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Bad Boys Ride or Die
Hopefully, the 2024 action epic Bad Boys Ride or Die is the final chapter in the Mike Lowery/Marcus Burnett saga because this movie might have been the longest two hours of my life.
This film actually opens with confirmed bachelor Mike Lowery getting married and his partner, Marcus having some sort off collapse during the reception that lands him in the hospital. We then watch Marcus have an out of body experience where he meets he and Mike deceased boss, Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who tells Marcus it's not his time yet. We then learn that drug cartels have been setting up Howard to look dirty, leading Mike and Marcus to clearing their boss' name, which finds Mike reuniting with his illegitimate son, who we met in the last film.
Paying attention as carefully as I could, I was still only able to follow the screenplay by Chris Bremner, Will Beall, and George Gallo about two thirds of the way through the film. The opening scene which finds Mike and Marcus being unable to get to Mike's wedding without breaking up a robbery at a bodega, went on much too long, only to zip through Mike's wedding and movie straight onto about 20 minutes of bizarre behavior from Marcus who because of his outer body meeting with Captain Howard, now thinks he's Superman.
I had it up to the point where Mike and Marcus are reunited with Mike's son and have him busted out of jail. This part of the story was appealing because I really didn't like the way things were left between Mike and his son after the last film (which I hated BTW), and was hoping that this was going to be what this film was going to be about, but that wasn't to be either. What it really was about became muddier and muddier beyond the two thirds point, where I really didn't get what was going on and tried to stay awake for the generic action movie conclusion that I've seen a million times.
I'm still working very hard at trying to look at Will Smith objectively ever since he punched Chris Rock, but I can't blame what's wrong with this movie on him. Nor can I blame it on a paunchy and overweight Martin Lawrence who comes off as broaching the road to senility here. The problem here is writers and directors trying to breathe life into a franchise that should have ended with the last film, making for an intolerably long and dull movie experience. Though I have to admit, I really liked Jacob Scipio as Mike's son, Armando, who deserves his own action franchise because it's time for this one to die instead of ride.
Hopefully, the 2024 action epic Bad Boys Ride or Die is the final chapter in the Mike Lowery/Marcus Burnett saga because this movie might have been the longest two hours of my life.
This film actually opens with confirmed bachelor Mike Lowery getting married and his partner, Marcus having some sort off collapse during the reception that lands him in the hospital. We then watch Marcus have an out of body experience where he meets he and Mike deceased boss, Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), who tells Marcus it's not his time yet. We then learn that drug cartels have been setting up Howard to look dirty, leading Mike and Marcus to clearing their boss' name, which finds Mike reuniting with his illegitimate son, who we met in the last film.
Paying attention as carefully as I could, I was still only able to follow the screenplay by Chris Bremner, Will Beall, and George Gallo about two thirds of the way through the film. The opening scene which finds Mike and Marcus being unable to get to Mike's wedding without breaking up a robbery at a bodega, went on much too long, only to zip through Mike's wedding and movie straight onto about 20 minutes of bizarre behavior from Marcus who because of his outer body meeting with Captain Howard, now thinks he's Superman.
I had it up to the point where Mike and Marcus are reunited with Mike's son and have him busted out of jail. This part of the story was appealing because I really didn't like the way things were left between Mike and his son after the last film (which I hated BTW), and was hoping that this was going to be what this film was going to be about, but that wasn't to be either. What it really was about became muddier and muddier beyond the two thirds point, where I really didn't get what was going on and tried to stay awake for the generic action movie conclusion that I've seen a million times.
I'm still working very hard at trying to look at Will Smith objectively ever since he punched Chris Rock, but I can't blame what's wrong with this movie on him. Nor can I blame it on a paunchy and overweight Martin Lawrence who comes off as broaching the road to senility here. The problem here is writers and directors trying to breathe life into a franchise that should have ended with the last film, making for an intolerably long and dull movie experience. Though I have to admit, I really liked Jacob Scipio as Mike's son, Armando, who deserves his own action franchise because it's time for this one to die instead of ride.