Review: Bad Boys - Ride Or Die
Miami's Finest Are Now Its Most Wanted
INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Bad Boys: Ride Or Die. Keep in mind this is but one of the many movies I watch every year, and that whatever initial grade I come up for this film could change for better or worse with time. To better keep up to date with both my thoughts on other movies and if my feelings on this film changed, follow me on Letterboxd.
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THE PLOT
Via Letterboxd: After their late former Captain is framed, Lowrey and Burnett try to clear his name - only to end up on the run themselves.
QUICK REVIEW
Regardless of what certain publications would have you believe, Will Smith’s slapping incident at the 94th Academy Awards has not damaged his reputation with audiences. So I fully expect audiences to check out the fourth (and likely final) Bad Boys film, Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (Man, they really should have switched the titles of the last two films, how is this one not Bad Boys: For Life?!). The question is will it be worth it? Well as someone who considers the first film to be nearly A-tier, and the second and third to be decent popcorn flicks with flaws, I am not surprised to have left my screening for this one thinking “That was okay.”
But that’s all on the shoulders of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s chemistry together. My crowd reacted to every line of banter between them; watching these two just play off of each other so perfectly makes me wonder how is it they haven’t been in more projects together. The comedic and action-packed parts of this movie truly deliver, the highlight being when a running joke with one side character comes full circle into a scene that combines both. There’s also certain shots here that experiment doing things with the camera that I have not seen done in film before.
But on a technical level I do think this movie falters big time. As cool as certain experimental shots were, there’s a little more of them that didn’t work for me. The production quality also gave off vibes of something I’d see as a Netflix original rather than the fourth film in a successful box office franchise. The acting among certain background characters was comically bad, and the villain was incredibly underwhelming. The direction, blocking, and more dramatic lines of dialogue left me wanting and at times quite frankly wincing.
But every time the technical decisions bothered me, the chemistry between Will and Martin elevated the scene. For every wince of a badly delivered dramatic line of dialogue, I laughed out loud twice as much over the banter and hi-jinxs of our protagonists. For every shallowly written background character, there was that amazing full-circle moment for one. The movie sets itself up as doing the job as a popcorn film you can have fun moments with, but failing on various technical levels in its filmmaking.
So the question is - what kind of movie person are you? Do you measure a film by its technical presentation, or do you measure it by the characters’ chemistry and ability to entertain you? Are you down for wanting to just laugh and react to action scenes? If you’re the former you might wanna wait to see this on streaming, if you’re the latter this should do the job as a weekend matinee flick. Or to put it more plainly, if you enjoyed the last three Bad Boys films, I see no reason you won’t enjoy anything out of this one warts and all. I give Bad Boys: Ride Or Die a decent enough, straight up B grade. Its not the greatest made film, but it makes up for it with action and great laughs.
INITIAL GRADING
