Bad Boys: Ride or Die  - Review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

THERE are two ways of watching the latest Bad Boys: as an action movie and as a Will Smith rehabilitation vehicle. Neither yields particularly big rewards.

As the former, it’s merely OK. Having surprisingly revived the series with Bad Boys for Life ? years ago, and thereby turning it into a franchise, Belgian co-directors Adil and Bilall return with more of the same.

That is to say, near-constant bickering between leading men Smith and Martin Lawrence, pumped up action and the odd bit of family drama.

But while they got the formula largely right in Bad Boys For Life, even bringing edge and uncertainty to the mix established by Michael Bay in the first two movies, here things feel strained.

The plot, for starters, is way too convoluted. Essentially, it finds Miami detectives Mike Lowery (Smith) and Marcus Burnett ((Lawrence) working to clear the name of their deceased former boss Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), after his legacy is threatened by a fake connection to the cartels.

Orchestrating this smear campaign are unknown sources from within the police department led by former US Army Ranger James McGrath (Eric Dane), who also manage to implicate Lowery and Burnett and force them to go on the run as fugitives, with Lowery’s currently incarcerated son Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), a former cartel assassin who could identify McGrath, joining them.

Thrown into this mix is Conrad’s daughter Judy Howard (Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn), now a US Marshall, who has vowed to kill Armando for killing her father; as well as Judy’s own daughter and members of the Advanced Miami Metro Operations (led by one of Lowery’s former flames) who may or may not prove to be allies for Lowery and Burnett.

To complicate matters still further, Burnett suffers a near-fatal heart attack at the top of the movie, which gives him a newfound spiritualism and zest for life,while Lowery is tapping into his sensitive side as both a conflicted father and new husband to the personal trainer (Melanie Limburd) who helped him in rehab following his shooting in the previous film.

With so much going on, it’s little wonder that Ride or Die sometimes feels bogged down by excess characters and soppy melodrama, most of which draws unfavourable comparisons with the Fast & Furious franchise and its endless expansion of family and characters who turn from being the main villain in one picture to essential ally in the next.

But the plot beats here that often drive the character arcs somehow feel even more contrived and at odds with each other. Mike and Marcus would have us believe they’ve found greater enlightenment and maturity, but they’re still prone to bullying or verbally beating up on Reggie Norman, now Marcus’ daughter’s Marine husband, or tapping into their inner machismo (a gay slur is still to be abhorred).

Their constant bickering, meanwhile, feels even more cumbersome and less amusing than previously, often derailing any dramatic weight some of the more serious elements of the story might strive to create. The constant tonal shifts often feel way off and sometimes misjudged.

On the action front, Bad Boys more often than not is capable of delivering the goods, although even in this regards Adil and Bilall often feel like they're getting carried away in attempts to experiment and innovate. A first person shooter sequence feels like a first-person computer game rip-off and doesn't work, while over-use of drones negates the quality of the action on the ground. It sometimes feels as though they're editing too quickly - not in the chaotic way established by Bay, but in a 'never can sit still' way nonetheless.

It's actually left to Reggie to pull off one of the film's most memorable action sequences, as he deploys his Marine skills to take out a household full of home invaders, while an early gunfight at an art club is suitably slick and well choreographed.

But even with those, there's also an over-reliance on playing back some of this franchise's greatest hits, which now feels lazy. The opening sequence trades on both Bad Boys For Life and a shop visit gone wrong in the original, while an early foot chase also replays the now iconic shot of the bad boys getting up after being dusted down [following a prolonged back to save each other]. Granted, it still looks cool - but it's also lazy.

Which brings us to the second way of viewing Bad Boys: Ride or Die - namely, the Will Smith way. Given this represents his first film post notorious Oscars slap (of Chris Rock), many of the plot beats here feel deliberately designed to restore a reputation and rebuild the Smith brand.

The decision to make Lowery both more mature and more sensitive, learning from the mistakes of his past, is evidence of a wider takeaway possibility, as is the heavy emphasis on forgiveness placed on certain characters. As if that weren't unsubtle enough, Smith even gets his own slap in this film, from his partner, by way of an attempt to get him back to what he does best.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is by no means Smith at his best. It's more Smith on auto-pilot, safe in the knowledge that lifelong fans of this particular franchise have probably already forgiven his slap-happy transgressions (for the record, I don't in any way condone Smith's behaviour on that night, but I do still feel more needs to be made of the way awards hosts are paid to 'roast' or take the piss out of people). It's something that the film's robust box office certainly highlights, meaning that the franchise remains in rude health.