Rapides et dangereux 2

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.