When a car blogger gets invited to a movie screening, said blogger is led to believe that cars play a big role in said movie, something like “The Italian Job” or “Bullitt” where cars play a central role in the plot. But in the new “Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” movie, which I recently attended thanks to Porsche, cars aren’t really the focus. Despite the lack of hardcore car action, I thought it was a great action movie that melded gripping suspense with moments of humor and romance, plus plenty of pyrotechnics.
Full disclosure: Porsche invited me to a screening of “Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” followed by a media event at the Porsche Experience Center to learn how to drive like Will Smith’s character Detective Mike Lowrey. They fed me delicious food and I got to meet Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
As far as the cars go, the movie opens with Will Smith’s character Detective Mike Lowrey behind the wheel of a black Porsche 911 Turbo S driving aggressively through Miami traffic with Martin Lawrence’s character Detective Marcus Burnett in the passenger seat. Smith does some light stunt driving in the beginning, with the biggest moment being a smoky handbrake turn so Lawrence’s character can run into a convenience store for some ginger ale to settle his stomach, and the scenarios snowball from there on. Later in the movie there’s another quick moment aggressive driving scene with a black 964 Turbo, the star car of the original “Bad Boys” film, but it’s not driven by a character with a plot line.
At the Porsche Experience Center, myself and other media were taught by PEC’s incredible instructors about vehicle control and how to control a slide by taking some 911 Carreras out to the low-traction skidpad. We learned the basics of how to keep our Porsches pointed in the right direction even when we lose traction, and after that we ran through a quick autocross course in a fleet of Porsche 718 Cayman GTS. There was also an American Ninja Warrior–style obstacle course for us to experience some of the physical action that the characters face in the movie, and we capped off the day as passengers for a hot lap around the track in a 911 Turbo S.
The hot lap was wild. Cars have gotten so fast and powerful, especially ones like the Turbo S, that uninitiated human bodies struggle to navigate the G-forces caused by the speed and handling abilities. For anyone who hasn’t experienced the 2.6-second 0-to-60-mph time of a new 911 Turbo S, it really is like a roller coaster, but the speed made me feel dizzy and it became challenging to think quickly enough to anticipate anything. It would require many laps for me to feel comfortable pushing a Turbo S anywhere near its limits on a track, so mad props to both the PEC instructors and to Will Smith, who did his own driving stunts and even showed us some of his driving chops at the track.
“Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” probably won’t be remembered as a cult car movie, but it is a hysterical, thrilling, romantic action movie with a bit of camp and some great pyrotechnics. If you’re on the fence about giving it a watch, I say do it — I was thoroughly entertained. “Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” is in theaters now.
