Bad Boys: Ride or Die Review

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for a fourth entry in the Bad Boys series. This time the buddy duo are forced to go on the run and clear their names.

Mike Lowrey (Smith) has done something his friends never thought he would: settle down and marry a nice woman. But Mike is haunted by the death of his friend and commanding officer, Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano), and blames himself. When Captain Howard is accused of being corrupt, Mike and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) set out to clear his name, but the pair must conflict with a powerful, shadowy organisation.

The Bad Boys movies have never been seen as a critical darling but have been popular with audiences. The first film gave Michael Bay his feature film debut and was Will Smith’s first major action role and they were able to cement their reputations with their follow-up films The Rock and Independence Day. Bad Boys II was a Marmite film as it showed the best and worst aspects of Michael Bay as a director. Bad Boys For Life got the best reviews in the series and made a healthy profit. It was the best-performing Hollywood film in 2020. I gave it a positive review and I enjoyed it upon a recent rewatch. A sequel seemed like a no-brainer.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die came out after Smith’s Oscar win for King Richard and his public indiscretion at the awards ceremony. Smith was temporarily put into metaphorical jail and the production of Bad Boys: Ride or Die was delayed. The Bad Boys series had been a safety net for Smith, but the fourth film is coming out in a troubled cinematic climate. It will be a test for Smith’s brand. At the time of writing Bad Boys: Ride or Die had a decent 64% on Rotten Tomatoes and the $100 million budget doesn’t seem as big a hurdle to overcome compared to some other action films.

People who enjoyed Bad Boys For Life should enjoy the sequel since it offered more of the same. The film had the Michael Bay bombard without the offensive humour. The directing duo Adil & Fallah returns for the sequel and they know how to make flashy, entertaining productions. They created some excellent sequences throughout the film and like with Bad Boys For Life, it was refreshing to see an action film that was violent and stylised. Social media highlighted a special rig that allowed a camera operator to flip between a first-person view and an extreme close-up and it was something to behold. It was a throwback to ‘90s action films, not surprising considering the Bad Boys films were Jerry Bruckheimer productions. Adil & Fallah did work on Batgirl for Warner Brothers Discovery and it was unceremoniously made into a tax write-off. I would like to see Bad Boys: Ride or Die be a box office smash just to humiliate Warner Bros. Discovery and David Zaslav.

Will Smith is in his mid-fifties yet he still convinces as an action star and as with the previous film, he’s backed up by a strong ensemble. The villain of the film, James McGarth was played by Eric Dane, who led the military drama The Last Ship and he brought that military presence to his role. McGarth was an imposing figure with a strategic mind, making him a dangerous villain. Except for Bad Boys II, the Bad Boys movies have had strong villains. Bad Boys: Ride or Die treated its story and threat seriously yet still having a sense of humour and fun.

The area where Bad Boys: Ride or Die falters was with its storytelling. The first act was similar to the predecessor since both films opened with Mike and Marcus racing to a major life event and one of them suffering from a life-threatening event. The film was made up of other ideas. The most obvious influence was The Fugitive since Mike and Marcus get framed and hunted by a determined US Marshall. Bad Boys: Ride or Die was a film that was filled with so much conspiracy and corruption and the villains were so organised that it could rival a season of Line of Duty. A section of the film turns into The Warriors because every gang in Miami was after a bounty for Mike and Marcus’ heads. Marcus developed a sense of invincibility and thought he couldn’t die, like Roman in Fast 9. Another storyline in the film was Mike suffering from PTSD and suffering from panic attacks, which was similar to Tony Stark in Iron Man 3.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die was the direct sequel in the series. The previous films worked as standalone stories with only small references to previous films. Bad Boys: Ride or Die follows up on point plots from Bad Boys For Life through Captain Howard’s death and Mike’s relationship with his bastard son. But this continuation did require some retcons, like the reason for Howard’s assassination and the reveal that Howard was investigating a network of corrupt cops felt like M’s tape in Spectre. The film seemed like it was trying to be the Mission: Impossible – Fallout of the Bad Boys series since it was trying to tie in the previous films into its narrative.

Another retcon was the reveal that Mike married his physical therapist despite her not being seen in the previous film. Christine (Melanie Liburd) needed to be established more to make the audience believe she was the one Mike was willing to change his ways for and care for their relationship.

As an action film Bad Boys: Ride or Die was highly entertaining and it was so well executed that it was able to overcome some of the story issues.