115 min | R | June 7, 2024 | Sony Pictures
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for a fourth Bad Boys. The formula has not changed. It still works. Nobody is more surprised than the franchise itself.
Captain Howard is dead and someone is framing him as a corrupt cop who worked with cartels. Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett refuse to let their mentor’s legacy be destroyed. Their investigation puts them on the wrong side of the law. They become fugitives. The Bad Boys franchise has survived nearly thirty years by doing the same thing every time and doing it with enough energy that the familiarity feels like comfort rather than laziness. This fourth installment follows that tradition.
Will Smith plays Mike Lowrey with the charisma that made him the biggest movie star in the world. The real-world complications surrounding Smith exist outside this review. Inside the film, he is doing the work. Martin Lawrence plays Marcus with the same panicked energy and physical comedy he has delivered since 1995. The chemistry between them is genuine and time-tested. Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, and Paola Nuñez return from the previous film with expanded roles. Eric Dane plays the villain with corporate menace.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return to direct after Bad Boys for Life and they bring the same kinetic camera work and action sensibility. The set pieces are bigger. An alligator-filled Everglades sequence is a highlight. The shootouts are staged with clarity and escalating absurdity. The film moves fast enough that the plot holes do not matter until the drive home. The score leans into the franchise’s musical identity. Miami looks great.
The Bad Boys franchise is critic-proof and it knows it. The films exist to pair two movie stars with guns and jokes and let them riff. This installment does that while adding a fugitive-thriller structure that gives the action more urgency than usual. It is not art. It is not trying to be art. It is a summer action movie that delivers summer action movie pleasures with professional competence. That is harder than it looks.