MOVIE REVIEW: BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE

 

When their late police captain gets linked to drug cartels, wisecracking Miami cops Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett embark on a dangerous mission to clear his name.

Director: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Cast:  Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Jacob Scipio, Eric Dane, Joe Pantoliano,

Release Date: June 5, 2024

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references

Runtime: 1h 55m

Review:

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence fourth go around in the Bad Boys franchise brings all the buddy cop banter and kinetic action sequences you've come to expect albeit with a noticeable sense of diminishing returns.  Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return after reviving the franchise with 2020's Bad Boys For Life with them continuing to do their best Michael Bay impressions throughout the film.  The film's action sequences are hyperkinetically edited which manages to make for some strong moments highlighted by a helicopter crash and the finale set in an abandoned alligator theme park. The film hits its energetic peaks during these moments even as those sequences play loose with logic and physics that'll require some disengagement from common sense.  The action is fun on its own, but the main draw of this series has always been Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's chemistry together that has carried the previous films even during some of the weaker points.  They still work off each fairly well, but the script doesn't give them enough solid material to work with leaving most of it feel a bit forced until they find their stride in the final act.  There's more natural comedic energy in that final act which is sorely missing from the earlier acts.  At the very least there's a tangible effort to give these two characters an arch by giving Lawrence's Marcus Burnett a near death revelation and Smith's Mike Lowrey a battle with panic attacks.  Lawrence's Burnett is written and played much more cartoonish this go around, almost to a distracting level, leaving Smith to try and balance it all out as the straight man.  The supporting cast is made up of familiar faces from the franchise and new comers with nobody asked to do much more than look cool, confused, menacingly or nefarious.  Rhea Seehorn and Eric Dane in particular are given thankless one note roles as a Tommy Lee John's light US Marshall and villainous mastermind.  Jacob Scipio fares slightly better due to his natural on screen charisma as Lowrey's son from the previous film even though the accidental reconciliation angle is hardly original.  It’s one of the many aspects of the film that would have worked better if a bit more care had been given to the script, as is Bad Boys: Ride or Die is an enjoyable but easily forgettable entry in the franchise.  

 

C

MOVIE REVIEW: BAD BOYS FOR LIFE

Old-school cops Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett team up to take down the vicious leader of a Miami drug cartel. Newly created elite team AMMO of the Miami police department along with Mike and Marcus go up against the ruthless Armando Armas.

Director: Bilall Fallah, Adil El Arbi

Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Núñez, Kate del Castillo, Nicky Jam, Joe Pantoliano

Release Date: October 18, 2019

Genres: Action, Comedy, Crime

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, sexual references and brief drug use

Runtime: 2h 3min

Review:

It’s understandable to wonder if the Bad Boys franchise really needed a third entry.  Michael Bay’s film’s played like forerunners to series like the Fast and Furious franchise in terms of excess, fun and logical silliness.  The 2^nd film in particular saw Michael Bay really exploring his excesses for better or worst but at the very least it felt like Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett’s story was finished.  Needless to say this film has very little reason for existing outside of a money grab.  There’s really very little reason for this film to be any good but it defies expectations and really delivers a fun ride that’s in keeping with Michael Bay’s style.  Directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi are clearly fans of Bay, he even makes a quick cameo, so you get shots and sequences which feel very much pulled from his bag of tricks.  It’s glossy and illogical but the film’s story is fun enough that you really don’t care all that much.  Will Smith and Martin Lawrence ease back into their characters with incredible ease even after a 17 year layoff.  Their interplay has always been the best part of this series and it’s no different here.  The story takes into account their advancing age which make the story meatier than it deserves to be and you even get some real stakes for the characters.  The crew of the AMMO group adds a solid mix of new characters which really keep the film pumping along even if the film starts to wear a bit in spots.  A few well placed edits would have made this entry really strong addition to the action genre.  That being said its worlds better than it deserves to be. 

B

MOVIE REVIEWS: SUCKER PUNCH

IN THEATERS

SUCKER PUNCH



The story of Alice in Wonderland receives a hyper-violent makeover in Watchmen and 300 director Zack Snyder's fantastical tale of a young psychiatric patient who escapes into a vivid world of fantasy after being committed to a mental hospital by her abusive stepfather. Set in the 1950s, Sucker Punch takes viewers on an incredible journey into the mind of Babydoll (Emily Browning), who finds herself at the mercy of her malevolent stepfather after her mother passes away. With no remaining family and no friends to turn to, her stepfather has her committed to a bleak mental hospital, where she is scheduled to receive a lobotomy in five days. As the procedure draws near, Babydoll creates a phantasmagorical alternate reality in which she must seek out five items in order to secure her freedom. Should she fail, her mind isn't the only thing she stands to lose. Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Carla Gugino, and Jon Hamm co-star in a film co-written by Snyder and Steve Shibuya. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director : Zack Snyder

Cast: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung

Release Date: Mar 25, 2011

Rated PG-13 for Thematic material involving sexuality, violence and combat sequences, and for language

Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

I have a serious confession to make. I’m a nerd. It’s something I’ve come to accept over the years and ultimately embrace. Using that old adage that it takes one to know one, it’s not a stretch to say that Zach Snyder is also a nerd. Sucker Punch is his masturbatory love letter to his 13 year old self. Barely coherent with just the slimmest shred of a plot he moves the show forward by showing us what has been knocking around in his head for years. By strapping the storyline with a faux female empowerment theme he forgives himself for the cosplay fetish videogame he puts on screen. At the very least, the action is well executed and fun to look at. In fact it’s so well done that you could skip the “real world” segments and not miss much. The ensemble cast is uniformly stiff probably because Snyder didn’t demand much out of them and mostly just wanted them to look sexy and cool during the endless “money shots” and upskirts he had planned. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of Snyder and thought his cinematic version of Watchmen was an underrated gem. The aptly named Sucker Punch is nothing more than Chicago meets Cosplay, nerd porn that will send launch leagues of teenage boys into puberty. For the rest of us, well there are better ways to spend 2 hours.

D