Tying Tom Cruise for the highest-paid actor of all time ($100 million for Men In Black 3) and once one of the most sought-after performers in the world, Will Smith has been persona non grata since the infamous slapping of his one-time friend Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. Will Bad Boys: Ride or Die be his box office redemption?

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is the fourth installment in the Bad Boys series. Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) investigate corruption within the Miami Police Department. When their late Captain Conrad Howard is posthumously accused of being involved with organized crime, they become fugitives, working outside the law to solve the case.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die Review

CORRECTION:

In the following review, I mistakenly attribute the direction of this film to Michael Bay. However, Bay only directed the first and second movies. Both Bad Boys For Life and Ride or Die were directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who do a very credible job emulating Bay’s visual style.

1995’s Bad Boys was a high-octane thrill ride with fun one-liners and big explosions. Bad Boys II was derivative but still benefitted from a ton of charisma in front of the camera, and Michael Bay’s signature over-the-top and bombastic style, and For Life wasn’t made for Mensa but had a lot of heart.

Unfortunately, Ride or Die probably exists only to capitalize on the franchise’s goodwill in an effort to rehabilitate Will Smith’s tarnished reputation, and it shows. The three key players, Smith, Lawrence, and Michael Bay, who’s returned for this fourth installment after sitting out on the last one, all seem to be missing a step or two.

Smith has aged considerably in the last few years, and Bay’s direction isn’t as crisp as it once was. However, none have slowed as much as Martin Lawrence, who is either wasted, has suffered from a stroke, or is on the verge of one as he performs through molasses with borderline slurred speech, dead battery energy, and bloodshot eyes that look on the verge of exploding in every scene.

Of course, with exceptions like 2006’s Children of Men and 2010’s Inception, no one expects much depth of story from most action flicks. This is good because Ride or Die bloats the runtime with some unneeded and unwanted subplots that go nowhere and leave the audience unsatisfied. Furthermore, the villains are beyond generic and obvious, but you go to a Bad Boys movie because they make guns go boom, and the chemistry and silly banter between its leads are good for a laugh or two. There’s a healthy amount of both in Ride or Die, and it’ll likely be enough to satisfy franchise fans.

If you can turn your brain off long enough, the second half of the movie has enough to keep you entertained, and there is one absolutely fantastic action scene that channels the energy and badassery of the other installments. Ultimately, Bad Boys: Ride or Die isn’t up to our standards for an official recommendation as Worth it, but it is a mildly entertaining diversion that’s probably better if you know what you’re getting yourself into.

WOKE ELEMENTS

Systemic Racism and Equal Opportunity Villains

• Not every white guy is a villain, nor is every villain a white guy, but all the top villains are white guys, and even the convenience store robber is white.
• These racist villains, with their race-based glass ceiling, have no problem with “tough” gals in their paramilitary outfit.
  • The ladies are all background noise. One has a couple of lines. It just looks silly.
• There’s a scene featuring rednecks right out of a Californian’s nightmare. Total racist cartoons.

Bud Weis Eeeeerrrr

• The racist rednecks must be a little progressive because the clothes that the Smith and Co steel from them include a relatively new-looking Bud Light t-shirt which is proudly sported throughout several of the next scenes.