Will Smith has lauded the "aggressive" creative approach taken in 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die'.
The 55-year-old actor and Martin Lawrence return as Miami detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett, respectively, in the fourth instalment of the buddy cop series, and Smith says that brave choices have been made in the latest picture.
In an interview with Empire magazine, Smith said: "It has to feel like it's earned the right to be a movie today.
"I always hate when you see sequels that are victory laps. In 'Ride or Die' we're taking some really aggressive creative shots."
Smith and Lawrence took inspiration from the original 'Lethal Weapon' film in terms of "pushing the envelope" of character exploration in an action blockbuster.
Smith said: "We wanted to push the envelope of how much life experience and age specificity you can put into these movies.
"With this movie we're being really aggressive in stretching what you can do in a summer action movie. There's a spiritual aspect to it that I think people will be like, 'Okay, that's an interesting evolution for Marcus' character.'"
Lawrence has also teased that the new flick - which is set for release next month - will be "different" from the previous films.
The 59-year-old star said: "They found something interesting and different from all the movies we've done. In four, you're gonna see something different."
Lawrence also revealed that he is happy to keep coming back for more 'Bad Boys' movies as long as Will is involved.
He explained: "I'm going to carry on as long as my brother carries on. It'll be very hard to get rid of me."
Bang Showbiz