It had been a quiet couple of years for Will Smith. He starred in 2022’s Emancipation which was an Apple TV+ release that was negatively reviewed by critics and not even watched by many public audiences. Before that, the last time we saw Will was well…

Now, anybody who was saying Will Smith’s career was over after this movie was crazy. He has been one of the most marketable movie stars on the planet for 20+ years and was about to win the Oscar for Best Actor. I mean the guy literally was applauded an hour after this slap took place and handed Hollywood’s most prestigious honor that an actor can get.

However, he had been notably off of our screens and out of the public eye during the last couple of years until this release approached. It was clear immediately that this incident had not really changed people’s opinion of Will Smith at all and he still puts asses in seats. This movie is set to clear $300 million at the box office and is the 6th-highest-grossing movie of the year at its current mark.

Now Will Smith is all the way back and is even making music again!

Good for Will! Only in America. Now let’s get into this movie…

Bad Boys: Ride or Die Review- 3.5/5 Stars

Let’s start with some quick background on my relationship with this franchise. I saw the original two movies when I was a kid and had never rewatched them. I didn’t even really feel the need to see the original reboot, Bad Boys For Life, when it was released a few years ago. However, I decided to do a rewatch of the original two films and a first-time watch of For Life before seeing this new entry in the franchise.

I had an absolute blast running through these movies. The original two movies still hold up really well and while For Life is my least favorite of the franchise, it was still a fun time. This latest entry was better than For Life by a decent margin for me and I thought it was a great continuation of this story.

The highest compliment you can pay this movie is that it knew exactly what it was. There is some great comedy as Martin Lawrence proves why he is one of the funniest people that has ever lived.

The action is also badass. In the same way that Martin Lawrence shows his comedy chops haven’t lost a step, Will Smith proves that his days as an action star are nowhere near over. The gun fights, car chases, fight sequences, crazy kills, and more live up to what you would want to see from a movie like this. Even some of the action sequences got to that next level of awesome with some really creative camera work that you can see here:

Adil & Bilall really stepped up from the last entry in this franchise to this one and proved that they have what it takes to direct some big-time action movies. Don’t be surprised at all to see these guys directing a big Marvel/Star Wars/DC movie in the near future. (Also it’s criminal that Bat Girl is just never going to see the light of day…)

This movie also did a great job of calling back to the previous movies and really boosting the depth of the side characters. Previously, these movies were all about our two main protagonists and everyone else was a clear side character. While Mike and Marcus are still the stars of the show, Armando, Rita, Kelly, and Dorn emerged as an awesome team around Mike and Marcus with some real depth to the characters.

We even got blessed with a role for the great Rhea Seehorn, got to see some Joey Pants from beyond the grave, and Eric Dane did a great job as the main villain. Overall, anybody who goes out to see this in theaters will not be disappointed by the action, comedy, or anything else. I am totally fine with them churning out these movies for as long as Martin and Will want to make them for.

Let’s end with my final Bad Boys power rankings:

  1. Bad Boys II
  2. Bad Boys: Ride or Die
  3. Bad Boys
  4. Bad Boys: For Life