.png)
Written by Lewis Knight
From right: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024).
Martin Lawerence (Marcus) and Will Smith (Mike) are back again with Bad Boys Ride or Die. Now, is it impressive out of the previous four instalments including the new one?
Well, yes and no, but is the Bad Boys series taking the approach of quantity or quality? There are rumours of another Bad Boys film coming out, with talks about it taking place somewhere like London, Paris or Asia based on Screen Rant.
I’ve watched all of the Bad Boys films and I’ve been impressed with all of the films - especially with the first and second films respectively. However, is it going to be like the Fast & Furious series?
Let’s get real here, when the first films: Bad Boys (1995) and Bad Boys II (2003) came out, these two films did justice to the buddy cop genre. It’s got that comedic element, action all over and how Marcus and Mike are these two dynamic duos and the faces of the series. films such as 21 Jump Street, Beverly Hills Cop and my personal favourite Rush Hour films would be classed as my favourite film in this genre.
However, when Bad Boys for Life (2020) came out, the quality felt like it would go down. It was still a good film, especially with the dynamic duo the film offers in Mike and Marcus and their comedic element to the film; however, it felt like something was missing. When I think of Bad Boys, I think of high-octane action. With this 3rd segment of the film, things such as Lawerence and Smith’s age are taken into account because of how Marcus wants to retire and be a family man, whereas Mike still has that energy in him, which eventually causes Mike to come out of retirement.
So they had to take a different approach to the film. Understandable.
For Bad Boys Ride or Die, it almost felt like yesterday since I watched the last film, but when watching it, the originality of the film started to die down. It’s almost like the film is using the same sort of story, with tweaks into the story, the same locations and the same elements which you get with the two characters involved.
For those who have not watched it, beware of some spoilers.
How do the Fast & Furious elements come into play? The main obvious thing is the element of a family - a theme which is made into the meme - and in the Fast & Furious films, there’ll be a scene of Vin Diesel (Dom Torretto) having a get-together of some sort and having this barbeque. A normal trait where everyone gets together and has a good time. As demonstrated in the 3rd and 4th films of Bad Boys, guess what? They had their take on the family theme and had their barbecue.
Another element would be how Dom’s squad have been labelled as criminals in Fast & Furious. Well, Mike and Marcus are seen as the bad guys and are wanted men - after Captain Howard’s bank account had money in his bank account despite dying in the 3rd segment.
Now is there any reason for the series to continue? Based on an article from CBR, shows that Smith made $25 million and Lawrence made between $6 million to $15 million on their work on Bad Boys.
The film earned up to $360 million in box office sales alone based on CBR, so this film series almost feels like a formula for this series to continue like Fast & Furious. They know the film has a huge fan base and they can generate sales from it, but if they were to take the Fast & Furious route, how long can it continue?
Is the Bad Boys series going to turn out like the Fast & Furious series?
Lewis Knight is an aspiring photographer and filmmaker who writes his thoughts from the world of film. Join him as he explains and discusses film reviews, opinions and a diverse range of topics in the world of film and anime.
"The articles I write will give everyone a sneak peek of what I’m like as a person."
Comments