High Octane
Summary
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is another enjoyable entry in the franchise with our two leads still bickering away as ever, but both facing issues with getting older which is something we can all relate to. It takes a little while for the truly spectacular action to kick in, but it certainly has its moments and you won’t regret seeing it in the theatre.
Plot: Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are eager to settle down and enjoy middle age, but when their late, beloved captain (Joe Pantoliano) is framed as a corrupt cop, the two must go off the grid to help clear his name.
Review: I still feel like this movie should have been called Bad Boys 4 Life with the third movie being called Ride or Die, but what do I know? Anyway, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is another entertaining entry in the long running franchise that proves that after several decades there is still life in it. It helps to have seen Bad Boys for Life as this continues on from there and references various characters and events that happened in it. You can still pick it up though as this is hardly rocket science.
As you’ve likely seen from the trailers Ride or Die has our Bad Boys Marcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith) on the run as they try to prove the innocence of the late Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano). He’s been made to look like he was corrupt and working with the cartels by the villain (Eric Dane); he is a nasty piece of work too although I think I will always consider Tchéky Karyo the best of the franchise.
I’ve said before I have to be in the right mood for Martin Lawrence, but I think that Marcus has become less irritating as he’s got older, and in this entry both cops face their own mortality. One scene gives us a rather surreal Near Death experience which feels a little out of place in a movie like this, but it was nicely done. It shows that they have grown older as we the audience have so we can relate to their various issues (at least I can as I was around when the first film came out).
For the most part Ride or Die is well paced, but it takes a while for there to be a truly spectacular action sequence. Some of the action is a little shaky at times too and overly edited giving it a chaotic feel. I imagine that is what they were going for, but if you go back to the first film you can see all the action quite clearly and it all looks better too. Still, there are some impressive visual flourishes and the POV sequence was awesome. We get some cool fight scenes too with the prison fight one of the highlights; the helicopter crash looked a bit too CGI’d at times, but I’ve seen plenty worse. Reggie has the best scene of the film though…
There was a particularly obnoxious couple sitting behind us in the theatre where they had to laugh loudly at scenes which were quite funny, but didn’t require that sort of reaction. They would scream and shout “oh no!” a few times too where we couldn’t hear some of the dialogue. It didn’t matter though as the script wasn’t the greatest with only a few genuine laugh out loud moments… even then I don’t laugh out loud because I’m a miserable bastard.
Lorne Balfe once again shines with his music score keeping the main Bad Boys theme from the first film and giving it a modern upgrade.
It’s predictable stuff and you can tell the various twists early on in the film, so there aren’t any big surprises.
Overall, Bad Boys: Ride or Die has several impressive action scenes and our two leads are as appealing as ever; it’s nice to see them growing older and going through health issues making them feel like real people. The finale is truly spectacular and there are several innovative sequences which were great to watch on a big screen. If you like the other Bad Boys movies then you’ll have a fun time here as this movie just wants to entertain and that’s exactly what it does.