You told me this was going to be a ‘stress-free’ paintball session, not a trip to a criminal’s kill zone! – Photos: Handout
The first Bad Boys came out in 1995, which means we’re officially entering the “aging action star” territory with this franchise. The fourth installment, Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is directed by the up-and-coming action filmmaking team Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, known as Adil and Bilall, who took over directing duties from Michael Bay with 2020’s Bad Boys For Life.
There seem to be two options for the action star – and franchise – that’s getting up in years. One can either take the Tom Cruise route, returning to a text that was originally all flash and sensation, and infusing it with a sense of soulful poignancy as the character (and actor) reckons with what he’s sacrificed in his pursuit of pure adrenaline (Top Gun: Maverick). The other option is to join the crude, cynical supergroup known as “The Expendables”, where beloved action stars josh and jostle for a cash grab.
Summary:
Still bad to the bone
