Bad Boys: Ride or Die

Bad Boys for Life was surprising with its fresh screenplay, which put new wind in the franchise’s sails. But without input from Joe Carnahan, the screenplay for Ride or Die gets sloppy. Forced jokes and a moderately interesting plot, routine action without a single memorable scene. The overwrought scene with a helicopter seems to have been flown in from the Fast & Furious franchise.  The fierceness and polish of Bay’s action style is history. However, Bay appears in one shot, DJ Khaled in a whole scene, and the central duo are still cool even without good jokes. The nostalgia, bolstered by Mark Mancina’s musical motif and the setting of Miami skyscrapers with Caribbean beaches and palm trees, simply works. And young Reggie rulez! (06/24/2024)

The fourth time didn't work so well. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are still an excellent duo, and they are opposed by a pretty decent villain, but what good is that when the plot revolves as much if not more around them as it does around completely uninteresting (old) new characters who don't have much to say. The film was worth seeing in the cinema mainly for the frantic action, which can probably turn into quite a mess at home on TV. (08/10/2024)

A repeated joke is no longer funny, and that applies to the Bad Boys franchise, too. The third one was an interesting refresh after all those years, it had sleek slick visuals, cool Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in their 50s, and surprisingly solid action. The fourth one, however, already looks like a fluffy TV movie, recycling or even ripping off moments from previous episodes. Remember the bayou scene from the visually nasty second one, where the camera pans back and forth across the room during the shootout ? Almost a carbon copy of a scene in the fourth one, and there's more. The best moments are saved by minor and not very important characters, like the young marine or Captain Joe Pantoliano. The third film made sense, the fourth is completely unnecessary. I hope this franchise finally retires. (07/29/2024)

As a generic action flick it's good enough, but to expect anything more is foolishness. Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a classic clichéd movie that offers perhaps not a single original element, is sentimental in every scene where it can be, relies too much on a kind of fatality and philosophical speeches, and equally tries too hard to exploit the nostalgia of the franchise. This then makes the result feel like a very typical film copied from the cookbook of blueprints for a classic action movie. However, despite all this, the film retains solid humour, has no dead spots and you actually enjoy watching the whole thing – I was most amused here by Martin Lawrence, who undergoes a kind of enlightenment at the beginning of the film and feels like he's immortal, so he performs solid suicide stunts throughout and his banter is downright brilliant in places. It doesn't offend, it doesn't excite, but it entertains; still, please put this franchise to rest forever, as from this point on, the more it recycles, the worse the legacy it leaves. (09/16/2024)

Mike and Marcus are back, and since the captain calls from beyond the grave to tell them he has another case for them, they won't be bored. But you might be a little. The fourth outing of the Bad Boys attempts to build on previous installments not only in style, but more importantly in story, and sometimes overdoes it with the nostalgia, references and recalling small details from twenty years ago. The heroes haven't moved anywhere, they repeat what they've always done, just with a lot of new completely useless characters and the most boring villains of the series around them. The action, however, is top-notch. It just needs a little more care next time, even in the scenes where no one is shooting at anyone. (06/05/2024)