MacabreVerse

5/10

_Ride Along_ is the very definition of a formulaic buddy action-comedy. From the opening setup to the closing shootout, the film plays out like a checklist of clichés. Nothing about its structure feels fresh — it’s a product designed more by genre convention than by creativity. The only real saving grace comes from the presence of Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. Watching them together does bring a certain level of fun, though even that feels underused. Ice Cube’s performance is stiff at times, leaning heavily on his “tough guy” persona without giving it depth, while Hart essentially plays himself — full of frantic energy and nervous chatter. His charisma at least manages to elicit a few smiles, but it never develops into full comedic payoff. What hurts the film most is its lack of genuine humor. The setups for jokes are visible miles away, and even potentially amusing scenarios fizzle out without clever writing to sustain them. The action is serviceable but bland, failing to offer spectacle beyond the routine. In the end, _Ride Along_ is harmless and passable as background entertainment, but as a comedy or action film it adds little to the genre. It feels more like a missed opportunity — an outline of what could have been a fun ride, left unfinished.

LegendaryFang56

6/10

_"Hurry up. You act like you're looking for doughnuts."_ I thought I'd seen this film a long time ago, for some reason. But it wasn't as familiar as I was expecting. Maybe I didn't. The second film, however, I'm 100% positive I've seen before. I doubt I'd watch that one but not this one, so I must remember that one better. Now, about this film: a good thing I have to say about it is how the two main characters were written/portrayed. Even though I haven't seen barely any Kevin Hart films, I can tell that his character in this film wasn't his usual, at least not totally. Sure, there's a burst here and there of screaming, over-the-top "comedy," which is pretty much his "thing," right? Except, overall, his character wasn't _just_ that; he wasn't just _comic relief_. That was a nice change of things; a rarity, as I bet this is one of his only roles like this. And Ice Cube's character wasn't as intense and fiery as most of his characters probably are, definitely not as much as his character in _21 Jump Street/22 Jump Street_. His character in this film seemed to have more depth, just like Kevin Hart's character. The story was pretty basic, nothing special. There wasn't much about it that was exciting. And I feel like that could've been an element that dragged down the film a bit. This film being an action-comedy, 9 out of 10 times, the story is "supposed" to be not that great. Obviously. But _should_ it _always_ be like that? Know what I'm saying? There are probably _some_ action-comedies out there that break the mold regarding that, and I feel like that should be more common; unfortunately, this film wasn't one of them. Then again, I've barely seen any action comedies, let alone ones like that, to know whether they're preferable in the first place. The biggest problem with this film boiled down to "the point." The action and the comedy. Both seemed highly lackluster, almost as if they weren't focal elements. Besides, I didn't laugh once, which is fine; that can be the case even with films that the majority loved and thought were hilarious. The problem is that it didn't seem to be _there_. And, while fairly decent, the action didn't seem to be there, either. It's like the writers/director were trying to focus on each element, going back and forth, to where, in the end, both suffered from it. Further adding to what I said in the beginning about Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, I was impressed by their performances and chemistry. And I think their characters, and the writing, were perfectly done; it seemed to bring the most out of their performances, and elevate their chemistry, too. That was, by and large, the life and heart of this film. Everything else was going along with that tune: unfortunately, unable to carry its weight alongside that. Anyway, this film was watchable. That's pretty much it. I wasn't super entertained or super bored. Neither bad nor good, but rather: it was watchable. And practically _un-rewatchable_. I do not see myself ever watching this again. But, to be fair, I'd probably not rewatch films that I consider _rewatchable_.