Bad Boys: Ride or Die

Now playing: the Bad Boys grand finale… at this point in time at least… Will this duo ride, joke, shoot or slap again? Only time will tell. With Part 3’s directors back in the chairs again the most of the same surviving returning cast, the vibes are similar. Unsurprisingly, Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) are smashing in a sweet Porsche while beats pulsate throughout Miami streets.

These men have got places to be. They’ve just gotta get there. Oh, wow, terminal bachelor Mikey is getting married, I guess. What the hell. New hottie Christine (Liburd) was apparently an unseen physical therapist after Mike was shot and rehabbed in Bad Boys for Life. Ah, we get wedding fun and then solemn scenes as the plot kicks in by reminding us we are all mortal. Sheesh.

With a basic story coming in with a mystery bad dude, at least Marcus gets in the right mindset for it. This will help him as some hogwash allegations roll in over Captain Howard’s (Pantoliano) informants, behaviors, and ultimately money laundering.

Howard’s daughter Judy (Seehorn) isn’t happy about the situation, nor about the craziness shenanigan complications in Part 3 that went down between him and Armando (Scipio) in Part 3! Oh no! Events start heating up as more parties get involved. Danger!

Bad Boys: Ride or Die may not be the most amazing grand finale needed to send the series out on the highest note possible story wise, but it’s watchable. Energy levels feel a bit lesser while the film is a bit by the numbers. Humor is a tad forced in some scenes.

Action looks sleek and hectic in a good way as chaos reigns supreme in the shootouts and chases. This film really isn’t too bad; it just doesn’t do too much to surprise, and is a bit bland. If a few more of the jokes had landed and if I had liked the story a bit more, I probably would have liked it more than Bad Boys for Life, and it could have been as strong as the original. Instead, I found a bit of the humor drug it down to the over bloated level of Bad Boys II, and that a sharper story would have definitely pushed it over the top to the best of the series.