Bad Boys: Ride or Die is not likely the best entry into the franchise, but it certainly is not a terrible film on the whole. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return as long-time Miami buddy cops Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett in the fourth movie in this series. They are joined by Vanessa Hudgens, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano, and Jacob Scipio as well as several others. Eric Dane plays the main villain and is menacing enough. Adil & Bilall are the directors with the script being written by Chris Bremner and Will Beall.
The film begins with the pair thwarting an armed robbery on the way to Lowry’s wedding. Their celebration is marred by allegations that their deceased captain was involved with Mexican drug cartels. Captain Conrad Howard was killed off in the previous film, Bad Boys For Life. He apparently left some video messages to his two favorite “bad boys” under his command. While Lowry and Burnett search for the means to clear their captain’s name, they are framed for murder and corruption themselves and have to go on the run with Lowry’s recently discovered son. Lowry’s son has been imprisoned for killing Captain Howard, but he has a chance for an unlikely redemption this time. Of course, the city of Miami is plunged into chaos as Lowry and Burnett shoot and sass their way to exoneration and victory.
I will that one thing that these movies attempt to do is give the main character some interesting character development. This time, Burnett suffers a heart attack and survives, which convinces him of having some sense of indestructability. Lowry has started suffering panic attacks at inopportune moments such as when the bad guys are unloading an arsenal of firearms at him. In spite of the ludicrous action scenes, it is interesting that the writers take some time to explore some internal conflicts one or the other seem to be experiencing. Of course, it also depicts the humorous yet profound bond these two men share after so many adventures together.
I had some mixed reactions to the action sequences. The fight scenes were pretty well realized. There was a moment where a first-person shooter perspective was depicted as if this was a video game, that didn’t really work for me for some reason. The special effects were pretty good although some moments felt too much like I was watching a comic book movie.
Lawrence and Smith have these characters down, and the charisma and occasional witty banter did help me overlook and forgive some of the flaws in this film. It was kind of heartening to see Lowry finally get married, and Burnett remains a devoted family man. Burnett gives his son-in-law a bit of an unnecessary bad time even though the kid is US Marine, which ends up being quite useful when the outlaws come calling on the Burnett household. The was one of the action sequences that was ridiculous yet fun to witness.
Overall, this turned out to be an entertaining enough film. The predecessors are better, but this one doesn’t go off the rails too badly. If another film is announced, I may remain interested enough to give it a chance. The script here isn’t great, but the two leads are funny and talented enough to prevent me from experiencing much regret in seeing it.
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