Bad Boys: Ride or Die - A Fun, If Slight, Addition to the Franchise

The latest installment in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, is a fun, if slight, addition to the series. Directed by Adil & Bilall, the film packs a big wallop of forgettable fun, with a creative fearlessness that prevents it from devolving into a soul-crushing cash grab.

Action-packed blockbuster

The film begins as it should, with Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) arguing in a car over the other’s perpetual lateness. After the duo successfully, if accidentally, prevent an absurd convenience store robbery, the film catches back up with Mike as he’s in the midst of exchanging wedding vows with Christine (Melanie Liburd). Their reception is interrupted when Marcus collapses of a heart attack in the middle of the dance floor.

“I’m invincible,” Marcus says, after a screwball spiritual journey that not only convinces him that he’s invincible but also supplies Ride or Die’s second half with most of its funniest jokes.

Just as it looks like Marcus and Mike’s lives are on the verge of settling down, they find out that their late former captain, Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano), is being investigated for possible connections to the Mexican cartel. This discovery is followed by a surprise video message from beyond the grave, in which Howard informs them that he was looking into a corrupt official within Miami’s law enforcement ranks before he was killed.

Crime scene investigation

Their efforts to do so force Marcus and Mike to go on the run with Mike’s estranged criminal son, Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), all while trying to outsmart their villainous pursuer, James McGrath (Eric Dane), a former U.S. soldier turned cartel henchman.

The film’s script, penned by Chris Bremner and Will Beall, doesn’t show much interest in Ride or Die’s characters outside of Mike and Marcus. The sequel’s supporting figures, including Rhea Seehorn’s Judy Howard, aren’t developed enough to warrant the amount of screentime they’re given, nor are its central mysteries complex enough to justify all the detours and subplots that Bremner and Beall’s screenplay packs in.

High-octane action sequence

Despite its flaws, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is an immensely enjoyable way to spend two hours. It’s a sequel that gives Bad Boys fans all the jokes, set pieces, gunfights, and moments of brotherly camaraderie that they could hope for. Whether or not it’ll give Will Smith’s career the rejuvenating jolt that so many seem to believe it needs is impossible to say, but it does cement the Bad Boys series as one of Hollywood’s most consistent and reliable action franchises of the past 30 years.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys: Ride or Die