Bad Boys 4 reignites Will Smith’s career with a much-needed slap in the face-Andrew Gaudion-Entertainment – Metro

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is Smith’s first real test as a movie star since that infamous slap (Picture: Columbia Pictures/Everett/Shutterstock)

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return as Miami’s baddest boys in the fourth entry of the 90s franchise and, this time, it’s carrying much more responsibility on its shoulders.

When the third entry Bad Boys For Life (bet they wish they saved that title for the fourth) came out in 2020, it was a surprise hit, earning over $400 million worldwide arriving nearly 20 years after the last Michael Bay directed instalment, as well as being warmly received by both fans and critics. 

Bad Boys 4 seemed inevitable, and it has finally arrived in the form of Ride Or Die, but things have somewhat changed for one of its stars since 2020.

This film is the first real test of Smith’s star power following the Oscars slap in 2022, where he took to the Academy stage to strike Chris Rock across the face after making a joke at Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense. 

Smith has stayed out of the multiplexes since, apart from a movie released on Apple not long after that night (and his Oscar win).

The time of Smith being one of the most reliably bankable Hollywood stars was arguably over before ‘the slap’, but this being his first test since that now infamous night makes Bad Boys: Ride Or Die a more fascinating prospect than it may have been otherwise.

It’s success may just determine the future of its leading man – Ride Or Die indeed. Not only that, but it also comes in at the point in the summer tentpole season where the box office is in desperate need of a hit, with the likes of The Fall Guy and Furiosa. 

Quite what the box office numbers will be, only time will tell. But on evidence of the film itself, Smith has made a savvy move.

Not only is he relying on the good faith of its immediate predecessor, but he is also working with a franchise that helped establish him as a superstar back in the 90, one that clearly fans have a fondness and appetite for. 

Martin Lawrence is the film’s comedic MVP (Picture: Frank Masi/ 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved)

The Smith-Lawrence dynamic still has plenty of juice (Picture: CTMG, Inc./Frank Masi. All Rights Reserved)

Doubling down on the tone of part three, Ride Or Die sees Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) on the run after they are framed during their attempts to clear the name of the deceased Captain Howard (Joe Patliano), whose name has been linked to corruption within the Miami police department.

It is hardly an original plot for an action movie – cops turned fugitives – one so tired you’re surprised that this franchise hasn’t already given it a spin. But it is used as a solid enough framework for a lean and pacey action movie that continues to expand on the third instalment’s surprisingly self-aware angle of treating these two heroes as what they are: two men in their 50s who are – to quote another action franchise – getting too old for this s**t.

The banter between Smith and Lawrence remains entertaining, and clearly still has some life in it.

The MVP of the dynamic is easily Lawrence as Marcus who, after surviving a heart attack earlier in the film, gets a new outlook on life.

It leads to some daft, unquestionably silly but very funny moments of spiritual espousing from Marcus within the chaotic action, as Smith’s Mike desperately aims to reign him in. It’s a fun dynamic to sit in, and while some of the jokes may feel cringe, Lawrence is often the one delivering the crowd-pleasing moments that land the big laughs.

Smith for his part, treats the material a little more seriously, with Mike himself experiencing bouts of panic attacks, which stems from his anxiety that he may not quite have the edge or the confidence that he used to (read into that what you will).

Ride Or Die is the fourth entry in the franchise that helped kick off Will Smith’s Hollywood career (Picture: Frank Masi/ 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved)

There is a welcome vulnerability to his character this time out, one which can’t help but feel it’s acknowledging what has happened to its star off-screen.

This is, of course, hardly subtle, and it should come as no surprise that there is a joke referencing the slap, one that plays out largely at Smith’s expense and is delivered with a good level of excessiveness by Lawrence making for a gag that’s hard not to laugh at.

Excess has always been the name of the game with the Bad Boys franchise, unsurprising for a series that began with two Michael Bay movies. Directors Adil and Bilall – back from part three – keep this tradition alive and well, dialling up the colours to maximum brightness and shooting their action through a variety of angles, shifting from handheld to drone footage and back again with dizzying slickness. 

It can often feel chaotic and cartoonishly violent, but there’s also a fizzy energy of excitement to the action calibrated to be as fun and as crowd-pleasing as possible (particularly when Marcus’ son-in-law Reggie gets in on the action). This is an action movie that ends in a final act set in an abandoned Alligator amusement park that is still home to some big gators.

It’s also one that knows how dumb, silly and fun that sounds. 

Yes, there is a slap joke (Picture: Frank Masi/ 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved)

Whether Bad Boys: Ride Or Die will be enough to revitalise Smith’s career is ultimately up to audiences to decide. But on evidence of this very big, very loud and unapologetically entertaining return to one of the franchises that made him a mega-star, it won’t be because he has forgotten what can make a summer blockbuster click.

At the very least, it’s a well-played PR exercise. The fact that it also works in its own right as a giddily enjoyable blockbuster is to the filmmakers’ credit.

Ride Or Die’s unabashed ambition to simply keep the action and comedy beats coming makes it very easy to recommend as a piece of popcorn entertainment that shows there’s still some gas left in the tank when it comes to Miami’s Bad Boys.

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