How To Watch The Bad Boys Movies In Order

Michael Bay's 1995 film "Bad Boys" took its title from the 1987 reggae song of the same name, performed by the Jamaican band Inner Circle. The song was used as the theme song for the overwhelmingly popular docudrama TV series "Cops" beginning in 1989, a series about uniform-wearing, on-duty police officers responding to calls. The series began on Fox and ran on that network until 2013. Paramount bought the franchise and continued to run it through 2020. After that, it was picked up by the right wing channel Fox Nation. Thanks to "Cops," Inner Circle's "Bad Boys" is now inextricably associated with the police, even though the song itself isn't expressly a pro-police polemic. "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when then come for you?" As a police anthem, it sounds threatening.

Bay's "Bad Boys" movies used Inner Circle's song as their themes as well, and the franchise's lead characters, played by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, even sang it to themselves while out on patrol in Miami. The "Bad Boys" movies are a lot more raucous than the "Cops" series, featuring broad stories, over-the-top characters, and Bay's traditionally overwrought action style. The "Bad Boys" movies are high-octane buddy cop flicks that depict the Miami PD as flippant superheroes with utter mastery over bullets and explosions. Smith and Lawrence may be tracking down bad boys, but they are bad boys themselves, and one can see the titles of the "Bad Boys" movies reflect their "bad" status. 

There have been four "Bad Boys" movies and one spin-off TV series so far, and, chronologically, they run as follows: 

• "Bad Boys" (1995)
• "Bad Boys II" (2003)
• "L.A.'s Finest" (2019 TV series)
• "Bad Boys for Life" (2020)
• "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" (2024)

The movies all take place within the same continuity, and involve the same characters and the same actors. Watching them chronologically makes the most sense. 

The premise of the "Bad Boys" movies is pretty simple. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence play Miami Detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Bennett, narcotics cops who are deeply devoted to justice, even if they don't take life too seriously. Lowrey is the more straight-laced of the pair, while Bennett is the funnier, more reckless one, but they both have their moments of action badassery. In the first film, they are merely friends, but their personal connections grow over time. 

For instance, in "Bad Boys II," it's revealed that Mike is secretly dating DEA Special Agent Syd Burnett (Gabrielle Union), who is Marcus' sister. The pair break up before the events of "L.A.'s Finest," when Syd Burnett moves to Los Angeles and becomes partnered with Detective Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba). For "Bad Boys for Life," Marcus sees the birth of his grandson, and he is still married to his wife Theresa (Theresa Randle in the first three movies, Tasha Smith in the fourth). 

Between the second and third movies, Mike has accumulated an ex-girlfriend named Rita (Paola Núñez), who also appears in the fourth movie. In the third movie, it's also revealed that Mike is the father of a criminal named Armando (Jacob Scipio), a child he had with Isabel Aretas (Kate del Castillo), a drug queenpin he met while working undercover. Armando returns for the events of "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," and Mike is seen marrying his physical therapist Christine (Melanie Liburd). The fourth movie also deals very directly with the fact that Mike and Marcus are aging out of their jobs, and how they would like to potentially retire before they die on the clock. 

As one can see, there is a personal, character through-line for the "Bad Boys" movies that demands they be watched in order.

The gimmick of the first "Bad Boys" was, like many buddy cop movies, the charisma of its two leads. Will Smith was a star in 1995, but he wasn't yet the king of blockbusters, having appeared in films like "Six Degrees of Separation" and "Made in America." He was best known at the time for his rap career, serving as the royal half of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. His Fresh Prince persona was also employed for the hit sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," which ran a whopping 148 episodes from 1990 to 1996. 

Martin Lawrence, likewise, was best known for his standup comedy and his TV work. Lawrence's sitcom "Martin" ran 158 episodes from 1992 to 1996, and he had already started a noticeable film career by 1995. He had appeared in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," two of the "House Party" movies, and in the Eddie Murphy romcom "Boomerang." Pairing Smith and Lawrence was a brilliant stroke of genius, as they were both hilarious, charismatic actors who, as "Bad Boys" proved, easily handled being leading men. 

The plot of "Bad Boys" is predictable action hooey. Detectives Mike and Marcus have 72 hours to track down a $100,000 shipment of heroin before they are busted by Internal Affairs. Their boss is played by Joe Pantoliano, and they have to protect a witness, a call-girl played by Tea Leoni. In a fun twist, Mike and Marcus have to impersonate each other, leading to whimsical comedic moments. 

Critics didn't much care for "Bad Boys" — it has a 44% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 70 reviews — but it was a giant hit, making over $140 million on a $23 million budget. It launched Smith's career as a leading man (he was in "Independence Day" the following year), and put Bay on the map as a director. 

Bay's "Bad Boys II" was even less well-received than the first "Bad Boys." 

By the time it was released in 2003, Will Smith was a massive star, and Lawrence had appeared in several hit comedies, including "Big Momma's House." Bay had also seen giant successes in films like "The Rock" and "Armageddon," so it was time to strike while all three irons were still hot. "Bad Boys II" was given a huge budget — $130 million — and ended up raking in an impressive $273 million. Critics hated it, though, and it only got a 24% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 184 reviews. Roger Ebert famously said that it wasn't so much filled with action as movement. The film was incoherent. 

The plot, like in the first "Bad Boys," is nonsense, seeing Mike and Marcus having to intercept an incoming ecstasy shipment, leading to a war between various Miami drug cartels. The plots in the "Bad Boys" movies hardly matter, though, as they are a mere excuse for witty banter and blow-em-up action set pieces. Whatever you think of their quality, "Bad Boys II" does contain those things. 

In 2007, "Bad Boys II" was given something of a new life, when it was mentioned in glowing terms in Edgar Wright's cop comedy "Hot Fuzz." One of the main characters in that film, a cop played by Nick Frost, was aghast that his new partner, played by Simon Pegg, wasn't familiar with action cinema, and pointed to "Point Break" and "Bad Boys II" as the high points of the genre. Frost always wanted to be the kind of cop as seen in "Bad Boys II," in that he wanted to fly through the air, firing two guns at the same time. Just like in the photo above. 

As mentioned, Gabrielle Union played a special detective in "Bad Boys II," and she provided linking material between the "Bad Boys" franchise and the two-season TV series "L.A.'s Finest," which began airing in 2019. Union's character, Syd, is Mike's ex-lover and Marcus' sister, although her adventures in "Bad Boys II" don't play a large part of "L.A.'s Finest." Instead, it's a buddy cop series wherein she is paired with the stone-faced Detective McKenna (Jessica Alba), a former career criminal turned cop. Ernie Hudson plays Syd's and Marcus' father, and the show also starred Duane Martin and Zach Gilford. Inner Circle's "Bad Boys" was not used as the theme song, probably because — against all odds — "Cops" was still on the air in 2019.

The series lasted for 26 episodes over two seasons, and was told in broad story arcs rather than cases of the week. It was broadcast on Spectrum as the cable service's first original series. The service wasn't ever enormous, however, having only debuted a small handful of original shows, including the miniseries "The Bite" and the crime drama "Joe Pickett."  The service also revived "Mad About You" for a season. However, because Spectrum itself was so small, "L.A.'s Finest" kind of fell through a crack in pop culture. It will forever be half-remembered, requiring reminders that, yes, this is a "Bad Boys" TV series. (Why it's not called "Bad Girls" is beyond me.) 

Michael Bay, Will Smith, and Martin Lawrence had nothing to do with the making of "L.A.'s Finest," but it was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who also was the central executive behind the "Bad Boys" movies. Union and Alba were the primary executive producers on the show, making it more their project than Bruckheimer's, though. The series can currently be rented on Amazon and Apple TV.

By 2020, Michael Bay had become better known for a long series of "Transformers" feature films, and passed directing duties over to Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who would also helm the 2024 follow-up. It had been 17 years since the release of "Bad Boys II," so "Bad Boys for Life" was meant to be a long-rang legacy sequel, the final word on characters that some audience may remember from their childhoods or teen years. The story follows the characters as they grow older: Marcus is facing retirement, and the Bad Boys now run up against their abilities. Smith and Lawrence returned and are as charming as ever. The story involves a weapons shipment or something. As usual, the story is a tertiary concern in the "Bad Boys" movies. 

"Bad Boys for Life" holds the dubious distinction of being the highest-grossing film of 2020, having made over $426 million on its $90 million budget. That's dubious, however, because it was released right before worldwide movie theater shutdowns over Covid concerns. Other would-be blockbusters in 2020, like "Tenet," "Onward," and "Wonder Woman 1984," all tanked because of Covid. "Bad Boys for Life" was the one lifeline Hollywood had that year, beating out even "Sonic the Hedgehog."

It was also better-liked than the previous "Bad Boys" movies, with El Arbi and Fallah having a better sense of spatial action than Bay. It was the first installment of the series to be graded "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a 76% approval rating, based on 270 reviews. No one loved it, necessarily, but hardly anyone hated it. "Bad Boys for Life" will likely end up being one of the more important Covid-related movies. It was the last blockbuster before everything came to a halt. 

The title for "Bad Boys: Ride or Die" is literal. Detective Bennett is not just aging out of the game, but his body is in danger. Early in the film, he suffers a heart attack and briefly enters the afterlife (!). When he returns from the dead, he has a new lease on life, determined not to be a bad boy anymore, trying to convince Mike that there is something divine about their friendship. Mike, meanwhile, is finally trying to settle down after having dating Marcus' sister and had a child with a now-dead crime lord (as described above). Oh yes, and the Pantoliano character is now dead, lending the lead characters an existential crisis. The plot involves a cover-up and an attempt to clear Pantoliano's name.

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return to direct, and they bring a lot of verve to the proceedings, emerging as the true masters of this franchise. There is a sequence late in the film wherein Mike and Marcus charge into a drug den, guns blazing, and special camera rigs allow the scene to move from POV shots to third-person shots without any edits. Will Smith was outfitted with a camera rig, and he was able to change the direction of the camera in the middle of a shot. 

"Ride or Die" was made for $100 million and made $400 million. None of the "Boys" have been bombs. This one wasn't quite as well-received as the last film — it has a 65% approval rating — but again, few people hated it. Like all the others, it's high-octane hokum. It's astonishing that Smith and Lawrence have been able to remain charming and energetic throughout, despite being 54 and 58 at the time of filming. 

Will there be a fifth "Bad Boys" feature film? It seems that Smith and Lawrence are game. If audience demand remains high, we'll be seeing these guys do their action wackiness until they're 90.