Bad Boys: Ride or Die

Le troisième volet avait surpris par la fraîcheur de son scénario, qui avait redonné du souffle à la franchise. Mais sans la participation de Joe Carnahan, le scénario du quatrième volet à tendance à s’essouffler. On retrouve des blagues forcées, une intrigue moyennement intéressante et de l’action routinière sans la moindre scène mémorable. Celle avec l’hélicoptère, démesurée, semble tout droit sortie de la franchise Fast and Furious. La férocité et le caractère élaboré du style d’action de Michael Bay sont de l’histoire ancienne. Mais Bay apparaît dans un plan, DJ Khaled dans une scène entière, et le duo central reste cool même sans les bonnes blagues. La nostalgie, renforcée par le thème musical de Mark Mancina et le décor des gratte-ciel de Miami avec les plages des Caraïbes et les palmiers, fonctionne tout simplement. Et le jeune Reggie assure ! (24/06/2024)

For me, the best episode of the franchise. It's not as unbearably loud as the first one, nor as visually aggressive as second one, or as shallow in plot as in the third one, which bordered almost on a Mexican soap opera. It has proper with, unexpectedly funny scenes, good visual ideas, and during action scenes the camera circles the space in an interesting way and chooses unconventional angles. And the biggest surprise is the one I least expected it from. Martin Lawrence may still be a pain in the ass, but holy wonder, he's funny here too. Starting with the unwanted "visit to the beyond" the goofiness and his sort of messiah complex make sense and I just enjoy the dude as an actor, unlike, say, the king of awkwardness Kevin Hart. The only one who spoils it a bit is the character of Will Smith's son, the youngster just can't act and in all the scenes he looks equally impassive, as if he's not even enjoying it. (25/07/2024)

Mike and Marcus are back, and since the captain calls from beyond the grave to tell them he has another case for them, they won't be bored. But you might be a little. The fourth outing of the Bad Boys attempts to build on previous installments not only in style, but more importantly in story, and sometimes overdoes it with the nostalgia, references and recalling small details from twenty years ago. The heroes haven't moved anywhere, they repeat what they've always done, just with a lot of new completely useless characters and the most boring villains of the series around them. The action, however, is top-notch. It just needs a little more care next time, even in the scenes where no one is shooting at anyone. (05/06/2024)

If you like this series, if you liked the third part, you should be satisfied here too. It's not a significant shift in quality, it's just a standard solid action comedy, where the mutual banter between Martin Lawrence and Will Smith works, but above all it's pulled by well-done action, which at times takes your breath away. Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah know their job. There are nice Miami visuals, a decent bad guy played by Eric Dane (Euphoria), decently brutal R-rated action with engaging camera forays, top visuals, some twist and turns and working one-liners. The whole film paces well with no deaf spots and it's exactly the right action entertainment that's missing in cinemas and you can take anyone to see it. If you expect a film with a well thought out plot, you won't be satisfied here, but if you know what to expect from a film, you can't be disappointed. 8/10. (06/06/2024)

A repeated joke is no longer funny, and that applies to the Bad Boys franchise, too. The third one was an interesting refresh after all those years, it had sleek slick visuals, cool Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in their 50s, and surprisingly solid action. The fourth one, however, already looks like a fluffy TV movie, recycling or even ripping off moments from previous episodes. Remember the bayou scene from the visually nasty second one, where the camera pans back and forth across the room during the shootout ? Almost a carbon copy of a scene in the fourth one, and there's more. The best moments are saved by minor and not very important characters, like the young marine or Captain Joe Pantoliano. The third film made sense, the fourth is completely unnecessary. I hope this franchise finally retires. (29/07/2024)

It probably wasn't entirely convenient to go to see Bad Boys: Ride or Die when I hadn't seen the previous film, which is referenced quite a bit, but it happened. Despite my initial disorientation with the characters and the relationships between them, I did enjoy the film in the cinema. Compared to the first and second parts, the characters of Mike and Marcus definitely struck me as more likeable, and their age-related vulnerability had a lot to do with that. I also enjoyed the action sequences, which often alternated shots of action with character perspectives, making it feel like a PC game at times, but in a good way. While I didn't outright roll around laughing, I did chuckle more than once, so the comedy level was also functional. Now all that's left to do is watch the third one! (24/06/2024)