Metacritic reviews

Bad Boys: Ride or Die provides a much more entertaining package than what came before, with thrilling and inventive action direction from Adil & Bilall. Yes, it’s as over the top and silly as ever, but it’s done with more panache and genuine wit than before, proving these Bad Boys, even at their older age, can still deliver.

Smith, Lawrence, Adil & Bilall keep Mike and Marcus winningly human. They're adult men who suffer from heart attacks and panic attacks as much as they leap over cars and make impossible shots with their pistols. That special, magic mixture of grounded heart with over-the-top action and comedy is what makes a "Bad Boys" film, and make no mistake: "Ride or Die" is not only a great "Bad Boys" film, it's also a top-tier action comedy.

It works because the movie around these actors strikes the right balance between silliness and sincerity, even if only by virtue of being sillier and more sincere than any of the previous installments.

The film plays out like it might be preparing us to let go of its big-name legacy leads.

The Bad Boys are still providing innocent amusement.

Bad Boys continues chugging along with Ride or Die. Watching the sequel reminded me a bit of the Fast and Furious franchise — it tries to go bigger than before, while also maintaining its core relationships as a key to its success.

While it's stronger on gunplay and horseplay than plot, this is a solid entry for BB fans.

Bad Boys was written off for good after Bad Boys II, and yet here we are more than 20 years later, with two solid sequels in four years. Somehow, these guys really have become Bad Boys for life. And perhaps even beyond that.

Watching Will Smith’s Mike and Martin Lawrence’s Marcus go through their familiar comedic bickering routines has become like spending an evening with a long-married couple whose constant sniping has grown wearisome.

Ultimately, Ride Or Die is such a relentless bombardment of bombastic effects whipped up by a pounding soundtrack, rapid-fire editing and frenzied camerawork — which, at times, emulates a first-person video game — that it becomes exhausting, rather than exhilarating.