BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE movie poster | ©2024 Sony

Stars: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano, Dennis Greene, Quinn Hemphill
Writers: Chris Bremner and Will Beall, based on characters created by George Gallo
Directors: Adil & Bilall
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Release Date: June 7, 2024

BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE is the fourth installment of the BAD BOYS franchise. This began with the 1995 original directed by Michael Bay, continued with 2003’s BAD BOYS II (also directed by Bay), followed by 2020’s BAD BOYS FOR LIFE, directed by Adil & Bilall (Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah), who also helmed the current outing.

The BAD BOYS films star Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as, respectively, Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett, two Miami PD narcotics detectives. They are constantly getting into trouble but solving cases, leaving a trail of bad-guy bodies and blown-up cars in their wake.

Although Mike and Marcus often get on each other’s nerves, deep down they are ride or die best friends. Until now, Marcus has been the cautious one of the pair. However, when he has a heart attack at Mike’s wedding to physical therapist Christine (Melanie Liburd), Marcus recovers with a newfound sense of invincibility.

Marcus being Marcus, he takes his danger-defying philosophy way too far, to the consternation of Mike. This is far from their only problem. Their late, beloved police captain, Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano), is being framed for corruption. Trying to clear Howard’s name puts Mike, Marcus, and those they hold near and dear in the villains’ crosshairs. Then there’s the issue of Mike’s recently-discovered cartel hitman adult son Armando (Jacob Scipio), now incarcerated for Howard’s murder.

The plotline featuring Armando began in BAD BOYS FOR LIFE, but it’s fine to have missed that or any other BAD BOYS films. The screenplay by Chris Bremner and Will Beall, based on characters created by George Gallo, easily fills us in on the relevant back stories.

Plenty of characters and actors are back from previous BAD BOYS films, although Tasha Smith now plays Marcus’s loving wife Theresa (Theresa Randle essayed the character in the previous features). Pantoliano, a regular in all the other films, gets a reasonable amount of screen time in BAD BOYS FOR LIFE, appearing in video messages and as a wise guide in Marcus’s visions/hallucinations.

Smith is appropriately cool and quippy, and Lawrence is as big as he’s called on to be as Marcus. Standouts include Scipio, who manages to strike just the right tone, Dennis Greene as Marcus’s respectful and extremely capable son-in-law, Rhea Seehorn as Howard’s U.S. Marshal daughter, and Quinn Hemphill as Howard’s granddaughter.

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE gives us a lot of firefights, car chases, assorted beatdowns and other perils. To paraphrase the old saying about guns, if a giant albino alligator is mentioned in Act Three, he’d better hurry up, but he will appear and do something before the movie ends.

While no procedural TV series has ever had a single-episode (or probably even seasonal) budget approaching that of a BAD BOYS feature, BAD BOYS FOR LIFE feels like a comfortable buddy-cop show. Our heroes may have their flaws and snipe at each other, but we don’t fundamentally worry about them or their relationship or their moral grounding.

While BAD BOYS FOR LIFE is unlikely to be hailed for its originality or innovation, it delivers pretty much everything it promises. It’s meant to be loud, flashy, and familiar, diverting without being challenging, and it fulfills all of these requirements.

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