Lawrence, Smith showcase their chemistry to make familiar police action movie tropes feel entertaining in latest Bad Boys franchise installment

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:

KEY CAST MEMBERS: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Ioan Gruffudd, Tasha Smith, Jacob Scipio, Rhea Seehorn, Eric Dane, Alexander Ludwig, Melanie Liburd, Paola Núñez, Joe Pantoliano, Dennis Greene and Quinn Hemphill with John Salley and Tiffany Haddish

DIRECTOR: Adill & Bilall (Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah)

THE BACK STORY: BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE picks up following the death of the beloved Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), the mentor of his beloved “bad boys” team of family man Marcus’ (Martin Lawrence) and perennial playboy Mike Lowery (Will Smith). His passing has Mike putting things in perspective and settling down, marrying his new wife, Christine (Melanie Liburd). Likewise, their old friend Rita (Paola Núñez) has taken the reigns as the new captain of the department, a position from which she can oversee things – including her boyfriend Lockwood’s (Ioan Grufudd)’s possible ascent to mayor of Miami.

But when Marcus has a medical episode at Mike’s wedding, he begins to have visions: Of both Captain Howard and a situation that is going to force Mike – who he now deems his soulmate across multiple existences – to make a hard choice.

Turns out Marcus won’t have to wait long for that to happen. For while he is battling his sweet tooth, he and Mike soon find themselves battling the unexpected: News that Captain Howard may, in fact, have been working with the very cartel that killed him – and killed him via a hit ordered that was executed by Mike’s estranged son Armando (Jacob Scipio). But knowing the type of man Captain Howard was, both Mike and Marcus know that can’t be true.

What is true, however, is that John McGrath (Eric Dane) is hot on their trail and about to let a series of events unfold to make the men used to being the hunters become the hunted.

THE REVIEW: The BAD BOYS franchise, now four films deep, isn’t one you come to for deep, tightly written twists and turns of good vs. evil. No, BAD BOYS is a franchise built around speed, exotic nightlife, humor, gunplay and chemistry among its characters. The latest installment, BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE is proof that while the franchise is definitely showing its age like its stars, it has no intentions of slowing down since all the things that have helped carry it along are still present.

Lawrence and Smith are at their best playing off each other with quips and jabs before eventually saving the day. RIDE OR DIE attempts to raise the stakes a little bit by giving the characters a little more emotional depth by confronting them with their past sins. In Marcus’ case, his poor diet choices and newfound love of life; in Mike’s case, that means dealing with the scars of seemingly always losing the people he loves while trying to rectify his relationship with the one person still here that is not his wife in Armando.

Even with all those things taken into consideration, RIDE OR DIE plays out pretty much like a standard buddy cop action movie – the fun of watching Lawrence and Smith together like an old married couple being the thing that keeps it from being one. All the other characters are fairly standard issue save for the strong physical performances exhibited by Scipio – a potential future leading man if Hollywood finds the right role for him – and a sequence featuring Marcus’ son-in-law Reggie (Dennis Greene) that adds some nice surprising energy.

The extended action sequences are also well done, which helps keeps things moving along – a must when you have by-the-book villains and a plot that has more holes than it should if you begin to examine it too much. (This is one of those “don’t think, just watch” movies where you can turn off the logic and give in to your more base desires as to do otherwise will ruin your fun.)

Outside of that, RIDE OR DIE is a standard action movie ride along. But when you have two entertaining leads like Smith and Lawrence, you get a film that will keep the peace on screen and with movie audiences.

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):