By Jennifer Ariesta.
The fourth installment in the Bad Boys franchise came guns blazing to save the summer 2024 box office from a dearth of much-needed hits. The fun, fast-paced buddy cop action film also proves that Hollywood is ready to re-embrace Will Smith after the infamous Oscar slap practically made him Tinseltown pariah.
The movie is the perfect amalgamation of a classic summer blockbuster: A-list stars, extravagant action setpieces, high stakes, crowd pleasing storyline. Anchored by Smith and Martin Lawrence’s solid camaraderie, Bad Boys are back on the streets of Miami with its sunbaked glitz and sweaty energy. This time, to clear the name of the dearly departed Captain Howard (Joe Pantalioni).
Taking place four years after the end of the last film, Bad Boys For Life (2020), the film sees Mike finally settling down with his therapist. At his wedding, his partner Marcus narrowly survives a heart attack. Marcus briefly goes into the imaginary afterlife where he meets the ghost of Captain Howard who tells him it’s “not his time”. The newly revived Marcus decides that he now can’t die and will go all YOLO. All of these happen in the first 20 minutes of the movie.
After that extended interlude meant to catch us up with the characters in their off-duty lives, the story really gets going when the FBI discovers a higher up in the Miami Police Department has been colluding with the cartels. All leads point to Captain Howard, who was killed in the previous film, but Mike and Marcus immediately know something’s amiss. Together, they set out to investigate the truth behind the matters.
As the franchise reaches its fourth go around, there is a sense of familiarity with the world of Bad Boys. Not only just about Mike and Marcus, we’re also well versed on Marcus’s love-hate relationship with Reggie, his son-in-law, the cop duo’s young AMMO underlings Kelly and Dorn (played by Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig, respectively), and also Mike’s ex-cartel illegitimate son Armando. Despite the guns and explosions, the movie has a lot of hearts. Sans the big, deep-voiced talk about “family”, this franchise is taking a page out of Fast and Furious in its focus on relationships.
Director duo Adil & Bilall return to direct. Their deft touch jolts the movie with the kind of energy that Michael Bay will be proud of. Thanks to the highly inventive cameraworks and frenetic editing, the film captures Mike and Marcus’ exhilarating misadventure in ways that defy convention. Like something straight out of music videos or video games, the visuals just go crazy: fancy transitions, cameras strapped to drones that practically fly from room to room and floor to floor, the Call of Duty-style first-person shooter point of view. These filmmakers didn’t just think out of the box, they blew the box down. All the more remarkable, they pull off all these tricks without sacrificing story or emotional beats.
With two seasoned stars at the top of their game and stellar craftsmanship behind it, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a terrific action comedy worth the entire trip.
