Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a bit like Inner Circle's iconic Bad Boys song — a known tune we are kind of sick of hearing, yet we still can't help but sing along. Whatcha gonna do?
The fourth instalment of the franchise brings back Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami police legends Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, who surround themselves with old friends and unexpected allies to face a deeply personal criminal case.
The movie, directed by Bad Boys for Life's Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, successfully blends past and present, as Michael Bay's hurried, over-the-top action style is translated here into a high-intensity visual theme park that at times feels like a high-budget TikTok video.
Following the events of the previous movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die starts with a happy occasion – Mike is getting married to his 20-years-younger physical therapist Christine (Melanie Liburd) in a ceremony that is part wedding and part memorial for the late Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano).
Sadly, the celebrations are cut short when Marcus has a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital. Far from pushing him towards retirement, this near-death experience only fuels the veteran cop, who now thinks he's invincible. He then proceeds to spend the whole movie in a constant happy-drugged state, while an astonished Mike deals with his dysfunctional family and some unaddressed mental health issues.
When Captain Howard is suddenly framed for crimes he didn't commit, the Bad Boys get to work in order to prove his innocence. It turns out their former boss left some clues for them to discover a massive criminal case that he had spent a long time investigating without their knowledge.
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As they struggle to differentiate friends from foes, Marcus and Mike become wanted criminals alongside Mike's estranged son Armando (Jacob Scipio) while a bunch of street gangs go full John Wick on them after a price is put on their heads.
Fans of the saga will feel at home in this new movie, which relies heavily on Smith and Lawrence's already-proven comedic chemistry and their long-standing legacy in this story.
There is plenty of nostalgia — of course Marcus and Mike stop a robbery in a local shop while buying Skittles, and of course Marcus still doesn't know all the lyrics of the Bad Boys song.
However, the newer elements of the franchise, as introduced in Bad Boys for Life, quickly show signs of surpassing their masters.
The AMMO team led by Paola Núñez's Lieutenant Rita Secada and formed by Vanessa Hudgens' Kelly and Alexander Ludwig's Dorn provide a much-needed respite from the buddy-cop movie dynamic, while Scipio's Armando steals the show as a silently lethal fighter.
Armando's prison brawl is one of the movie's highlights, as well as Rita's face-off in an elevator and Reggie's (Dennis Greene) unexpectedly brutal reaction to a home invasion. The fact that individual set pieces shine brighter than the plot or the main characters' development proves that Bad Boys: Ride or Die's whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.
Maybe that's because its parts are all over the place, as the movie marries outdated jokes about how it sucks to be a vegetarian while offering insane video-game-inspired visuals, exploring the dreadful experience of having a panic attack while featuring an albino alligator named Duke in its explosive final action sequence.
Still, it is an action-packed, enjoyable and playful new chapter for the saga, perfectly capable of convincing fans and non-believers.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is now out in UK cinemas.
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Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
