Every Bad Boys Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

Before the 2020 release of Bad Boys for Life, the Bad Boys franchise was basically over after the movies stalled out, despite the success of Bad Boys II in 2003. However, the franchise is back in action, with four films out in total.

Four films give us just enough movies to make a ranking. We should, however, get one thing out of the way before discussing the films. The first two Bad Boys movies are problematic. They feature overt homophobia, somewhat less overt racism, and a glorification of police officers breaking the law and abusing their power, which is immensely uncomfortable to watch today. They are woefully products of their time or, in the case of the second film, probably past its time. They’re also just big, dumb action flicks that you can enjoy as such if you want to. 

So, which film featuring Will Smith and Martin Lawerence talking fast, blowing stuff up, and killing people is at the top, and which puts the bad in Bad Boys? Check out our list below to find out. 

All Bad Boys Movies Ranked

4. Bad Boys II

Bad Boys and Bad Boys II came out far enough apart from each other that they are perfect examples of Michael Bay’s shift in style from his early output to his later work. Depending on which era of Bay you prefer, you may rank one higher than the other.

Bad Boys II is Bay in his unchecked, bombastic, throw-everything-onto-the-screen era. Basically, he was given too much power and showed no responsibility. Thus, everything in the film is turned up to 11. This means that while the action is miles bigger and often better than the original, it suffers from Bay-bloat. It’s pure Bay cinema, and if you like his mid-career work, this is some of his best before he began his downward spiral with the Transformers movies. 

3. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die

Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which should be titled Bad Boys 4 Life, isn’t bad at all, but it lacks some of the Bay magic that the first and third films had (even though the third film isn’t directed by Bay). The action is pretty solid, and it does feature some incredible camera work, but it never feels as clever or original as the next two films on the list.

Strangely more nostalgic than the third film as it plays off of a slew of callbacks to the franchise, the movie is easy to watch, and Smith and Lawerence are still great together, but it never clicks in the same way. It’s a perfect movie to catch once on the big screen and then never see again until you randomly land on it during a late-night search for a movie to watch.

Related: The Boys’ Overstuffed Season 4 Is Too Much of a (Mostly) Diabolically Good Thing (Review)

2. Bad Boys

Bad Boys is early Bay at his finest, with relentlessly spinning cameras, quick dialogue, and so much slow motion that even Zack Snyder would be jealous. The action and violence may seem tepid compared to his later work, but the restraint actually makes the film work better as an actual movie instead of a bunch of people yelling things between shootouts.

Smith and Lawerence are pitch-perfect in the movie as an odd couple of cops. It’s their work together that makes the film function, not Bay’s direction. It’s also nice that Téa Leoni’s character is, relative to other women in Bay’s films, treated as a human being. She’s not simply a prop for the camera to slowly pan over, delivering one of the few characters in the entire franchise that you actually feel for. 

1. Bad Boys for Life

Bad Boys for Life is a minor miracle of a film, and it makes up for the fact that the fourth film isn’t called Bad Boys 4 Life. Until this movie, both Mike Lowry (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawerence) weren’t actual characters. Instead, the films portrayed them more like caricatures. Watching these films back to back shows that clearly, but over the years, between the first two movies and this one, nostalgia has turned the characters into something more than they actually were. This film delivers that something more, all while maintaining the kind of heightened ridiculousness of a Bay film.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah perfectly capture Bay’s unique action style while also making the film their own thing, removing all those pesky issues like homophobia and racism. It may seem inappropriate to put the third film in a franchise, and the only one not directed by the original director, in the number one spot. But given the way the first two movies have aged and the fact that Bad Boys for Life actually makes you care about these ridiculous characters, it’s impossible to place it anywhere else. 

And that’s a ranking of every Bad Boys movie from worst to best.

The above article was updated on 6/14/2024 by the original author to include Bad Boys: Ride or Die.