2 Fast 2 Furious

With the help of Paul Walker and Vin Diesel's chemistry and some intense racing scenes, Rob Cohen's The Fast and the Furious (2001) was an instant hit among racing fans. And like most franchises with critical financial success, a sequel started to be put into the works. Similar to many other sequels, it was distributed two years later and it's difficult to say whether it pleased fans as much as the first one did. According to this site, this is lowest score the franchise has. It wasn't bad at all but it was missing a few elements of the first movie, which left a more entertaining feeling.

The story follows ex-cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) back to Miami from Los Angeles where he's enjoying his time racing street cars only to be pulled back by the authorities that he dropped. Heading the authorities is Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) from the first installment and this time he wants O'Conner back one more time to take down a drug lord. And O'Conner can't refuse because he'd go to jail if he didn't accept. Plus, if the drug lord is turned in, all of his criminal charges will disappear. Why does this plot sound like Vin Diesel's xXx (2002) plot line (except it doesn't deal with a drug lord)? Speaking of which, why didn't Vin Diesel return? That's one thing that this franchise consistently needs. Paul Walker is the central character but Vin Diesel's presence was the icing on the cake.

Is was nice though that the writers kept the continuity together. The characters do reference material from the first film which shows the producers want to keep the story going and not divert completely from the original. But if there's one thing that comes into question, it is the concept of getting caught having a love interest in the business. This happened in the first movie and it blew O'Conners cover. Here the same thing happens in a similar way. You'd think the lesson was learned. Sigh. The new interest is Eva Mendes and she plays her character well enough. Accompanying O'Conner is Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) an old friend who originally has a grudge for some of his own issues. Even with this though, their chemistry works well.

Playing the drug lord is another interesting actor - Cole Hauser. He has a very smooth deep voice and resembles a very young Tom Berenger. He's also able to make his character seem dangerous enough to hurt someone. That's it for characters. The music produced by David Arnold of Stargate (1994) sounded better than BT's score from the first film but it wasn't evident enough. Barely heard a thing. As for action scenes, the racing is still fast paced and contains much of the same film making as the first, which kept the feeling the same. Other than that, the story feels the same as before but without Vin Diesel.

It's not a bad follow up to the first movie, but not casting Vin Diesel wasn't smart - it's like missing a piece to a puzzle. Other than that, it's still a decent watch with better music and well-staged action sequences.

2 Fast 2 Furious isn't quite as good as the first film but it's still a really good movie in its own right. The cast was great once again with Paul Walker returning to his role as Brian O'Connor and Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mendes adding new character dynamics. Tyrese in particular was great. If there's one thing the first film lacked it's that there wasn't much humor. It was a very serious film and while that's great, Tyrese's character, Roman Pearce, added some great laughs at some unexpected moments. The cinematic effects were much better in this film also. The only negatives were that some of the action sequences were a little overboard (Dukes of Hazard jump for example) and the dialogue had too much street car jargon to the extent that some of it felt forced. "That Yenko will snap a speedo in 5 seconds" is an example of the type of dialogue that doesn't actually feel genuine in its placement in the film. Nonetheless, a really good movie with solid acting and great action.

The cars, the stunts and the eye candy (Eva Mendes) are better than the first. But unlike the first, 2 Fast 2 Furious still boasts a lacklustre plot. Nevertheless, it's a great "bro" movie for the guys. The partnership between Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson) and Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker) is amusing and works well as they team up and do next to impossible driving stunts with each other. The slight romance between Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) and Brian O'Connor is predictable, but it's not to the same extent as the first one - just a bit of flirtation but not to the extent of a full fledged relationship. The Miami backdrop adds to the "upgrade" feel of the second movie in the Fast & Furious franchise. Flashy and full of action is 2 Fast, 2 Furious.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sequel to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS has former cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) pulled back into the game when he's asked to go undercover and link a drug dealer to some flowing cash. O'Conner brings in his buddy Roman (Tyrese Gibson) as the two try to bring down the drug dealer so that their records will be cleared. I think it's safe to say that John Singleton is pretty much above this type of material and I think his inexperience in the genre somewhat hurts the picture. There's no question that the man knows how to tell a story and I think he does a great job with just about everything in the picture except for the car races and stunts. The one area where this sequel is really lacking is in regards to the races because they all look rather poor. A lot of this can be blamed on how they're shot and I also wasn't too impressed with the editing during these scenes. It really did seem as if they didn't film anything in a good way so they had to cover it up with the editing. Another bad thing is when the cars hit their "turbo" we're given some very bad effects with all the scenery getting blurry. This here just doesn't work. The rest of the film I thought was pretty good as we're given characters we like and there's no question that there's plenty of eye candy at work. Walker and Gibson are both good in their parts as they share some nice chemistry and both manage to play it cool. Eva Mendes doesn't get too much to do except try out a good looking bikini, which I'm sure will be enough for most. The rest of the supporting players are good in their parts including Cole Hauser as the bad guy as Ludicrous as a racing buddy. At just 108-minutes the film never overstays its welcome and director Singleton at least keeps the film moving at a nice pace. The story itself is downright idiotic but this is a popcorn movie after all so it's not that big of a deal.

Undoubtedly this sequel suffers from the absence of Dom and the Toretto clan, but it still makes for a very enjoyable ride.

The plot is a little bit derivative of the first, following Brian on an undercover op, but it is a pretty fun story nonetheless.

We get to meet new characters Tej and Roman, who grow to become franchise regulars, and their introductions are very solid.

The direction is fairly slick. Some of the awkward choppy camera shots and whiplash inducing cuts remain, but there's plenty of impressive camera work in here too.

What I really enjoyed about this film though was the general tone. It is energetic and sleek and despite its flaws always carries a certain amount of charm and appeal.