Sony Pictures
You do remember correctly. There was a ‘Bad Boys’ film in early 2020 called Bad Boys for Life, which makes Bad Boys: Ride or Die, now in theaters, the franchise’s fourth installment. But whatever hype that January dump did seem to drum up, the pandemic made sure it was just about squashed. That movie was plenty successful, grossing over $400 million internationally, but just like all 2020 cinema, it’s been more or less forgotten culturally.
As a result, Bad Boys: Ride or Die retreads a lot of the same territory, but is no less fun or wild than any other ‘Bad Boys’ film. Whether we want it or not, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have still got it.
If you missed last week’s episode, here’s the recap: the bad boys are now the bad old guys. As they look back on a career of policing in a Miami that only seems to exist in movies, they’re starting to think about what’s next in life and what, if you can believe it, might matter more. Mike (Smith) is settling down and Marcus’ (Lawrence) health has seen much better days. When Marcus has a near-death experience, he doesn’t exactly see his life flash before his eyes, but he does see plenty of clips from other ‘Bad Boys’ movies. They’re pondering their own mortality and asking themselves how the decisions they’ve made can fester as regret. They’re still best friends and they still bicker like hell. The rest, from intentions to motivations to relationships (why is Vanessa Hudgens third billed? It must be a contractual obligation because she isn’t in nearly enough of the movie), can be picked up pretty fast.
In this latest entry, their beloved Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) has passed, and the feds believe that he had some ties to the local mafia and cartels. New evidence has come to light that makes him look pretty bad, but Mike and Marcus don’t believe he could be a rat, (of course he couldn’t.) In their mission to save his good name, they become fugitives themselves because that’s what action franchises must do by the fourth entry. The feds want them locked up and the street gangs (led by ridiculous performances from Tiffany Haddish and DJ Khaled) want them dead, so they’re on a The Warriors-inspired mission to make it out of the city alive with freeing evidence in their hands.
Directing duo Adil & Bilall, who helmed the last entry, pick up where they left off by picking up where Michael Bay left off in 2003. Bay is the ‘Poet Laureate of Stupid’ and Adil & Bilall are inspired by his zaniness, filling their movie with intense action setpieces, over-the-top buddy cop banter, and crazy camera moves (at one point the camera is inside Lawrence’s watch as he taps it aggressively, almost like a schlocky 3D effect.)
Smith and Lawrence don’t quite pull off those action scenes like they used to. Neither one looks a day over Bad Boys for Life, but they don’t have the get-up-and-go that the movie requires. Luckily, they have some younger stand-ins (Alexander Ludwig, Jacob Scipio, Dennis Greene, and not enough Hudgens — plus a variety of occasionally obvious stunt performers, especially for Lawrence) to do the heavy lifting to take down the big bad Eric Dane. The boys get to focus on the comedy and the occasional emotional beat, which they can still do plenty well.
How audiences will receive the duo is a different question. Smith hasn’t had to sell tickets since his slapping fiasco. Your thoughts on him and his image, whatever they may be and however they may have changed, do seem to invade opinions of the movie. Bad Boys: Ride or Die reminds you why we liked him in the first place, but your mileage on separating the art from the artist may vary. Lawrence, meanwhile, has largely fallen out of the public eye, but if the last film’s financial success is any indication, they need not worry.
2024 has kept nostalgia seekers happy, with the return of the ‘Bad Boys’ and the soon-released Netflix version of Beverly Hills Cop (co-writer Will Beall is also a co-writer on that film) feeling like a one-two punch of black buddy-cop yearnings for better cinematic days. Bad Boys: Ride or Die has set the bar high, managing to be better than most unfortunate retreads. Adil & Bilall compliment Smith and Lawrence, misgivings are easy to overlook (except for the fact that there is seriously not enough Hudgens), and hearing Reba McEntire’s version of ‘Bad Boys’ (I promise it not only makes sense but totally works in the context of the movie) is worth the price of admission alone. If you already think Bad Boys: Ride or Die is something you’ll enjoy, there’s no reason why you won’t.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die has a run time of 1 hour 50 minutes, and is rated R for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references.
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