Bad Boys: Ride or Die(2024)

Plot Summary

• Four years after the death of Isabel Aretas, MPD Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) marries his physical therapist, Christine (Melanie Liburd). During the reception, his partner, Detective Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), suffers a mild heart attack on the dance floor and goes into a coma. The attack came from years of ignoring his health and eating foods such as hot dogs and Skittles. Marcus experiences a vision of the late Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) telling him it is not his time.When Marcus wakes up, he believes that he is invincible and that he cannot die. Marcus warns Mike that a storm is coming which will make things really bad and that Mike would have to make a really hard choice. Marcus is married to Theresa (Tasha Smith) and lives with his daughter Megan (Bianca Bethune), Son-in-law Reggie and their son. Reggie is a US Marine. Marcus feels like a new man and raring to go, but Theresa cleans the out of all sugars and animal meat and puts Marcus on a diet of salads. Meanwhile a man named McGrath forces a cartel banker to make backdated transactions worth $20 M into bank accounts linked to Captain Howard. The banker is then shot by McGrath.Soon after, a news report reveals that Captain Howard was tied to corruption with the drug cartels. FBI Agent Bud Grice (Jason Davis) is heading the Joint Task Force on the investigation. Grice says that a dead cartel banker was found with Howard's phone number on his phone, and years of transactions with millions in Howard's account. Judy blames Mike and his illegitimate son Armando for the death of Howard. With Captain Howard's legacy being posthumously tarnished, Mike and Marcus are determined to prove his innocence with the help of Captain Rita Secada (Paola Nunez) and her new boyfriend, mayoral candidate Adam Lockwood (Ioan Gruffudd).Mike and Marcus visit Mike's son, Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio), who is incarcerated for Howard's murder. Armando tells them that Howard was not corrupt, but knew who was, so the corrupted officials hired him and his mother to kill Howard because he was close to exposing the corruption and offers to help them identify the person responsible for Howard's murder.When the conspirators (led by McGrath) try to access Captain Howard's computer, a fail-safe, Pre-recorded video is sent to Mike and Marcus, warning them of corruption within federal and state law enforcement. Howard uses the phrase "Coke bottle" as a code phrase and it is revealed that he gave information to their former hacker colleague Fletcher (John Salley). They go to Fletcher's club to retrieve the "files", which turns out to be a QR code hidden in wall art that unlocks a second video from Captain Howard. The 2nd video gives Mike and Marcus the location of the storage locker where he stored all the evidence. However, assassins hired by the conspirators tail them to the club (they had tracked the mobiles to which the video from Howard was uploaded) and kill Fletcher. Mike has a panic attack while fighting McGrath and his men, and the brief pause allows McGrath to escape.Meanwhile, Armando is attacked by several of the conspirators disguised as prisoners, but he fends them off. Mike and Marcus arrange for Armando to be air-lifted to a more secure location in Miami. Mike and Marcus are on the chopper, but the US Marshals keep their guns for the duration of the flight. However, the conspirators sneak on board and kill the pilot and guards, causing the helicopter to crash.Mike, Marcus, and Armando survive but are branded as wanted fugitives by the conspirators. McGrath was on the helicopter and had got the pilot to transmit an emergency message that Armando had escaped with Mike and Marcus. Then they took the guns from the US Marshal's locker and shot everybody on the helicopter with it. McGrath and his accomplice jump off with parachutes. With the Helicopter out of control, Mike and Marcus fight gravity to rescue Armando from his cage, and then take control of the chopper for a managed crash. When the conspirators put out a bounty, the three are hunted by both law enforcement and opportunistic criminals.Conrad's daughter, U.S. Marshal Judy Howard (Rhea Seehorn), swears vengeance on Armando for killing her father. A manhunt is launched as the trio hide in the jungles of Florida. The trio navigate their way to Mike's old acquaintance Tabitha (Tiffany Haddish), who runs a club on the outskirts of town. Tabitha was already in cahoots with McGrath and his men, and tries to sell them out for the $5 M bounty on their heads. The exchange is interrupted by Manny the butcher (DJ Khaled), who Mike had hit with a hammer 2 years ago. The trio escape after killing Mike and taking off in his van, but are pursued by Judy and her troops, who got a tip about the trio's presence at the club. The trio manage to dodge Judy as well.With the assistance of AMMO (Advanced Miami Metro Operations) members Dorn (Alexander Ludwig) and Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens), Mike and Marcus uncover the video clues behind the murder and setup. Dorn and Kelly recover the files from the storage locker. The trio reach Dorn, who is having a sexual relationship with Kelly.Armando identifies the man who hired him to kill Captain Howard as James McGrath (Eric Dane), a former Army Ranger turned DEA agent. While undercover, McGrath got captured by the cartel and was tortured until he gave up his associates and has been working with them ever since. Mike calls Rita and says that he has proof that exonerates Howard and wants to surrender. Rita was with Lockwood who hears the entire conversation.McGrath orchestrates the kidnapping of Christine and Callie (Quinn Hemphill), Judy's daughter. He then sends his men to get Marcus' family, but Marcus' Marine son-in-law, Reggie (Dennis Greene), kills all of them after he gets a warning call from Marcus. Rita, Dorn, and Kelly apprehend Lockwood after he is exposed to be working with McGrath. Lockwood claims that the police started working with the drug cartels after 9/11 in exchange for information on any terrorist attacking coming their way and he claims that it worked as there has been no attack since. McGrath calls Mike and asks for Armando and the proof in exchange for Christine and Callie. Armando offers to sacrifice himself, but Mike refuses.Using Lockwood as bait, the team engages in a fierce gunfight with McGrath's men at a former alligator-themed amusement park to rescue Christine and Callie. Mike calls McGrath with his voice disguised as Lockwood's and says that he is coming in to take the hostages to Cuba. But the sea plane contains Mike and Marcus in the cargo instead. Armando saves Callie, as Rita stops Lockwood from escaping himself in the seaplane by launching a grenade at it and causing the plane to crash into the theme park. Later on, during the fight, Lockwood attempts to double-cross the team, but Rita thwarts his attempt at shooting her during his escape, sending him into the water and causing him to be devoured by an alligator. Mike confronts McGrath, who holds both Christine and Marcus hostage at gunpoint.McGrath then presents Mike with an ultimatum: he must pick either Christine or Marcus to die. Mike, alluding to Marcus' newfound belief that he "cannot die", shoots Marcus in his bulletproof vest. The chaos allows Christine and Marcus to break free before Mike shoots McGrath dead. Amidst the chaos, Judy finds Armando and Callie. Judy prepares to kill Armando, but Callie tells her mother that he saved her life. Begrudgingly grateful for his heroic act, Judy shows mercy to Armando and allows him to escape.Afterwards, Mike, Marcus, and Howard are cleared of all charges and the corruption is exposed. Mike and Marcus' families then celebrate by having a picnic in the park, with Mike and Marcus cooking food on a public grill with Reggie.

Storyline

• When their late police captain gets linked to drug cartels, wisecracking Miami cops Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett embark on a dangerous mission to clear his name.