Our costars sweat to make this fourth “Bad Boys” something it isn’t: an action comedy with real action and real comedy.
Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Miles Burnett exchange words in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” At one point in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” Miami police detective Mike Lowrey enters a panic attack-induced trance while bullets are flying. There’s only one way out. Martin Lawrence smacks Will Smith in the face not once, not twice, but three times, so that the man with top billing can shake it off and get back to the killing.
The “Bad Boys” franchise is all about righteous payback, so when Lawrence triple-slaps Smith it’s the two-years-later comeuppance the audience knew would come someday, somehow. If the movie’s about anything other than franchise maintenance in a dark time, it’s about karma. If those slaps are photographed and edited with the artless blunt force and cramped, cellphone-screen-friendly framing of nearly everything else in “Ride or Die,” too bad.
Despite its initially rosy box office projections, now downgraded, “Ride or Die” feels about right for this frankly shaken moment in 2024 moviegoing. Habitual multiplex attendance has been eroded by uneasily merged companies formerly in the business of making movies. Now they’re in the business of figuring out streaming platform survival tactics first, and what to throw in the stream second. The fate of theatrical exhibition runs a distant third.did in early 2020, just before the pandemic.
There are other ways to approach a movie like this. How about making it funny when it’s trying to be? “Ride or Die” makes you pathetically grateful for any comic impulse, such as Lowrey and Burnett running into a Confederate flag-waving enclave of yahoo racists and improvising a Reba McEntire song at gunpoint. Smile, cringe, whatever, it provides a break from the generic, arrhythmic action beats, the witless raunch , the clinically alluring gun porn.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Review - Will Smith & Martin Lawrence Have Still Got ItMae is a critic, entertainment writer, and Screen Rant&039;s Reviews Editor.
Read more »
Bad Boys 4 Already Set Up Michael Bay's Perfect Cameo After Bad Boys For LifeMarcus (Martin Lawrence) and Mike (Will Smith) holding their guns, look at each other before shooting in Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Read more »
Bad Boys: Ride Or Die Cast & Filmmakers Hype Up The Franchise From The Red CarpetEdited image of Bad Boys Ride or Die red carpet
Read more »
Where To Watch Bad Boys: Ride Or Die - Showtimes & Streaming StatusMarcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die in theaters
Read more »
“It’s Got To”: Bad Boys 5 Premise Teased By Ride Or Die DirectorsMartin Lawrence and Will Smith as Marcus and Mike looking shocked with an explosion in the background in Bad Boys Ride or Die Exclusive header
Read more »
Will Smith, Martin Lawrence make grand entrance for 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' premiereWill Smith and Martin Lawrence are back on the big screen with their iconic roles in the new 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' movie. The two old friends arrived at the Hollywood premiere in style - on top of a bus!
Read more »