Redemption, movie stars and ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’
When movie theaters needed a box office hit, one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars came to the rescue.
That movie star just so happened to be Will Smith, the “Men in Black” star, recent Oscar winner and, oh yeah, that guy who assaulted Chris Rock on live television two years ago. A stunning event in and of itself, “The Slap” was especially shocking because it was Will freaking Smith, one of the most likeable and charismatic movie stars of the past 30 years. Even after he made “Wild Wild West,” everybody still liked him!
In his first (theatrically released) movie since the incident, Smith slides back into likeable movie star mode in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” the fourth installment of the action-comedy franchise he shares with Martin Lawrence. Audiences also appear to be “Ride or Die” for Smith, or at least this franchise, because “Bad Boys” is the first film of the summer season to beat its own box office expectations, opening to $56 million this past weekend.
Give the credit to Smith and Lawrence, as their amusing banter anchors all the best bits of “Ride or Die.” The plot of the movie is nothing too special, and the action comes nowhere near the spectacular stunt work in “The Fall Guy” and “Furiosa” (movies that were more expensive to make and won’t come close to profitability in their theatrical runs). Bravado fuels “Bad Boys,” and, no matter what you think of Smith offscreen, his status as a movie star endures.
In all honesty, various blemishes mark the entire “Bad Boys” franchise. The first movie from 1995, directed by Michael Bay, has a breezy energy that nevertheless suggested a potential for sequels. Bay, high on his status as a go-to action director in 2003, made “Bad Boys II” into a relentless and exhausting epic that 1. Contains some of the best action sequences ever committed to film, and 2. Still manages to be one of the most hateful and painful-to-watch blockbusters of the new century.
In 2020, new directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (billed as Adil & Bilall), brought a semblance of sanity and emotionality to the franchise with “Bad Boys for Life,” a movie title they most definitely should have saved for the fourth installment. The reduced budget (and lack of Bay’s admittedly keen eye for action) forced the movie to rely even more on the chemistry between Smith and Lawrence. It’s a forgettable movie, though COVID shut the entire world down just a couple months after its release, so maybe it needs a second look.
“Ride or Die,” again, lacks memorable action sequences, though Adil & Bilall try a few more stylistic flourishes (mostly unsuccessful but less distracting than, say, the heavy use of CGI and green screens in most every action movie released on Netflix). However, the filmmakers understand the magic of Smith and Lawrence together, and the movie, despite a pedestrian, “wrongfully accused” plotline, cares enough about this world’s characters to make the audience care for them too. As just one example, the movie knows well enough to make Capt. Howard (Joe Pantoliano) a central part of this movie despite the character’s demise in the previous film. Justice for Joey Pants!
Lawrence energizes “Ride or Die” without straining for laughs, and Smith, darn it, just fits the bill as a box office superstar. If you’re not quite ready to forgive him, then, well, Smith gets a healthy taste of his own medicine in a third-act scene that’s both stupid and cathartic (for some bonus Smith suffering, check out how a bunch of spicy chicken wings basically blinded the actor during a taping of “Hot Ones.”)
It remains to be seen whether Smith can continue to rebound his career (my Spider-Sense tells me “Men in Black 4” could be on the horizon). “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” isn’t as good as this summer’s other action movies, but it became a bona fide box office hit for a reason.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Will Smith, right, and Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys: Ride or Die."