{"id":52628,"date":"2024-06-04T15:19:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T13:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2050854"},"modified":"2024-06-04T17:10:23","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T15:10:23","slug":"bad-boys-ride-or-die-review-a-white-knuckle-trope-heavy-thrill-ride","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/bad-boys-ride-or-die-review-a-white-knuckle-trope-heavy-thrill-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Boys: Ride or Die review \u2013\u00a0A white-knuckle, trope-heavy thrill ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

The comic interplay between Smith and Lawrence is as slick and savvy as ever, and fast-cut action sequences are superbly choreographed. <\/p>

By Terry Staunton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 04 June 2024 at 13:19 PM<\/p>

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<\/div> 3.0 out of 5 star rating<\/span> <\/span> <\/div> <\/div>

When the first Bad Boys movie hit cinemas in 1995, Will Smith was, in a parallel television universe, still the youthful Fresh Prince making mischief in Bel-Air.<\/p>\n

Now, almost 30 years later, might he and co-star Martin Lawrence, to quote the mantra of a lead character from another buddy cop franchise, be \u201ctoo old for this s**t\u201d?<\/p>\n

Signs of ageing are evident in the first half-hour of Ride or Die, when Lawrence\u2019s character Marcus Burnett suffers a near-death coronary at partner Mike Lowrey\u2019s wedding, and Mike himself has a panic attack during a shoot-out soon after.<\/p>\n

Yet, here they are for a fourth helping of bullets and banter, four years on from Bad Boys for Life, and familiarity with that last film is useful.<\/p>\n

Last time out, Miami detectives Mike and Marcus lost their beloved Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), gunned down by Mike\u2019s wayward drug-dealer son Armando (Jacob Scipio).<\/p>\n

They reappear here, the latter behind bars, and the former in both Marcus\u2019s silly \u201cgo-back-it\u2019s-not-your-time\u201d post-heart attack fever dream, and in a clandestine \u201cif-you\u2019re-watching-this-I\u2019m-probably-dead\u201d video alerting the bad boys to rum goings-on within the police department.<\/p>

Armando has information on the cartel pulling corrupt cop strings (and sullying the late captain\u2019s name by making him the centre of wrongdoings), but when M&M are transporting him from prison to make a formal statement their helicopter is attacked, forcing the three of them to become fugitives \u2013 our heroes consequently also accused of being in on the illegal stuff.<\/p>\n

In a spin worthy of the most melodramatic soap opera, chief among the law folk chasing them is US marshal Rhea Seehorn (Kim Wexler in Netflix\u2019s Better Call Saul), who just happens to be Captain Howard\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a convenient though outlandish state of affairs, but seems par for the course in a screenplay that never met a crime flick trope it didn\u2019t like. At one point, mayoral candidate (not to mention would-be contortionist) Ioan Gruffudd tells Burnett and Lowrey, in the same sentence, he\u2019s both sticking his neck out and putting his ass on the line.<\/p>\n

Yet, for all the script\u2019s tendencies to present the movie as a particularly expensive game of clich\u00e9 bingo, Ride or Die still delivers on two fronts. The comic interplay between Smith and Lawrence is as slick and savvy as ever (although Lawrence might have been advised to dial down the buffoonery a notch or two), while the fast-cut action sequences are superbly choreographed.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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