In Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett set out on a mission to clear their former captain’s name after it is reported he was dirty. On the heels of Mike’s wedding and Marcus’ heart attack the pair will go to any lengths to prove that Captain Howard was a good man and a good cop. However, this means the Bad Boys will have to cross some lines in order to prove his innocence and take down the drug cartel that Howard was framed as being a part of.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die brings together characters and story arcs from the past Bad Boys movies, culminating in a heartfelt examination of Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey. While Bad Boys: Ride or Die has the classic action and comedy that fans have come to expect at its heart, this is a movie with a very emotional story that shows the growth that both Mike and Marcus have experienced over the franchise. Directing duo Adil and Bilall return after their box office success with Bad Boys For Life.
Screen Rant interviewed Bad Boys: Ride or Die star Joe Pantoliano. He discussed the chemistry between Smith and Martin as well as the directing team. Pantoliano also revealed that Smith pushed for his return after Captain Howard’s death in Bad Boys For Life and joked about Easter eggs from his past movies.
You’re a legend, sir. In the last film when Captain Howard died, I was heartbroken. It was the shock of the movie. So seeing you return was fantastic. How soon after Bad Boys: For Life did you know you’d be returning to the role in this film?
Joe Pantoliano: Oh, well not soon after. I don’t even know when I found out they were doing it, but at one point I started getting messages from Westbrook [Studios] saying, They’re talking about finding a way to bring you back. Will wants to find a way to bring you back.” And so I am grateful to Will Smith for finding somebody to come up with it. Then it was just great the way they were able to put it together.
Joe Pantoliano On The Chemistry Between Will & Martin As Well As The Directing Team
“I like them so much, and I enjoy working with them.”
I think these Bad Boys movies just get bigger and bigger and better and better as the years go by. Adil and Bilall have returned to direct this film as well and it is phenomenal. Can you talk about reteaming with them on this film?
Joe Pantoliano: They’re great. I’m so happy for them. I like them so much, and I enjoy working with them. But most of all, their enthusiasm for filmmaking and [Robrecht Heyvaert] their DP that’s joined, when I think of them as a team, I think of the three of ’em, not just the two of ’em.
There was a lot riding on this, the success of this for Will. I didn’t think after winning an Academy Award Will’d be going back to Bad Boys. I was like, Yeah, Bad Boys is nice fit at the moment. It had a tremendous happy ending. Will he put everything he had in it. Martin supported him and they made a great movie.
Yeah, they did. When you talk about the three of them being a pair though, along with the cinematographer, same thing. I think about the three of you Will, you, and Martin is also the same kind of trio now. You get to see their chemistry firsthand throughout the last 30 years. Can you talk about how their chemistry along with yours has evolved throughout the course of this film series?
Joe Pantoliano: I really can’t because it’s so natural. It’s not anything that you work on. It’s a given. I said, that they were the modern day Tracy and Hepburn.
Joe Pantoliano Jokes About Easter Eggs From His Movies In Bad Boys: Ride Or Die
Oh, that’s a great call. Now, why do you think the Bad Boys series stands out in the action comedy genre because every single one of these movies just gets better and better. And you’re right, the cinematography in this film is, oh, it’s amazing. There’s so many incredible shots in this movie.
Joe Pantoliano: I think that as an audience, we’ve grown to really love these characters and to see any narrative of storytelling, to see these characters get stuck in a position that we can’t imagine them getting out of. Right? You get ’em stuck up on a tree and then how do you get ’em down? And then this in the fourth one, the fact that they become the bad guys.
There was a lot of similarities, frankly, to Midnight Run where everybody’s chasing them. I was very proud that they stole so many sequences from movies that I was in. You got The Fugitive stuff in there and you got Midnight Run in there. You even got some of that Running Scared in there.
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