2/5 stars
On the back of that success, inevitably, a fourth outing arrives, again directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, a Belgian-based duo of Moroccan descent. Sadly, Bad Boys: Ride or Die does not contain quite the same exuberance, despite several impressive action sequences.
Here, the plot twists around corruption within the Miami PD, as the late Captain Conrad (Joe Pantoliano) is accused of feeding information to Florida drug cartels.
Smith’s Detective Lieutenant “Mike” Lowrey and Lawrence’s Detective Lieutenant Marcus Burnett set out to prove his innocence.
However, when a set-up turns them into fugitives, with a US$5 million bounty on their heads, they are forced to team up with Mikey’s criminal son Armando (Jacob Scipio) to get the job done.
Naturally, the focus will be on Smith, returning as Lowrey, in only his second movie role since he slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. Smith, to be fair, slips easily back into the role, and wears his character comfortably.
The same cannot be said for Lawrence, who is frequently caught mugging to the camera, as in the unappealing slow-motion sequence in which he tries to grab jelly beans in his mouth in the middle of a shoot-out. Rarely do any of the comedy moments land well, including our heroes confronting two redneck rural racists.
At least Adil and Bilall still know how to knock out an action sequence. An early fight in a prison yard, in which Armando uses barbells and weights as weapons, is particularly wince-inducing.
There is also a nicely claustrophobic moment in the back of a van that gets set on fire, and a spectacular aerial sequence in a chopper which sees it career out of control. But these are not enough to drag you through the mundane plot.
Vanessa Hudgens, Tiffany Haddish and Paola Núñez all feature in underwritten roles, but the cast are saddled with a script hampered by leaden dialogue, such as when Rhea Seehorn’s ball-busting US marshal says: “Right now, the whole world is my jurisdiction.”
Even featuring a move towards schlock horror just to add insult to the audience’s intelligence, it is a film that will not last long in the memory banks. Bad Boys for life? Not on this evidence.