InCinemas SG

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DIGITAL

IMAX

Opening Date

20 Jun 2024

Rating

NC16 Violence & Coarse Language

Runtime

-

Language

English with English & Chinese subtitles

Genre

Action, Comedy

Director

Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Cast

Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd‘, Tasha Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano

Synopsis

This Summer, the world’s favorite Bad Boys are back with their iconic mix of edge-of-your seat action and outrageous comedy but this time with a twist: Miami’s finest are now on the run.

Reviews

By InCinemas 18 Jun 2024

Full of non-stop high octane action accompanied by the wonderfully comic bromance.

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Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back as the perpetually rule-breaking and foul-mouthedbut yet lovable cop duo, Mike and Marcus in the fourth instalment of the Bad Boys franchise! Bad Boys : Ride Or Die is directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah with the supporting cast of Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Rhea Seehorn, Joe Pantoliano and Dennis McDonald.

The film opens with the squabbling couple, Mike (Smith) furiously driving his Porsche through busy Miami traffic with Marcus (Lawrence) in the passenger seat to get to his wedding. Marcus is ready to throw up and begs for a quick stop buy Ginger Ale (and junk food of course) from a convenience store which leads to a hilarious scene where Marcus succumbs the temptations of various junk foods while foiling the attempted robbery by a gun-wielding hooligan.

Minutes later, at Mike’s wedding to Christine (Liburd), Marcus makes the most cringe-worthy best man speech and then dramatically suffers a heart attack on the dance floor. His trippy near death experience in which he communes with their late beloved boss, Captain Howard (Pantoliano), on a stretch of heaven-like beach, who tells Marcus, “It’s not your time”. Marcus recovers with a new lease on life where he throws caution to the wind, as he now believes that he is invincible, and that his mission is to heal everyone’s spiritual torment. He is convinced that Mike has been his soulmate in different lives for thousands of years.

Mike’s ex-girlfriend Rita (Núñez), Miami PD's Captain, is now dating the ambitious politician Lockwood (Gruffudd). As for Mike, he suffers from panic attacks but refuses to acknowledge that they are caused by the residual guilt over his illegitimate son’s involvement in assassinating Captain Howard.

Amidst the protagonists’ respective emotional turmoil, the latest threat arises from a case which their late Captain Howard had been investigating involving murderous drug cartels and a ruthless killer (Dane). At a press conference, it was alleged that the late Captain was corrupt and had been taking bribes from cartels. Knowing otherwise, it is then up to the Bad Boys to figure out the truth and expose a web of corruption to exonerate and restore their late Captain’s reputation with the help of some cryptic messages he recorded before his untimely death.

The mission to uncover the truth requires working outside of law with insider cartel knowledge. This path leads Mike to reconnect with Amando (Scipio), his illegitimate son and former Cartel assassin from the last film. There are moments in film where Mike and Amando attempt to move forward with some semblance of a father-son relationship although numerous obstacles (both situational and emotional) stand in their way. The duo also has to deal with Captain Howard’s daughter, Judy (Seehorn) who is hellbent on making Amando suffers the consequences for killing her father. Mike’s and Marcus’ path eventually leads to them reunite with Kelly (Hudgens) a weapons expert, and Dorn (Ludwig) a tech expert along with Rita to bring the guilty to justice.

Consistent with the other films in the Bad Boys franchise, there are plenty of comic moments alongside adrenaline pumping action scenes including an insane shootout onboard a military helicopter in free fall. The run-in with a racist gang, inspiring a Reba McEntire cover of the film’s theme song, makes for another memorably funny scene.

I particularly enjoyed the throwback scenes in which we see the larger Bad Boys team participating in the final showdown in which there is a climatic raid on an abandoned amusement park featuring a legendary albino alligator named Duke in order to rescue Christine and Callie (Hemphill), Judy’s daughter. As you will soon see, there are plenty of high-octane firefights, explosions and gun chases to satisfy fans of the action genre.

In the end, everyone finds their much needed closure. Even Marcus' son-in-law Reggie(scene-stealer McDonald) gets his happy ending when he finally earns long overdue respect from Marcus and Mike. After all, he single-handedly saved his pregnant wife and mother-in-law from a team of killers sent by the cartel.

Overall, Bad Boys: Ride or Die is an enjoyable 115 minutes of action-packed fun with unfiltered comedy, made better with Smith and Lawrence’s frankly incomparable endearing camaraderie and banter and in its own convoluted manner, is a film about “family” at a heart. Despite some questionable plotlines, the film was still an enjoyable romp for both old fans and those new to the franchise and I’m of the view that we shouldn't overanalyse Hollywood blockbusters; we should just switch off our brains and enjoy them!

As Eric Dane’s character mutters in the film after a failed attempt to eliminate Mike and Marcus, “These guys just refuse to die.” I certainly look forward to the next action packed reunion of the squabbling couple with their incredible decades-long friendship.
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