Bad Boys: Ride or Die (#561)


I noticed this weekend that the season of summer movies seems to have arrived, and if I'm not mistaken that means lots of fare for young and very young children out of school, which translates to animated and other less savory films in prospect.  The new offerings included two or three horror movies, and I will probably only see one.  Today I saw BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE which I gather is not the first time the two stars rode together.  If the title only offers the two choices, I'll take the latter alternative.  Not that it was all bad; it wasn't.  But it also wasn't that good, and the language as usual was foul.  I think it was an attempt to resurrect memories of the TV series Miami Vice (which today's audiences probably never saw) with the lead characters African Americans this time.  The two undisciplined officers are portrayed by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence (the latter I suspect is a comedian because he tried to be funny under all circumstances).  We meet them early on when Lawrence has a seizure and quickly visits the hereafter where he is told it is not his time.  His "saved" character now believes he cannot be killed for any reason, and that is his running joke for the rest of the film.  This just under two hour movie has lots of action snd explosions and shooting, all taking place in snd around Miami and audiences are treated to a mini travelogue of the city.  The impetus for their actions is to prove that their late commander was not guilty of conspiring with the cartels.  There are some funny lines but the director insisted on kaleidoscope-like photography throughout, which was distracting and unnecessary.  64% of critics and 97% of audiences gave Bad Boys a thumbs up. I'm inclined to side with those critics who weren't too impressed.

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