The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C
First of all, it’s tragic that they wasted the Bad Boys for Life title on the third movie in this series. Did they not think that there would be a fourth one? They could have written it as Bad Boys 4 Life and it would have been so damn clever, such a brilliant bit of linguistic trickery, that audiences would have been in awe of the film before the lights went down in the theater. They still could have called it Bad Boys 4-Ever, but, no, we are stuck with an absurd title that doesn’t even make a 4-related pun. It’s fucking ridiculous, quite frankly. Why even bother making the damn movie.
Anyway, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is indeed the fourth entry in the long-running buddy action series that started way back in 1995. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence again return as hero cops Mike and Marcus, respectively. This time around, they need to clear the name of their former boss (and quasi father figure) Captain Howard, who is posthumously being accused of drug trafficking after his death in the last movie. This leads to battles with a generic cartel that is framing the deceased Captain and the heroes must seek help from Mike’s (Will Smith’s) son Armando, who they forgive quite easily even though he was the one that killed the Captain in the first place. Me personally, I would be more pissed with the guy that killed my friend than the guy that’s framing him post-death. But that’s just me.
While this movie is mercifully a shade under 2 hours long and the main plot is straightforward, there is still a lot that could have been left on the cutting room floor. Both leads have personal issues (not even arcs, just issues) that add nothing to the story. Will Smith now occasionally has panic attacks in the middle of action scenes and needs to regain his confidence. This subplot is almost remarkable in that it has neither an impetus or a payoff; it is just kind of there for awhile. Martin Lawrence’s subplot gets more screentime, unfortunately, as he suffers a heart attack and the near-death experience causes him to generically act goofy and spout quasi-spiritual gibberish from time to time. He also has to go on a restricted diet, so we get many jokes about how badly he wants some Skittles. Fortunately, most of this subplot is contained in the first act; it isn’t resolved, it just seems like the writers forgot about it at that point. As a result, the first act is bogged down by cartoonish humor that feels out of place in the franchise and doesn’t serve the plot in any way.
Fortunately, the film settles down in the second act and starts to feel, for better or worse, more like a Bad Boys movie. On the plus side, the action scenes are solid overall and creatively shot. There are tracking shots of ballistics and flying objects and sequences where the film shifts into a first-person shooter viewpoint (which has been done many times at this point, but this movie is one of the better examples). The action scenes are a bit more sporadic than what I recall in prior Bad Boys movies, especially the first two, but they are highly entertaining when they happen. This is directed by the Adil & Bilall directing duo, who directed the last Bad Boys movie (as well as the completed Batgirl movie that Warner Bros. is refusing to release) and their style here is much more bombastic than I remember from the third movie. Granted that I don’t really remember the third movie at all, but they do show a flare for action here.
On the down side, there isn’t much here between the action scenes. The villains and main plot are so generic that there were three points in the movie when I thought to myself “wait, what is this about again?” These are the types of movies where you are supposed to turn your brain off and enjoy the spectacle, but rarely does my brain almost literally turn off and then be confused about what I’m watching upon reactivation. The characters don’t help much either, as I’ve always considered Mike and Marcus to be serviceable lead characters at best and the death of the Captain (played by the great character actor Joe Pantoliano) in the third movie was a mistake. He appears here in recordings and dreams, but the movie (and the series going forward) will greatly miss his energy and humor. The rest of the supporting cast isn’t much to speak of, as we get a group of sidekick characters with the collective personality and charm of a tax auditor. Vanessa Hudgens is third-billed in this and I forgot that she was in the damn thing until the ending. The one exception is a really funny running gag with Marcus’ son-in-law Reggie (played by Dennis McDonald), who easily got the biggest laughs in my fairly full theater.
I would give each of the Bad Boys movies a C and this entry is no different. It is a perfectly serviceable action movie with some fun sequences, but I likely won’t remember it in a couple of months. That’s exactly how I felt about the first three entries, so I can’t imagine that you won’t like this one if you are already a fan of the series.
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