Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) review

Long-time "law enforcers" Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) hear that their deceased boss, Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano), is being blamed for "secretly aiding" a drug cartel so they have to clear his name, and this involves teaming up with Mike's imprisoned son Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio) and tracking down former Army Ranger James McGrath (Eric Dane, who's good as the creepy father on Euphoria).  Directors Adil and Bilall are not skilled at telling a story - Marcus experiences a "cardiac event" at a wedding (and becomes "enlightened") and Mike starts having panic attacks but those are treated as throwaway events - and the movie is content with cobbling bits of other action movies (the "bounty" sequence is lifted from John Wick), but they sure do know how to flip, tilt and spin their cameras in every direction (as well as light their sets with bright neon colors).  The better-than-average banter of the first release (Michael Bay has a quick cameo appearance in here) is almost completely missing, and Smith's Lowrey can get slapped around all he wants (as a "cinematic penance," perhaps?) but no one is about to forget what happened at the Oscars for a while....