Martin Lawrence, left, and Will Smith in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” Credit: Frank Masi/Sony Pictures Entertainment via TNS
Making “dumb action movies” that toe the line between nauseatingly stupid and genuinely entertaining is an underappreciated art within the film community.
After all, a cursory look through almost any year’s list of highest-grossing titles will reveal these short “popcorn movie” flicks regularly out-earn many “arthouse” films.
Luckily for fans of the “Bad Boys” franchise, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is likely to scratch the same dumb-action itch they’ve been looking to relieve since the last release.
“Bad Boys: Ride or Die” brings back regular stars Will Smith (“Men In Black”) and Martin Lawrence (“Martin”) as Miami Police Department partners Mike and Marcus, respectively. Additionally, it features a remarkably talented supporting cast, including Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”), Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”) and Eric Dane (“Euphoria”).
“Ride or Die” follows Mike and Marcus significantly further along in life compared to their first big-screen appearance in 1995. In this installment, the duo grapples with more mature problems like complicated family dynamics — particularly between Mike and his convict son Armando (Jacob Scipio) — and must work together to unravel the framing of the former Miami PD captain in a cartel affiliation case.
“Ride or Die” definitely leans into a more absurdist approach, despite some grounded themes of familial connection. For instance, Marcus essentially functions as a comedic relief character following a heart attack that spurned a spiritual awakening and made him believe he was invincible to all threats.
Fortunately, Marcus is excellently utilized in his comedic role rather than just being an unnecessary insertion for cheap jokes, making him undoubtedly the highlight of the film.
The film’s most ludicrous aspect, however, is its cinematography. Directors Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah, joined by cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert, didn’t pull any punches in terms of visuals. The camera was almost constantly in motion, pausing only to be placed at ridiculous canted angles.
It seems Miami’s bright lights tempted the filmmakers to include a lens flare in nearly every shot, which just adds to the movie’s wholly unrealistic look. But perhaps the most laughable sequence is in the third act, during which the camera is set from the point of view of one of the officer’s guns and moviegoers make the switch from watching a movie to watching a first-person-shooter video game.
All this is not to say the camera work was out of place; instead, it helped add to the film’s amusing, over-the-top energy.
Whether or not someone has seen any of the other “Bad Boys” movies, or knows nothing about the plot going in, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is sure to be a good trip out to the theater, full of random cameos from celebrities, extravagant action sequences and the timelessly charismatic duo of Smith and Lawrence.
Rating: 3/5
