'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' Review: Miami's finest are running out of new tricks
They say you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Or, in Mike Lowrey's (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett's (Martin Lawrence) case, give Bad Boys fresh ideas.
As absurd as the Bayhem-originated, adrenaline-fueled, Miami-set franchise itself, no one could’ve foreseen that Bad Boys for Life, the third installment, would land as 2020's highest-grossing movie in America. And as with every success under the Sony Pictures house, they floored it with a sequel commission. With a shorter span between installments than the second and third films, the fourth Bad Boys entry, Ride or Die, arrives undercooked and rushed. Sadly, not even Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's comedic dynamic and the directors’ stylized vision can overcome the weak writing plaguing Miami P.D.'s finest and funniest.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing
PG: Action/peril and mild thematic elements.
Runtime: 1 Hr and 55 Minutes
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Westbrook Studios, 2.0 Entertainment
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Directors: Adil & Bilall
Writers: Chris Bremner, Will Beall
Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhea Seehorn, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano
Release Date: June 7, 2024
Only In Theaters
Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett face their most crucial operation yet. Lowrey finally went to therapy… and married his therapist, Christine (Melanie Liburd). At their wedding, Burnett, who has become reckless with his food decisions, experiences a heart attack. Lowrey faces health issues and panic attacks associated with witnessing the death of Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) at the hands of his son Armando (Jacob Scipio). While Marcus ignores his traumatic experience with delusions of invincibility and Mike pushes his emotions to the side, they learn that the late Captain Howard is posthumously accused of being in the Romanian mafia. The Bad Boys learn through a video that corruption comes from inside the Miami P.D. As they investigate the case, trying to clear Howard's name, they are made out to be fugitives. Now, the boys have to work outside the law, teaming up with Armando while being hunted by gangsters and the feds.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are the glue that holds the Bad Boys franchise together. Michael Bay's filmmaking initially shaped its identity, but since 1995, it was Burnett and Lowrey's budding chemistry that made these movies so damn entertaining. They had fans clamoring for more every few years, specifically the nearly 20-year jump from 2003's Bad Boys II to Bad Boys for Life. Lowrey and Burnett were neck and neck with Buzz and Woody as the best comedic buddy duo of 1995. Bless Smith and Lawrence for doing their best to keep this installment afloat with their vibrant chemistry. Despite their routines becoming derivative due to their formulaic sitcom-styled humor and a character IQ drop, Smith and Lawrence's camaraderie is still strong enough to entertain.
Bad Boys for Life's returning filmmakers, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah do the heavy lifting in elevating Ride or Die's thrill factor. If For Life was them on a leash, stuck in Michael Bay's shadow, they've now gone off the chain. They're exercising their experimental video game shooter-influenced flair to its full potential. Not even ten minutes into the film, Arbi and Fallah dazzle with objects like watches or phones as POV shots.
When guns go blazing and they deploy their camera drones, the filmmaking duo doubles down in their impressive skillset, offering some of the slickest action sequences this year. They made sure you feel every inch of the bloody shoot-'em-up chaos, whether for intense or comedic effect. This entry is plagued with a wide roster of minor characters as if they're grooming them for a potential spin-off series akin to Gabrielle Union's short-lived L.A.'s Finest spin-off (seriously, why haven't they brought back Syd Burnett?). That said, everyone gets their showcase of badassery, elevated by the meticulous craftsmanship of Arbi and Fallah. Even a sequence involving two minor characters fighting in an elevator is so mesmerizing that it's by far the most anxious I felt during the film. The more the duo flexes their director's muscles, the hotter my blood boils for their canceled Batgirl flick. #fuckdavidzaslav
I love it when a sequel is sold as a full, hearty entry but plays like a DLC. Despite this being one of the summer's most stylish flicks, Ride or Die is the worst-penned Bad Boys entry yet. I recently rewatched For Life and still felt swept up by Marcus and Mike's conflict revolving around their opposing stances on the murders they committed throughout their careers and how those sins, badge be damned, caught up with them. There were strong character beats that felt as if the franchise emotionally matured alongside its actors and the audience while still retaining its zany identity. That passion is gone in this entry as Chris Bremner and Will Beall's screenplay fails to do anything remotely interesting with Mike and Marcus. You can feel the writers were having character troubles by the end of the first draft, and when they submitted it to Sony for notes, they said “fuck it” and pushed it into production.
Despite the new concept, Ride or Die repeats many of For Life's plot points and beats, from the duo rushing to a significant life event in the opening to one of them having a near-death experience in the climax, which features a plane crashing into the battleground, disrupting the gunplay. They throw in more thankless characters and amp the action up to eleven in exchange while losing focus on Marcus and Mike.
I would consider Bad Boys to have more integrity than stupidity compared to films like Fast & Furious because, well, when they demonstrate death, it's genuinely intense. Or it used to be because Ride or Die has them wearing heavier plot armor than a slasher movie villain who turns out to be just “some guy.” One had a heart attack and the other experienced panic attacks. The last thing you want to make me think about is their health during all these high-octane set pieces.
To make another Toy Story reference, Marcus meets the same fate as Buzz Lightyear did in that franchise's fourth installment (they got dumbed down to a frustrating extent). Marcus is so detached from reality, thinking he's invincible following his heart attack, and they make that his only ongoing gag that becomes stale and ultimately annoying. Whenever he enacted a generic comedic bit with Smith, I had Big Momma's House war flashbacks. They rob Lawrence of his humanity to the extent that it nearly teeters on character assassination. On top of operating on sheer delusion, he often undercuts any potential for genuine emotion, especially once Armando and Mike are forced to work together.
Half copy and paste, half DLC sequel, the weakly-penned Bad Boys: Ride or Die bears bizarre character choices barely elevated by Arbi and Fallah’s ambitious, stylish action direction and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s joint star power.
Rating: 2.5/5 | 54%
