Warning: Major spoilers for Bad Boys: Ride or Die below!
Summary
Bad Boys: Ride or Dieunderlines how poorlyExpendables 4used one of its young stars.The Expendablesmovie franchisewas created by Sylvester Stallone, who designed the series to unite some of the genre’s most iconic stars. Critically, the films were largely met with disdain, but the first two outings did very well on the strength of bringing together names like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Wesley Snipes and many more. After an effort to produce an all-female spinoff - dubbedThe Expendabelles- came to nothing, a belated fourth entry arrived in 2023.
Sadly for followers of the action property,The Expendables 4’sterrible box officeand reviews almost certainly killed the series. There are many factors to blame for this, including lingering disappointment over 2014’s lackluster third offing and the bizarre decision to sideline Stallone for most of the story. While one R-rated franchise has stumbled, the box-office success ofBad Boys: Ride or Dieproves the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence saga is stronger than ever.Bad Boys 5will almost certainly happentoo, with the fourth entry providing the mix of laughs and action have come to expect.
One of the shock twists fromBad Boys for Life’sendingwas that the movie’s villain Armando (Jacob Scipio) was revealed to be Mike’s secret son. This emotional reveal injected some depth into Mike’s story, but considering all the chaos Armando had caused - including the assassination of Mike and Marcus' beloved Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) - this gave viewers conflicting feelings towards the character.
Bad Boys 4gives Scipio’s Armando a great redemption arc, where he aids Mike and Marcus in clearing the late Captain’s namewhen Howard is posthumously accused of corruption. Armando even makes peace with Howard’s vengeful daughter Judy (Rhea Seehorn) when he saves her daughter Callie duringBad Boys: Ride or Die’sexplosive ending. In just about every sense, Scipio is the sequel’s third lead, and while he doesn’t earn the same laughs as his co-stars, he turns in a scene-stealing turn.
Of course, Armando isn’t being placed as a potential future replacement for Smith or Lawrence either. The character adds some edge to the Mike/Marcus dynamic, but they’re still at the core of the series. Still, it’s tricky for any long-running franchise to introduce a major new figure and slot them into the existing character dynamics, but Scipio’s Armando has proven a worthy addition.
Expend4bles
Cast
The Expendables 4 is the fourth entry in the action legacy-hero franchise, bringing together famous action-hero stars from the past and present to battle international terrorist threats. This fourth entry sees the mercenary group dragged into a catastrophic nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia, forcing them to intervene.
Expendables 4 was a poor showcase for Scipio, saddling him with unfunny dialogue and a bizarre subplot where he remains mute for a chunk of the story following the supposed death of Stallone’s Barney.
Ride or Dieisn’t the bestBad Boysmovie by any stretch, but it’s an entertaining adventure that plays to the franchise’s strengths. It follows through on Armando’s arc from the third film too, where he not only has to earn redemption for his misdeeds but bond with his estranged father. Just likeBad Boys for Life, the latest entry gives Scipio a good showcase for his action skills.Bad Boys: Ride or Dieis also Scipio’s follow-up to the disastrousExpendables 4, where the young actor was largely wastedas the latest member of the titular mercenaries.
Scipio plays Galan inExpendables 4, the impulsive son of Antonio Banderas' Galgo from the third adventure. In fact, Banderas was penciled to reprise his role in the film, but when scheduling forced him out, a quick rewrite turned Galgo into his son, Galan. The film was a poor showcase for Scipio, saddling him with unfunny dialogue and a bizarre subplot where he remains mute for a chunk of the story following the supposed death of Stallone’s Barney.
Scipio tries to overcome the weak material with hammy overacting, but there’s little he can do to make it shine.Expendables 4didn’t give Scipio any standout action beats either, in contrast to his brutal fight scenes inBad Boys: Ride or Die’s. The latter film knew how to play to the actor’s strengths, while the fourthExpendablesjust forced him to do his best Banderas impression.
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2010
$268,268,174
42%
2012
$311,979,256
67%
2014
$209,461,378
32%
2023
$51,133,603
14%
The Expendables 3’sbiggest mistake was aiming to make the franchise PG-13, and trying to appeal to a younger audience. By design, these films are throwbacks to the blockbusters of the 1980s and 1990s, and while trying to pull in new fans is never a bad idea, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the franchise’s core tenets. This third outing introduced a gang of young, hip Expendables, with Ronda Rousey and Glen Powell among the new recruits.
Even so, the cast was so overstacked with genre icons that none of the younger characters had a chance to shine. Powell has since become a star thanks toTop Gun: MaverickandHit Man, yet most completely forget he was even in anExpendablesmovie. InThe Expendables 2, Liam Hemsworth was at least given some good scenes as the team’s ill-fated sniper, but it didn’t exactly set him up to become a new action star in his own right either.
Liam Hemsworth’s Billy the Kid remains the only member of the Expendables to have died onscreen.
Expendables 4sadly continued the series' tradition of undervaluing its new starsand not letting them shine. Scipio and co-star Levy Tran did their best to stand out among the ensemble, but the sequel never seems particularly interested in giving them the spotlight. Given how much he stands out in hisBad Boysappearances,Expendables 4really misunderstood Scipio’s potential.
The success ofBad Boys: Ride or Diemight make another sequel inevitable, but it will hopefully see Scipio given an action project of his own to front. Much of the star’s career so far has seen him playing supporting roles alongside names like Michael B. Jordan, Nic Cage and Will Smith, but his work as Armando proves he’s ready to take center stage in a movie of his own.
Jacob Scipio also appeared in canceled DCU adventureBatgirl, which was helmed by hisBad Boysdirectors Adil & Bilall.
Scipio doesn’t currently appear attached to any upcoming movies or shows, but again,Ride or Die’ssuccess will soon change that. If theBad Boysfranchise wanted to get a little experimental, a spinoff focusing on Armando - featuring guest appearances by Smith’s Mike and Lawrence’s Marcus, naturally - would be an interesting angle to take.Ride or Die’sending even sets this up, with Armando having to go on the run following the finale. Regardless,Scipio would be wise to test out his leading man abilities for hisBad Boysfollow-up, and prove he can front his own projects.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Bad Boys: Ride or Die continues the action-packed saga of Miami detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. The film follows the duo as they face new threats and personal challenges, blending intense action scenes with the camaraderie fans have come to love in the Bad Boys series.
