Bad Boys: Ride or Die marks the fourth installment featuring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as the wise-cracking cops. While the franchise hit a new high with the third film, this one is best described as consistently mediocre.
Smith and Lawrence are still entertaining at 55 and 59, respectively. This entry finds their characters, Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett, discovering that their deceased Captain (Joe Pantoliano) was involved in corruption, and the Bad Boys are on a mission to clear his name.
Through a series of contrived plot conveniences, the two become fugitives, and they cross paths with Smith’s son (Jacob Scipio) as he was previously accused of killing the Captain in the previous film.
Like a lot of other buddy cop franchises, the Bad Boys series focuses much more on overblown action and one-liners. This one certainly has a substantial amount but they only work in fits and stalls. A shootout in a nightclub does provide a couple of well-earned laughs especially when Lawrence is on a diet and he discovers jelly beans and a fruity drink. It’s pretty funny stuff.
The movie saves its over-the-top action for the climax, but the rest of the movie is more or less routine, with sequences that aren’t particularly thrilling, and the wisecracks only marginally land.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die will entertain fans of the series who love to see stuff blow up with rapid precision and hear dialogue that might get more laughs out of them than it did from me.
Overall, Ride or Die isn’t bad, but it left me indifferent.
Grade: B-
(Rated R for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references.)
