Review for Bad Boys: Ride or Die

Introduction

Remember 2020? Not the greatest year for cinema in the middle of a pandemic. There were maybe three blockbusters released that year, and surprisingly, it was the Bad Boys sequel that proved to be the most entertaining. Bad Boys For Life was a breath of fresh air, so many years after Bad Boys II turned out to be an irredeemable Michael Bay-fest. The passage of time gave nuance and depth to characters that were little more than comedic action surface in the original films, and while the action and comedy was just as exciting as before, this time I actually cared about the characters. But as I said, in 2020, Bad Boys For Life didn’t exactly have competition in the multiplexes. It’s been four years, and the world has found a new normal after COVID, while Will Smith has been in the Hollywood doghouse following slap-gate. Could Bad Boys: Ride or Die serve as redemption, and will it impress the way that Bad Boys For Life did?


Mike Lowrey had a son he never knew named Armando, who was taught to hate him by his mother, and who became a hitman in the cartel. The past caught up with Lowrey when Armando murdered Captain Howard, although he’s now serving time for the crime. Things seem to be going in a good direction now, as Mike is finally getting married, and of course best friend and partner Marcus Burnett is the best man. No one’s expecting him to have a heart attack during the reception. But his near-death experience leaves him a changed man, and he comes back from the abyss with a prescient warning.


It’s timely too, as all of a sudden, evidence is revealed implicating Captain Howard with the cartel, destroying his legacy and all that’s associated with it. Then Mike and Marcus receive a message from the dead. Howard had been investigating a mole within the police before he was killed, and he’s just left the investigation to Mike and Marcus. And it turns out that the only one who’s seen the traitor to identify them, is Mike’s son Armando.

The Disc

Bad Boys – Ride or Die gets a 2.39:1 widescreen 1080p transfer with the choice between DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround English and Italian, with DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo English Descriptive. You also get English, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles. A modern film offers no issues. The image is clear and sharp, detail levels are excellent, contrast is spot on and colours are rich and consistent. The film looks excellent, the effects are well done, and any CGI is pretty much seamless. The audio does the action justice, nice, immersive and impactful, although once again, I’ve aged way past the pop music used in the film.

Extras

You get one disc in a BD Amaray style case that boots to a static menu. You’ll find the following, brief extras.

Will & Martin: Chemistry, Legacy and Laughs (3:43)
Fights, Camera, Action (3:59)
The Bruckheimer Legacy: Crafting Bad Boys and Beyond (3:50)
Partners in Crime (5:23)
Outtakes and Bloopers (3:12)
Deleted Scenes x5 (6:50)

Conclusion

It’s like growing up is a good thing. Play this disc and you’ll see the Columbia logo celebrating the studio’s 100th anniversary. This is also (almost) the 30th anniversary of the Bad Boys franchise. Way back in 1995, Michael Bay had an instant hit with the buddy cop action comedy, although it was a somewhat vacuous piece of entertainment, very much style over substance. But it worked to establish Michael Bay’s particular brand of kinetic filmmaking. Eight years later, we got Bad Boys II, which got rid of the style along with the substance. It would be seventeen years before someone thought of Bad Boys again, and with directors Adil and Billal now at the helm, they brought the style back, and substance too, crafting a character focused story that had plenty of room for the action and comedy, but made us care about the main characters in a way the earlier films didn’t. It also, wisely acknowledged the passage of time, and the frailty of heroes. For me it was the best of Bad Boys. And now we get Bad Boys – Ride or Die, and it’s even better.


Ride or Die does that thing that Lethal Weapon 3 did, change things up by putting the main characters in each others’ shoes. Riggs had calmed down his man-on-the-edge insanity act into likable eccentricity, while Murtaugh had good reason to go off the deep end. Here, with Mike Lowrey getting married, he now has something to lose, and he winds up overdoing the caution. Meanwhile, Marcus Burnett’s near death experience gives him a new perspective on life, and he manages to shuck almost all of his characteristic neuroses, throwing caution to the wind. It makes for an entertaining change-up in their partnership.


When Captain Howard is posthumously framed as corrupt, it falls to Mike and Marcus to clear his name, which also makes them targets as well. They too wind up framed, and on the run, which again changes things up. The investigation also involves Mike’s son Armando, who at the start of the film is serving time, in part for Howard’s murder so there’s something of a reconciliation arc to the film too, and maybe a redemption arc as well. Once again we have a very character focused story, and even as it builds on the story and characters established in Bad Boys for Life, I think it does it in a more compelling and effective way.


Of course the all-important action and comedy is still there, plenty of gunfights, lots of crazy car chases, and some crazy stunts, and while I may be too old for the pop music used in the film, enough of the original theme is referenced in the score to get the blood pumping in the appropriate places. It took them 30 years, but this is the best Bad Boys yet.