A few years ago, I started using the term “misery parade” to describe the books, series, and films that gear up on tragedy and press the accelerator. That term is perfect for these times. Much of the content I preview is steeped in sadness or based on atrocity. Without doubt, we need that type of content, but when watching your screen is analogous to watching the news, you start looking for an escape—as momentary as it might be. What I’m saying is: Sometimes you want to turn off your brain (if only for a little while).
In the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise, we welcome the return of Miami detectives and demolition men Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence). Life is good, as the lifelong partners race off to a wedding, but after a near-death experience, the pair is thrown into a whirlwind of corruption within Florida law enforcement. Their late police Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano—who thankfully gets another paycheck here) is accused of conspiring with the drug cartels. The Bad Boys can’t have that and they say it loud. So loud their rebellion quickly turns them into fugitives, forcing them to work inside-out of the law to find the real culprits and clear the Captain’s name. The Bad Boys are used to flipping tables over but now the tables have turned and Mike and Marcus are on the run—in the bayou. As you can guess, if you turn your brain off, this could be fun.
And it is—for the most part. Bad Boys: Ride or Die starts out like that tipsy friend at the cookout—hilarious but teetering on the edge of being a hot mess. It’s just so ridiculous in the first third of the movie, it’s hard to see how the madness can be sustained or even be satisfying. I found myself wondering if this was it. Had the premise been stretched so thin it had snapped? But nah, just like your drunk friend, there’s an undeniable charm that keeps you from walking away. Mostly, because you’re giggling so hard your legs are wobbly.
Directed by Adil & Bilall and written by Chris Bremner and Will Beall, Bad Boys: Ride or Die locks onto what makes the franchise work during the second and third acts: the bond between Marcus and Mike and how that has grown into an extended family. Like Smith’s hometown of Philadelphia, the brotherly love fuels the film and blossoms into a full-blown found-family affair. And that’s key on two levels, the Bad Boys franchise has discovered the secrets of its predecessors—similar to the Lethal Weapon series it brings (almost) everybody back, and capitalizing on the core of Fast & Furious they make it “all about family.”
Smith and Lawrence bring the gameplay with their chemistry, but also in the visuals designed by Adil & Bilall alongside cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert. There’s a first-person shooter aspect to some scenes, but that’s not where the beauty is. It’s in the action choreography and several sequences of nearly liquid photography where the camera moves like a dancer. That inventive spirit pushes the boundaries of what we’ve come to expect from the Bad Boys saga. The visuals accent banter that sparks and sparkles even when Ride of Die is at its silliest—and there’s a lot of silly.
Back to that extended family, Jacob Scipio is back as the recently found, long lost, killer-drug-dealer son of Mike. Smith and Scipio have a look and physicality that make them feel like father and son. As Marcus points out, the Lowrey blood is potent. Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig make their return as Kelly and Dorn—two of the few fellow cops the Bad Boys can rely on. All three actors accentuate the storytelling while mitigating what could have been ‘main character overkill.’ Still, the breakout is Dennis Greene as Marcus’ son-in-law Reggie. The theater cheered for this man throughout his spotlight sequence and he earned it. “Oorah!”
Which brings us to the action. I like alliteration, so let’s call it a barrage of bullets and bravado that keeps bucking. For some, the ridiculousness is the weakest link in the Bad Boys chain, but this time it’s the cameos. It’s great to see the stars and the meme makers but they mostly come across as smushed in—except for a surprise Michael Bey sighting and one other. The music is still bumping and the sun-soaked, gun-smoke-laced drip of these aggressively profane Miami Vice cops finds a way to endear (most of the time). Especially in a brutal new technologically savvy big bad (Eric Dane), who redefines the phrase, “the calls are coming for inside the house.”
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a bender that reminds us no matter how wild or trippy things get, we can always count on our ride or die to have our back. This fourth installment lives on its high-octane action and comedic moments, but the circle of friends and family makes it matter.
