It was 1996 when we were first introduced to Mike Lawrey and Marcus Burnett, the two Miami cops who consider themselves Bad Boys, even though they are just ordinary buddy cops that appear in most action thrillers like this. Except the dynamics were slightly more interesting: Mike, the single womanizer who drives around in a Porsche, while Marcus is the family guy who doesn’t take as many risks as his partner. The film was a massive success, with excessive director Michael Bay at the helm. We now have number four in the franchise. Gone is Bay (although he makes a cameo appearance). In step Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, returning after Bad Boys For Life, we still get the things that make Bad Boys so popular: the sparring between the two leads, explosive action and pumping soundtrack, except the wheels might be coming off the series.

Things are changing for Lowrey and Burnett. Mike is married and suffering from panic attacks, and Marcus has had a near-death experience that has made him believe he is indestructible. However, their deceased captain has been implicated in corruption with the cartel, a fact the boys don’t believe, and they want to prove his innocence. However, the deeper they go to uncover the truth, the more they become not only a target for the FBI but the target of the killer who has set up their former boss.

Arbi and Fallah proved themselves with the last Bad Boys movie, and watching how they handle the set pieces here, you really long to see their cancelled Batgirl movie. They cope with the action genre’s adrenaline rush with impressive camera use. They come across as far more confident this time with even more incredible use of shots that up the action sequences, which are more extensive, louder and, in some places, more nail-biting. Throwing everything they have at these scenes, you find yourself in the centre of some jaw-dropping set pieces that wouldn’t look amiss from a Mission: Impossible or a James Bond.

The trouble with Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the plot. It feels very much a throwback to the 90s. We’ve been there with the whole corrupt cop who has been set up before. It follows down a familiar path, and when one of the supporting characters appears on screen, you immediately know they have something to do with the corruption. It’s as if the scriptwriters put a corruption story into AI, and this is what they came up with.

It also does no justice to the minor characters, who have no development. They are there as a function to move the leads through to the following action sequence or their own banter scenes, which, while they work most of the time, the parts where Marcus talks about their souls being together forever get a bit repetitive and lose the joke very early. Aside from one sequence involving Marcus’s son taking out bad guys, the characters closer to the leads are given little or nothing to do, only used to build up the non-existent tension. You never feel a sense of peril with anyone close to the leads.

It has also become almost essential to reference past movies, whether in the story (this is virtually a continuation of the previous film), having returning characters or cameos or even flashbacks to past adventures. This one also has the boys in the Deep South, similar to Bad Boys II’s. Okay, for those who want to be reminded of the past, but those entering the series for the first time will seem bemused.

The performances only work if you are playing the leads. Even villain Eric Dane is just another forgettable character and, apart from his introduction, is allowed to sneer and squint, but that’s all. Returners Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig as AMMO agents Kelly and Dorn pop up every so often but are given little else to do, and even Paola Nunez as the boys’ new captain doesn’t develop into anything but a mix of concern and scolding of her two boys.

It is up to Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to make the film work. They do their best and have become a decent partnership, but sometimes their back-and-forth dialogue seems stale. In his first major film since that slap, Smith has blotted his paper. We could believe he was Mister Nice Guy Mike when he wasn’t swearing on worldwide TV, but it’s hard to see him as nothing more than this angry, unapologetic former superstar who was once a box officer banana. Martin Lawrence, on the other hand, is the saving grace. His Marcus has grown into a witty, often bizarre character who manages to make most of the gags land and isn’t afraid to embarrass himself with moments like having a close-up, slow-motion moment of him drinking from a fountain of pop with every inch of his face creasing into disgust as the flavour hits his out-stretched tongue.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is passable as a relentless action movie, but I can imagine it will be instantly forgettable in a few weeks. Fans will be thrilled they are back, but I don’t think it will impact the box office much. Maybe we need fresh blood as far as buddy cop characters are concerned. Time to put the Bad Boys into retirement.

3 out of 5

Directors: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Nuñez, Eric Dane. Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tiffany Haddish, Rhea Seehorn

Written by Chris Bremner, Will Beall and (based on the characters created) George Gallo

Running Time: 115 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 5th June 2024