“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” will appeal to movie fans who fondly recall the golden age of buddy-cop movies, with their big disco-ball visuals, and plenty of car chases, gun fights and explosions to go with your popcorn.
The new film begins on the domestic front. Mike Lowrey, the longtime bachelor cop (played by Will Smith), is finally getting married. Martin Lawrence is partner Marcus Burnett, the pudgy family man, who suffers a heart attack and comes back from a near-death vision—preoccupied with reincarnation and the idea that he is immortal, for now.
Then you have to start taking notes, because the crime plot spins off a lot from the sequel released in 2020, “Bad Boys For Life”, where the boys’ beloved captain (played by Joe Pantoliano) was killed.
Now, the captain is being posthumously framed as a dirty cop who was paid off by the drug cartels. (The real fink is still in the department, and it won’t take you long to finger a likely suspect.)
Meanwhile, the captain’s assassin, Armando (played by Jacob Scipio), sits in prison. The previous film revealed that Armando is Lowery’s biological son, who was manipulated by other bad guys.
Maybe he can redeem himself now by revealing what he knows to Lowrey and Burnett. But a failed mob hit leaves all three fleeing into the swamps, pursued by both the law and the criminals.
The story from three veteran action-movie writers has plenty of absurd plot twists, like Marcus trying to dodge bullets and diet at the same time; and a climactic shootout at a deserted amusement park which features Duke, the albino alligator.
Michael Bay, the director of the first “Bad Boys” films, has been succeeded for the third and fourth entries by a pair of young Belgian filmmakers, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who keep the film moving at a good clip—under two hours. On the minus side, they can’t resist hyper-active camera work that looks like a video game with a sugar rush.
What really keeps this action-wagon going is the bickering chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. They’re still fun, and more enjoyable than watching Indiana Jones stuck again with a dull young sidekick.
“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” earns three blasts on a scale of five.