Bad Boys: Ride or Die – 'glossy, flashy and thoroughly entertaining'
Will Smith stars in what could be his comeback movie

When Will Smith jumped onto the stage at the 2022 Oscars and slapped presenter Chris Rock in the face, "it looked as if his career could well be over", said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday. "Since the incident, he's only had one film released, the already completed slave drama 'Emancipation'."
As a result, much now hangs on "Bad Boys: Ride or Die", the fourth film in the longrunning cop-buddy franchise in which he co-stars with Martin Lawrence. Smith "badly needs it to be good". And actually, it's not at all bad. It won't win awards, but it's the kind of film "that commercial cinema used to be all about".
This time round, "our increasingly less than dynamic" duo are called upon to clear the name of their beloved former boss (Joe Pantoliano), who was killed in the last film and is now facing posthumous accusations of corruption. The film is "glossy, flashy and thoroughly entertaining"; and Smith manages to be "vulnerable, likeable and charismatic. In other words, just what he needed" to be. Will it be enough to resurrect his career? "We'll have to wait and see."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I'm afraid it didn't win me over, said Johnny Oleksinski in the New York Post. Lawrence is "as boisterously silly as ever", but Smith looks "dead behind the eyes", and the plot is entirely formulaic.
The film "delivers on the key basic requirements for popcorn escapism", said Wendy Ide in The Observer: it is directed with "brash flamboyance", with lots of exploding vehicles, sweeping drone shots of "shimmering, sinful Miami", and slo-mo clips of "bikini-clad babes playing beach volleyball". But if "the bullets mainly find their targets, the jokes do not"; and "the comic chemistry between Smith and Lawrence" has started to feel decidedly "laboured and stale".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Jeff in Venice: a 'triumph of tackiness'?
In the Spotlight Locals protest as Bezos uses the city as a 'private amusement park' for his wedding celebrations
-
Shami Chakrabarti picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The politician and human rights activist shares the polemics that inspired her
-
The Anatomy of Painting: Jenny Saville's 'stunning' retrospective
The Week Recommends Saville's new collection features 'masterpieces' from throughout her career
-
M3GAN 2.0: riotous action sequel to the comedy-horror hit about a killer doll
The Week Recommends A 'ridiculously' entertaining 'hyper-camp mash-up' of Terminator 2 and Mission: Impossible
-
Properties of the week: bright and cheerful houses
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Cornwall, London and Norfolk
-
5 dreamy books to dive into this July
The Week Recommends A 'politically charged' collection of essays, historical fiction goes sci-fi and more
-
6 sleek homes for modernists
Feature Featuring a concrete-and-steel home in South Carolina and a renovated 19th-century former carriage house in Pennsylvania
-
The Genius Myth: a 'fresh and unpretentious' book from Helen Lewis
The Week Recommends This 'angry, witty book' by Helen Lewis is a valuable critique of the 'flattering fiction' of genius