‘Bad Boys: Ride Or Die’ Review – A Sometimes Entertaining Cash Grab From Sony
If you ask yourself why we’re getting another Bad Boys movie, the answer is pretty simple: it’s a cinematic cash grab for Sony. However, this time, there’s some added reasons to why we’re getting Bad Boys: Ride or Die three decades after the first film.
As you all know, a couple of years ago Will Smith embarrassed himself on national television after slapping Chris Rock during the Academy Awards; for a joke that was aimed at his wife Jada. The actor’s public image was shattered following the incident, despite the fact that he won the Best Actor award later that night.
The 2022 incident has hung around Will for all the wrong reasons. So a new Bad Boys movie is just a distraction that he needs to make people forget about that night. Martin Lawrence, on the other hand, has dealt with his public persona for much different reasons.
Lawrence has been suffering for million health concerns over the last few years, with those close to him all but confirming that the actor has suffered multiple strokes that has led to his battle with hypertension.
As much as Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have tried to create a narrative with the marketing of this film, the elephant in the room still remains. Do we really need another Bad Boys movie with both actors being a couple of clicks away from 60?
Bad Boys: Ride or Die takes place shortly after the events of the last film, where the infamous Mike Lowrey is finally tying the knot and getting married. After finally deciding to settle down in his mid-50s, Lowrey is on top of the world until his partner Marcus suffers a heart attack during the wedding reception.
After spending a couple of weeks at the hospital, Marcus is convinced that he is a new man who could not die, which gives him a completely different look at life. While this happening, the FBI is investigating their slain foreign police captain Conrad Howard, who was alleged to have embezzled money with the same drug cartel that was responsible for his death.
Knowing that Conrad is innocent, Mike and Marcus must team up to clear the name of the former captain. However, they’re in a position where they can’t trust anyone outside of themselves.
What do you do with a franchise when it becomes clear that the only reason that it still exists is pure vanity? Bad Boys: Ride or Die a film that attempts to recreate the greatest hits of a franchise but the problem is that, at this point, all the life has been sucked out.
The over the top in your face style of Bad Boys were perfectly fine when Michael Bay was the creative chair of the franchise. However, with a new direction, the solution has been to add more characters to the fray, turning Bad Boys into an overstuffed and over-bloated action comedy where the hits simply don’t land the way they used to.
To no one’s surprise, the film lives and breathes off the chemistry of Smith and Lawrence with the comedic timing and off the cuff jokes. The problem is the actors simply don’t have the energy to keep this gravy train moving the way they did several decades ago.
Martin Lawrence and his recent health issues have been written into the story, with his character suffering a heart attack and aiming to stay away from sweets and junk food.
Martin is noticeably slower in his scenes that are clearly not done by a stunt double, to the point where you have to ask yourself at this point in his life, what more does he have to contribute to this franchise? Especially when his humor isn’t nearly as funny as it was in the early years of his career.
Will Smith is the one driving this vehicle, and he desperately needs a win to get back into the good graces of Hollywood. Knowing that the 50-year-old playboy gimmick has certainly overstayed its welcome, the film tries to work around this by giving Will’s character a wife that seemingly comes out of nowhere.
However, her introduction to the franchise is nothing more than a plot device that is used at the very end of the film — ultimately resulting in nothing.
Outside of the two leads, Bad Boys: Ride or Die adds a bunch of generic characters and cameos that really don’t add much to the story but are simply there to add for glorified pop culture references to a younger audience. Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig are back in this film to serve virtually no purpose to the plot.
Jacob Scipio is back to play the illegitimate son of Will Smith, and Paola Núñez is back to make everyone forget about that horrible Resident Evil Netflix show from a few years back. Sprinkle in a few cameos from Michael Bay, DJ Khaled, and Tiffany Haddish, and you simply have a movie with a paper thin plot.
While the film does have a couple of good action sequences and some funny lines, it is still not enough to justify a two hour run time that could be simplified as this: Martin Lawrence almost dies and becomes awakened in a new nonsensical spiritual persona that runs his course very quickly. Will Smith is still too cool for school but suffers a panic attack for reasons that were probably cut out of the movie and never properly explained. Meanwhile, there’s a bunch of other characters along the way. And that’s about it.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a cash grab that can wait for Amazon Prime.
NEXT: ‘Ezra’ Review – A Family Tale Of Autism Inside The Hollywood Bubble
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024), Columbia Pictures
PROS
- Action sequences.
- Camera work.
- Reggie.
CONS
- Dialogue.
- Vanessa Hudgens.
- Over-bloated with characters.
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