a near two decades absence. It proved to be the pinnacle of Smith and Lawrence’s collective achievement, with a near perfect mix of action, comedy and some genuine, heartfelt drama, culminating in (but not limited to) the brutal death of franchise mainstay Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) at the hands of Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), who just happened to be the son of Mike Lowry (Will Smith).
What made it great, however, is also what posed a potential pitfall for the sequel, as the filmmakers a) have not been able to let Captain Howard go quietly into the dark and b) have decided to aggressively retcon Aretas from bad guy to bad boy (‘bad not meaning bad, but bad meaning good’).
From a dramatic point of view, this definitely hampers the movie, but in the way of the franchise, the filmmakers not just paper over the cracks but simply bulldozer over them.
So when Captain Howard is posthumously accused of corruption, Miami’s two finest police officers ride out to clear his name, courting the possibility they might die themselves in the process.
Smith and Lawrence’s banter is as great as it’s ever been - ‘In one of my past lives you were a donkey’, Marcus tells Mike at one point, ‘and I owned you’ - as he tries to one-up his best friend, whose life always seems to be a bit more glamorous than his own.
It’s cool to see Smith back in action as a bonafide movie star - after ‘the Slap’, and the following Oscar fall-out - and the fact that this time around his usually untouchable Mike suffers from occasional panic attacks seems a way of gently implying that ‘hey, this guy is only human too’.
In fact it’s Martin Lawrence’s Marcus who seems to be on fire all the time, like standing (almost) butt naked on top of a hospital roof after suffering a heart attack, shouting he cannot die cause Captain Howard told him from beyond the grave that it’s not his time.
Captain Howard appears in a number of video messages, meant to guide Mike and Marcus along to find the people who really are guilty of corruption. Along the way the duo meet more than a few characters from previous installments - some even live to tell the tale and possibly return in another one - while in the course of their investigation they become innocent men on the run themselves while also putting the lives of their own family members in mortal danger.
Family plays a huge part in this movie, with important supporting roles for youngsters like Captain Howard’s daughter Callie (Quinn Hemphill) and Reggie (Dennis Greene). Even though the latter has been around since the second movie, he could still become an action star if he wants to, cause as a young marine he turns out to be quite an effective killing machine here.
In between the (plentiful) action scenes there is still enough room for other franchise regulars like Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, who as officers Kelly and Dorn, have entered into a secret relationship, and Paola Núñez, whose Rita Secada is Miami’s new Captain.
The Bad Boys ensemble is now so large that it’s beginning to resemble the Fast and the Furious franchise, and as that one seems to be winding down over the next couple of years, this one feels it has more left in the tank.
Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is both highly entertaining and a little predictable, but if it’s Bad Boys you want, well, that’s exactly what you’re gonna get.