I’ve never been one of those die-hard Bad Boys fans. The first two, for me, aren’t that great despite the chemistry between the leads and some memorable action scenes. Bad Boys: For Life, the third entry in the franchise really surprised me though, so much so that I was on board for the fourth one, which really should’ve been called what the third one is but is instead called Bad Boys: Ride or Die. Does this fourth entry hit the same highs for me as the previous entry did? Let’s find out!

Bad Boys: For Life takes place a few years after the events of the third film and sees Will Smith’s Mike Lowrey getting married to his physical therapist who was treating him between films. It’s a great turn of events for Mike, whose always been an emotionally distant and more of a playboy hotshot character throughout the series. At the wedding, however, his partner Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) suffers a heart attack. These two events lead to the biggest change in the franchise. With this near-death experience, Marcus discovers a new appreciation for life and becomes way more outward and carefree, while Mike finds himself suffering from panic attacks while in gunfights out of fear as he now has something to lose.

One of these switches works really well; one of them doesn’t. I found Marcus being a carefree goof was where most of the comedy was rooted, but most of the humour didn’t work for me. We’ve known these characters for so long, since the 90s, and to suddenly role reverse does make sense on paper, but in execution, it didn’t work for Marcus as he’s a family man and always far more cautious and practical. Having a heart attack and still being on the hunt for candy throughout the film because Marcus believes “he can’t die” doesn’t really work. This whole shift causes aspects of the movie to come off as more immature than intended and considering the Bad Boys are in their 50s now, it feels like a step backwards. In fact, most of the humour that did work was Mike’s reactions to Marcus’ shenanigans.

But Mike suffering from panic attacks is a great bit of character development. Mike has always been one to break the rules and leave a giant mess in his wake, and now to have him be in a position where he has to think about the well-being of someone he loves, of someone that he’s welcomed into his own life, changes things for him. He’s way more reserved and deliberate and seeing him literally breakdown in the middle of a shootout humanizes Mike in a way that feels logical and relatable.

While all this is going on though, bad guys are out to frame Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), planting evidence that he’s been working with the cartels ever since 2003. So it’s up to Mike and Marcus, with the help of Mike’s incarcerated son Armando, to stop the people framing Howard and save the day. Of course, things don’t go quite as planned and the bad boys find themselves operating as fugitives outside of the law while Howard’s daughter, played by Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn, hunts them down. Comparisons to The Fugitive are expected.

While the comedy didn’t really work for me in this one, one element that did work really well was the action. Returning directors Adil & Bilall really levelled up their action cinematography this time around, using some creative camera tricks and staging to make some entertaining action sequences, barring a first-person action scene near the end which felt like a weird video game thanks to some first-person perspective shots during a shootout. There are also many practical effects during these action scenes, including old-school blood squibs, which was nice to see in an age of digital trickery. the camera, the sets, and the vibrant colours really stood out to me as entertaining. Also, shoutout to Reggie, who has been in the franchise since Bad Boys II and has always been on the receiving end of Mike and Marcus’ taunts. Reggie gets the best action scenes in the movie!

In the end, Bad Boys: Ride or Die isn’t as good as its predecessor I’d say, but it’s not bad or anything. It’s one of those dumb fun, summer movies where you shut your brain off and just roll with it and overall, it’s pretty entertaining in that respect. It very much feels like a movie from the early 2000s or late 90s and it’s nice to see that an R-rated action buddy cop movie can still get made. It unfortunately wasn’t that funny and I wasn’t too crazy about how Marcus was portrayed in this one, but the overall story and investigation were fun enough. Not bad, but also not amazing.