kevin hart

Directed by Tim Story, police comedy Ride Along will be hitting cinemas across Britain this Friday. With an all-star cast including Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, the expectations for this film are high. Although the film has plenty of action, strong language, car chases, criminal activity and guns, this is not your average action film, as comedian Kevin Hart steals the show.

When video-game junkie and high school security guard Ben Barber, also known as the ‘Black Hammer (Kevin Hart), gets accepted into the police academy, he thinks it will gain him instant respect and approval from his soon to be brother in law. James Payton (Ice Cube) is a hard-boiled police detective who has spent the last three years trying to find the identity of Atlanta’s most notorious Kingpin, Omar. Ice Cube’s role is somewhat ironic considering his rise to fame was with rap group, N.W.A, and one of their biggest hits being ‘Fuck Tha Police’.

Orphaned at a young age and forced to grow up in the care system, James and his sister Angela (Tika Sumpter) only have each other and have formed a close relationship. Family tensions arise early on in the film when references are made to Ben being responsible for the third degree burns James suffered during a barbeque.

Unable to ask for Angela’s hand in marriage until he gets James’ seal of approval, Ben is forced to gain respect the hard way and eagerly accepts the offer to go on a police ride along with James. Ben is clueless as to James’ real intentions, thinking that it’s merely a way to prove himself worthy of Angela, he is oblivious to the ‘126’ jobs that James has intentionally taken on in order to humiliate and somewhat scare Ben out of joining the police force.

The ride along quickly turns into something more serious as Ben finds himself giving clues away to James about Atlanta’s most wanted criminal, Omar. America’s national anxieties about terrorism are underlined throughout the narrative, with tensions arising equally with Serbian mobsters and Omar’s gang. However James’ ploy to emasculate Ben fails when his video-game addiction unexpectedly reveals hidden combat skills he is able to use.

To some extent Ride Along is fairly predictable with its Hollywood ‘happily ever after’ ending and its conventional narrative, yet it remains highly entertaining. I would recommend any Kevin Hart fans to go and watch this film at the cinema, as Hart really brings the comedy alive with slapstick humour and hilarious laugh out loud scenes, not to mention his high pitched, screeching interrogation voice! However if it’s a real, hard-core action film that you are after, maybe this is not the film for you.

Ride Along is out on Friday 28th February in cinemas throughout London.