Bad Boys: Ride or Die, real good work (review)

After a limp third part, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have finally found the formula to make a good Bad Boys.

Passing to the United States with their noted urban thriller BlackAdil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have become mercenaries, but not mercenary leaders, condottieri capable of carving out a state by their sole force: like mercenaries, their fortune is linked to that of the studios which employ them (which Machiavelli summed up by the fight between virtu And fortune, in short). The friends signed funny episodes of the series Miss MarvelA Batgirl of sinister memory (because buried by Warner for a dark story of tax optimization), and above all, a Bad Boys For Life (2020) particularly soft on the knee, devoid of the madness of Michael Bay. We were in the middle of Covid, and the franchise seemed on its knees, on the verge of retirement: for Mike and Marcus the nursing home was not far away. The success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die makes us wonder if Bad Boys 3 was not a trial run, a demo tape for “Bilall & Adil”.

“Quoicoubeh!” Will Smith uses French to promote Bad Boys 4

A very relative success, let's be clear: we are in the universe Bad Boys, which is based on the dynamic between the more or less crude jokes of Martin Lawrence and the tired phlegm of Will Smith, along a detective plot as classic as a blunder. But now, we feel that everyone is there, that the film is invested. The action scenes are great (the finale in a “Jurassic Park of bumpkins” devoted to alligators is even downright exciting), the rhythm is there, with a whole range of visual tricks to guarantee that we won't watch (too much) his watch… And the film also shows an unexpected respect for the supporting roles, as surprising as they are: special mention to Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul) in the fatigues of a US Marshal, daughter of Captain Conrad (Joe Pantoliano), or in the hidden son of Will Smith, ex-cartel killer.

Certainly, despite its furious title, the stakes are cushy, and Bad Boys 4 is not the Fury Road of the franchise, even less its Ruthlessor his John Rambo (it's not such a stupid idea: after all, the first film was released almost thirty years ago…) but the franchise itself seems incapable of submitting to this kind of treatment. The film escapes any theorization other than that of its own buddy movie formula, a little grandpa, a little old-fashioned, but still very funny. When we think, in Bad Boysit's to wonder, with Marcus and Mike, after the first had a heart attack, if souls have a dick… And yes, we are in Bad Boys. “For life.”