Movies

Bad Boys: Ride or Die, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence
Trailer: Sony Pictures

Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Directed by Adil and Bilall
Rated R
Caught 7 June 2024
#BadBoys

While the Bad Boys still can’t stay in their lane on the streets of Miami, they most definitely know how to stay in their narrative swim lane.

Blood Brothers

The best sequels don’t simply rehash favorite scenes from the original movie. The best sequels take the characters to new places, whether it’s geographically or emotionally, or both. In Bad Boys for Life, Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) traveled to Mexico to confront a demon woman in what turned out to be a surprisingly spicy third installment in the series. It was also an emotional rollercoaster for the duo as they confronted mortality and responsibility.

Ride or Die teeters on the brink of repetition, but it ultimately tilts in favor of character growth. Mike and Marcus are back in Miami and traversing deeper emotions in the wake of the death of Capt. Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano).

Emotional depth? Sure. For starters, Marcus has a heart attack and Mike – yikes – gets married to his (hot) therapist. Character growth in a series that started with the first two episodes directed by a master of superficial cinematic mayhem, Michael Bay?

Yep. Adil and Bilall, the Belgian directing tag-team behind the previous episode, more recently directed the ill-fated Batgirl movie that never made it to theatres or even streaming on Max. Instead, it was written off as a tax deduction, no doubt using the same Hollywood movie accounting system that claimed Tim Burton’s Batman didn’t turn a profit.

So, consider this something of a victory lap for Adil and Bilall. And, oh yeah. For Will Smith, too, who’s returning with his first big movie since the slap felt ‘round the world at the Oscars in 2022.

And, yes, there is a great gag in which Marcus slaps Mike but good. Not once. But three times. Surely making a connection between the two incidents isn’t a stretch.

Fortune and Glory

It’s not that Ride or Die hits all the right notes. Far from it. But it does know what it is and what its core audience expects. Lots of banter between Smith and Lawrence. Lots of chaos. A profundity of violence. More than enough profanity. And, gosh darn it, a dash of heart. All smothered in heavily filtered, glossy shots of Miami and a posh lifestyle most people only dream of.

C’mon. That lifestyle is also way out of reach of the typical police officer. But, at one point somewhere along this cinematic journey, they did try to address the disconnect between a police officer’s salary and officers living in homes in one of the most expensive parts of one of the world’s most expensive cities. Something about how Mike and Marcus aren’t cops. They’re adventurers.

And, well, they’re also cops who repeatedly and flagrantly violate the law, whether it’s speeding to a childbirth, speeding to a wedding, destroying businesses, crashing cars or blowing stuff up but good.

But that’s all part of the movie fantasy life.

As Bad Boys for Life concluded, the series finally seemed to get past the recurring theme of retirement and alternative ways of life (at least for Marcus) and it also seemed to snake a wave from the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mike teased a proposition to his new-found – and imprisoned – son.

Ride or Die picks up right where the last one left off, following a fairly clever narrative that manages to incorporate the Bad Boys for Life storyline with a parallel effort by Capt. Howard that allows the storylines to dovetail and for Pantoliano to return once again, albeit via posthumously discovered videos from Capt. Howard. There’s even a really interesting, tantalizing idea: the FBI has been building cooperative relationships with Mexican drug cartels to gather intel on terrorist activity. It’s noted as a result of this questionable strategy there have been no attacks on US soil since 9/11.

A Storm Is Coming

Sure, the reggae beats of Inner Circle’s Bad Boys song has to be an ongoing source of humor. It’s a recurring joke that – against all odds – still works well. Particularly this time around, when Mike and Marcus try to implicate the song as one of Reba McEntire’s greatest hits. That’s the joke. The punchline is the scene ends with Reba covering the Bad Boys tune.

Well played.

And then there’s Michael Bay, who follows up his speaking cameo in Bad Boys for Life with another speaking part. Mercifully, it’s short and it’s a clever bit of casting against type. He’s driving a Porsche. Okay, no surprise there. But his line? From behind the wheel, he emphatically cries out to the duo, "Use the crosswalk!" Huh. Somehow, that’s cleverer than it deserves to be and more entertaining than any of M. Night Shyamalan’s brutally painful cameos.

But maybe it’s one very funny sight gag that pushes Bad Boys for Life into the realm of irresistibility. It’s a grisly murder (fitting for a Bad Boys movie, of course). But the deceased body lands with a thud on top of Marcus’ family car. Right after Marcus and Mike park and walk toward their next confrontation. Without even looking back, Mike responds with a classic line, "That better be either an anvil or a piano!"

A call out to all the mayhem of Looney Tunes. It’s the perfect joke with perfect timing.

That is the Bad Boys staying in their lane.

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.

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