Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (15)

Detective Lieutenants Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett face their biggest test when they discover someone close to them in the Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO) has been unfairly maligned as part of a shameful conspiracy. The two cops investigate, determined to expose the truth, and are marked for death. Fugitives from the law they swore to uphold and protect, Mike and Marcus run a gauntlet of corrupt Miami police officers and gun-toting criminals in the name of justice.

LondonNet Film Review

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (15) Film Review from LondonNet

In the midst of a frenzied gun fight in the fourth instalment of the Bad Boys franchise, grim foreboding grips Will Smith’s police detective. His wisecracking partner, played by Martin Lawrence, breaks the dreamlike stupor by loudly and forcefully slapping one side of Smith’s face. Three times. The close-contact violence conjures an uncomfortable flashback to the 94th Academy Awards and an on-stage altercation between Smith (who went on to win the Best Actor statuette) and comedian Chris Rock…

There was nothing remotely funny about the 2022 incident but Bad Boys: Ride Or Die scriptwriters Chris Bremner and Will Beall play the repeated slaps as physical comedy before they launch into a spectacular, overblown action sequence replete with bomb-laden drones, somersaulting gas cylinders and unfriendly wildlife. Returning directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, known collectively as Adil & Bilall, ricochet wildly between dizzying gyroscopic camerawork and slow-motion destruction to wreak havoc on land and water and in the air.

Eric Dane’s glowering antagonist is disappointingly two-dimensional, dispatching characters disconnected from the main plot to promote himself as the baddest boy in town. Smith and Lawrence rekindle their rat-a-tat repartee, trading barbs and bullets in a plot steeped in corruption that clearly signposts who they shouldn’t trust. “Bad boys, bad boys, Whatcha gonna do?” they sing at each other, quoting the chorus from reggae band Inner Circle’s 1980s song. To answer their question: please stop while you’re slipping behind.

A medical emergency on the dancefloor almost turns the wedding of Detective Lieutenant Mike Lowrey (Smith) and physiotherapist Christine (Melanie Liburd) into a wake. Best man Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) lingers briefly between life and death in the company of murdered captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano). Shortly after Marcus regains consciousness, fresh allegations of corruption are levelled against the Advanced Miami Metro Operations (AMMO) team.

Mike and Marcus unearth a conspiracy perpetrated by a shadowy traitor (Dane) and are consequently marked for death with a five million dollar bounty on their heads. Fugitives from the law they swore to protect, the duo run a gauntlet of duplicitous Miami police officers and gun-toting criminals, aided by recent AMMO recruits Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens) and Dorn (Alexander Ludwig).

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is a direct sequel to the third film and exhausts any remaining good will for the leads’ freewheeling bromance. Marcus’s brush with death almost causes the film to flatline and the script persists with his out-of-body loopiness to provide Lawrence with flimsy dramatic purpose. A cameo by Michael Bay, director of the first two Bad Boys films, is another throwaway. He angrily slams the brakes of an expensive car to prevent a motorway accident. Filmmakers contemplating a fifth film should follow his example.

– Jo Planter