The fourth film in the Bad Boys film series, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, is an American buddy cop action comedy released in 2024 and stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Written by Chris Bremner and Will Beall, and directed by Adil & Bilall, it is the follow-up to Bad Boys for Life (2020). Tasha Smith replaces Theresa Randle, who portrayed Theresa Burnett in the previous three films, in Joe Pantoliano, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Jacob Scipio, and DJ Khaled’s roles from the previous picture. Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Rhea Seehorn, Melanie Liburd, and Tiffany Haddish are among the new cast members.

The fourth installment of this buddy police comedy-action series does a great job of repackaging the elements of this two-decade-old franchise that fans have grown to love while also adding a little bit of excitement. Bad Boys: Ride or Die transports you back to Miami, where corrupt Miami Police Department officials and their late captain’s unfounded allegations of drug cartel ties present detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) with yet another difficult task.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which is aimed to be an emotional roller coaster, begins with Mike and Christine’s (Melanie Liburd) wedding. Marcus suffers a heart attack, interrupting this. Marcus escapes peril without losing his sense of humor or wit. In addition, he now believes that he is immortal. This makes for some really funny scenes, such when Marcus nearly twirls through a crowded Maimi crossing among sped-up cars.

They quickly go into action when their pal Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who was killed, is falsely accused of taking part in a cartel’s money-laundering operation. While searching for the truth, Lowrey and Burnett eventually find themselves in hiding with Mike’s imprisoned son Armando (Jacob Scipio). Miami mobsters are after them in addition to the police because they want to claim the $5 million reward for finding them, dead or alive.

This marks Will Smith’s big-screen comeback following his notorious 2022 Oscar ceremony smack of Chris Rock. He gets to demonstrate his abilities as a full-fledged entertainer once more in this role, since the film features a number of humorous, poignant, and action sequences. It’s also a chance to bring back one of his best-loved characters. Martin Lawrence, nevertheless, steals the show with his absurdity and outrageous speech. Smith occasionally comes across as jaded, while Lawrence’s comedic timing seems to be at its peak. Overall, the pair shows that despite having been buddy police for almost 20 years, they are still full of energy and have managed to hold onto their endearing on-screen friendship.

The story is expertly directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah as Miami’s best “bad boys” rise to prominence and become the most sought-after individuals. They rely on the sentimentality attached to the genre. While there aren’t many suspenseful scenes in the movie, its USP—the “same of more”—offers the comfort of familiarity. Even if some of the jokes have been edited out for the Indian audience, the police comedy shows that even though the actors are getting older, they still have it when they go full throttle.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die debuted on May 22, 2024, at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. To positive reviews, Sony Pictures Releasing distributed the film in the US on June 7, 2024.