Bad Boys: Ride or Die Review
There’s not a rough edge in sight here, but despite its sheen, caricature character and polish, Bad Boys: Ride or Die still manages to capture enough of the magic to be a blast.
When the sadly passed Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) is framed for corruption, Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) try to clear his name. But the bad guys, led by the nefarious McGrath (Eric Dane), decide to take them out as well, leading to a prison break with Mike’s illegitimate son Armando (Jacob Scipio). Now Mike, Marcus and Armando are on the run, hunted by the FBI and the DEA, as they try and find a way to take the bad guys down and clear Captain Howard’s name.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence team up once again in this new Bad Boys movie, and to be fair if you’ve seen any of the Bad Boys series before, you’re probably not going to be surprised in the slightest by this new one. The same schtick, the same basic crime plot, the same story beats; everything is on repeat here, just dialed up to a cartoonish 11.
This film’s dialogue is frequently funny and zingy, and Lawrence and Smith have an in built chemistry that cannot be denied. There’s laugh out loud moments, and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah know how to hit the team up, fist pumping beats. However, there are a number of elements that they can’t touch on - particularly the emotional heft and impact of the last iteration in the series, Bad Boys For Life.
The one thing this film does level up its predecessors on is inventive action. Smith has a fantastic rotating POV shot in the final battle that is inventive and new, and Lawrence’s son goes to town through a ring cam in a home invasion scene. The action is frequently impressive, and one of the best parts of the movie.
Ultimately, Bad Boys: Ride or Die has enough to keep it fun, funny and interesting, but it doesn’t have the same pathos as the previous film to drive it into the pantheon of remembrance. Instead, this is a film that will keep you entertained in the theatre, and will quickly leave your consciousness afterwards.
