REVIEW:
Bad Boys 4, Ride or Die, is the first movie in the series since the very first one that is actually worthwhile. That first movie, back in the mid-nineties kick started the Jerry Bruckheimer produced modern action movie craze. We’re talking about everything from the Rock to Armorgeddon to Con Air. And it all started with this one, that happened to also be Will Smith’s first big movie. And it was a fantastic film, putting the action and atmosphere and story first, and letting the comedy just fall into place naturally, all around it.
Since then, there have been two sequels before this fourth entry, and both of them forced the comedy, putting it front and center. The stories were weak, the action was forgettable, and the comedy was stupid. And that led to both of those sequels being lousy. In the fourth movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the weak attempts at comedy are still there, but they aren’t as blatant. It’s most Martin Lawrence doing the comedy (Will Smith is going for a more serious tone, after his notorious Oscar slap, taking a back seat to Lawrence in this movie.) And Lawrence’s comedy focusses on him now being older and needing to watch what he eats, while also being a candy junkie. It’s very one-noted, and not all that funny, but luckily that comedy is mostly reserved for the first half.
It’s in the second half that the movie becomes more story-based and action-based. The story is a bit of a mystery about the framing of the police captain from the other films (played by Joe Pataliono,) who is now dead. The boys have to clear is name and find out who is doing this to him and why. And in doing that, they end up working with a team. That team includes Will Smith’s son who was the villain of the last movie, as well as Vanessa Dudgeon’s and her partner, who were also featured in the previous film. With this team up element, making it more than just the two guys, we are starting to feel like we are in Fast and the Furious territory. Especially with the way a villain from the last film is now turned into a good guy (that series is known for doing that.) And it’s probably a smart move for this series to take that approach, rewarding fan service and establishing some interconnectivity between movies. Especially since the Fast series probably only has one more movie to go (there are already ten films in that one,) so we will need something to fill the void when it’s gone.
The story to Bad Boys 4, about the framing of the captain and coverup and corruption, isn’t anything special, but it’s good enough. And it gets us to the action scenes, which are surprisingly pretty good. The surprise is that in today’s day and age of constant green screen and computer effects, very little looks realistic or impressive anymore. But this movie has it’s own unique take on doing action. This movie, and I suppose the last Bad Boys movie too, which was by the same directors, uses drones to fly in and out of the action scenes. So we will be watching a gun fight and then fly right into the middle of it with bullets and explosives going off everywhere. It is very creative and that coupled with a bunch of point of view shots here in the middle of the action, goes a long way.
The movie isn’t great, but it does enough right, to make it enjoyable. That includes the use of composer Mark Mancina’s original Bad Boys backyard theme music, which was so memorable from the first Bad Boys movie. The comedy is dopey as has become par for the course with these films, but the story is a little more involved than usual and the action is pretty solid. It’s enough to make this the best entry in the series since the original.