Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

★★★1/2

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is pure popcorn entertainment— Adil & Bilall really come into their own with this one not as imitators of Michael Bay, but as successors. This is 90s Bayhem, without the Bay! Acrobatic drones, wild kinetics, and maximalist glee in their own flavour. The visuals are wild and creative, the action is ridiculous, and the comedy hits. It's a perfect summer tonic. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith still have it; they are such dynamically fun double acts! Their comedic timing and chemistry set this franchise apart from others (though it feels like it’s becoming more Fast & Furious-esque). The film starts off rough, but Adil & Bilall’s exhilarating direction and some top-notch action sequences ensure that it quickly gets better as it goes. At the end of the day, it’s a popcorn movie; a real audience pleaser. It is an entertaining movie with a solid cast that doesn’t do anything special but is still super fun.

---

Film Info:

Premise: When their late police captain gets linked to drug cartels, wisecracking Miami cops Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett embark on a dangerous mission to clear his name.

•

Sony - Columbia Pictures

Directed by Adil & Bilal

Written by Chris Bremner & Will Beall

Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Joe Pantoliano

Runtime: 1hr 55min

Rating: 14A

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

•

IMDb Rating: 7.0/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 64%

RT Audience Score: 97%

RT Critic Average: 5.9/10

RT Audience Average: 4.8/5

Metacritic Score: 54

CinemaScore: A-

Letterboxd: 3.3/5

•

Fun Fact: Michael Bay: the director of Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003) appears as as an irked driver. He's shown driving a black 1990s 964 Porsche 911 Turbo, the same car Mike Lowrey drove in Bad Boys (1995).

---

Trailer: