VERDICT: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence radiate real “I’d rather be playing golf” energy in this fourth entry of a played-out franchise.
In Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence look like they’d rather be anywhere else, and that feeling is infectious.
The fourth film of a franchise that probably should have packed it in at least two movies ago, this by-the-numbers sequel offers absolutely nothing unexpected, starting with its opening beaches-and-bikinis montage to the climactic standoff with the villain. And the only viewer who won’t guess the film’s “surprise” bad guy in the first five minutes will be the one who entered the movie six minutes late.
Smith and Lawrence return as Mike and Marcus, respectively, the Miami-based buddy cops whose differences — Marcus is a family man, Mike the rakish bachelor — were supposed to be the foundation of the comedy. But now Mike is getting married, and both of them, to quote another action-comedy franchise of decades past, are “getting too old for this s–t.”
That applies to the characters — Marcus suffers a massive heart attack at Mike’s wedding, Mike finds himself afflicted with panic attacks in the line of duty — and to the actors, whose lethargic, phoned-in performances suggest later-era Laurel and Hardy movies, where the legendary comedians were all but going through the motions.
Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Falah (credited as Adil & Bilall) return after shepherding the perfunctory Bad Boys for Life. At the helm of Disney+’s Ms. Marvel series, the duo balanced story and character with physics-defying action; here, they seem concerned only with the elaborate shoot-outs, and even those are, pardon the expression, hit and miss.
For every effective action sequence — a helicopter hijacking, a squadron of would-be kidnappers being taken out by Marcus’ jarhead son-in-law Reggie (Dennis McDonald) — Ride or Die offers several dizzyingly incoherent ones, including a climactic battle that frequently resembles the POV of a first-person-shooter video game.
From Asaf Eisenberg and Dan Lebental’s editing to the cinematography by Robrecht Heyvaert (the frequent Adil & Bilall collaborator also shot Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge), Ride or Die hits just about every Florida cop-movie cliché imaginable, from the orange light of sunset reflected on beachfront skyscrapers to a Day-Glo strip joint (where Tiffany Haddish presides over some of the most over-dressed ecdysiasts in the Sunshine State).
Perhaps understanding that their two stars would be working on auto-pilot, the directors have fortified the supporting cast with performers who do what they can with what they’ve been given. Vanessa Hudgens is a skilled comic actor — and Rhea Seehorn deserves an Emmy the next time she sets foot in front of a TV camera after that awards body ignored her extraordinary six-season run on Better Call Saul — but you’d never know it from the one-and-a-half note cop roles they’re given to play here. Having turned in his McSteamy credentials to play an infamous dad on Euphoria, Eric Dane relishes his villainy, even when that villain is supremely underwritten.
If there’s anyone here who could anchor a much more interesting Bad Boys spinoff, it’s Jacob Scipio as Armando, Mike’s son from a long-forgotten tryst. A violent villain in Bad Boys for Life, the character is offered a plausible redemption arc that could lead to some interesting storytelling. After seeing Smith and Lawrence bluff their way through Grumpy Old Bad Boys, Scipio emerges as the franchise’s last, best hope.
