The history of the Bad Boys franchise is an unusual one, filled with action and comedy as well as enduring chemistry between Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. The films have generated memes and iconic moments over the years. The series has become ingrained in pop culture for all the right reasons.
With the fourth film in the long-running franchise recently hitting cinemas, fans are reorganizing their preference for the series, which includes a number of beloved action movies. While there haven’t been many entries in the Bad Boys franchise, each film is unique and sets a new standard for what the films are capable of. Fans can always get excited for the next addition, since the franchise's unpredictability is unlike any other action movie series still running today.
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4 Bad Boys For Life
IMDB Score: 6.5/10
- Released: 2020
- Directed By: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
The grand return for the Bad Boys franchise came in 2020, just before the worldwide box office was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The third film in the series was a triumphant return for a long-dormant property. The film managed to reunite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence with several of their former collaborators in addition to newcomers, as well as new directors who were brave enough to try and emulate the style of Michael Bay’s first two films.
Bad Boys For Life featured the two detectives, now much more grizzled in their roles, but still retaining their relationship and comedic charm that fans remembered from the earlier films. This time out, the duo takes on a dangerous mother-son pairing of drug lords, and in doing so, they face some of their most difficult challenges yet. This movie managed to climb higher in the box office than almost any film could achieve in such a challenging year. It might not remain the most beloved of the films for fans, but it was a strong comeback for the franchise.
3 Bad Boys 2
IMDB Score: 6.6/10
- Released: 2003
- Directed By: Michael Bay
The sequel to the original film, Bad Boys 2, has become memorable for a lot of strange reasons. It has also become the quintessential picture of what an early-00s action-comedy looked like. The longest film in the franchise felt almost like an action-epic, as Lowry and Burnett took on a drug cartel shipping into Miami in a war that escalated brutally over time.
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Bad Boys 2 has become a standard by which action movie sequels are judged. From the incredulous opening sequence where the duo takes on KKK members in a shootout, to the infamous first date scene and the grand mansion finale, this was a roller-coaster ride of a film. Its pace is nonstop, and it hit at the height of Will Smith's career in the 00s. Many fans still regard this movie with the love that it garnered two decades ago. Others feel whether it has aged somewhat, as action films are prone to do. Regardless, there's no denying that the film left an indelible mark on pop culture.
2 Bad Boys
IMDB Score: 6.8/10
- Released: 1995
- Directed By: Michael Bay
The original Bad Boys film was a mid-90s action film to the core. Director Michael Bay and the duo of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith made a hot act. In fighting against a crooked former cop and a French drug kingpin, they created a true classic which was initially received with mixed reviews. However, over time, this initial entry has become beloved and remembered as a fascinating one, especially with the other entries throwing light on the relationship of Burnett and Lowry. That context makes this first film in which they were impersonating each other all the more interesting.
Bad Boys featured the two detectives trying to hunt down a kingpin in the Miami drug scene. It's much more of a classic investigation thriller than the later outright action fests the sequels would become. With a wondrous blending of comedy and thrills which has helped inspire more recent movies, Bad Boys was and remains a classic of its era and something of an oddity as the first in the franchise.
1 Bad Boys: Ride Or Die
IMDB Score: 7/10
- Released: 2024
- Directed By: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
The latest edition in the Bad Boys franchise is, thus far, the highest-rated of the lot online, doing much better among critics than some other recent action movies. The new entry has hit the current summer box office with a much-needed boost, and in doing so, has completely shifted the franchise in a number of ways. Usually, the duo fights a typical war on crime from within the limits of the law, albeit treading the line at times. In Ride Or Die, Lowry and Burnett are actually on the other side. They become fugitives trying to clear their own names, as well as that of their deceased former captain.
This film took the duo to places they’d never been, and wasn't afraid to showcase the fact that both characters have aged. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die was an exciting installment which managed to honor the legacy of what had come before, while adding to it and perhaps creating the best entry of all along the way. The debate about which of the Bad Boys films is the best will rage on, but Ride Or Die has thrown a surprisingly big spanner into the works, after nearly not getting made. It has proved that something new can indeed match the classics in the action genre.
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