2 Fast 2 Furious

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.

It's not as good as the first and repeats the first film's plot but 2 Fast 2 Furious is still fun due to great performances from Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson and their great chemistry. The enjoyable and over the top action helps as well.

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.

What made the first "The Fast and the Furious" movie attracted fans besides the bad ass cars and competition on the streets was Vin Diesel's appearance as Dominic Toretta, a hotshot race driver who makes his money racing others in the streets; he was a rising star on the fame after doing such flicks such as "Saving Private Ryan", "The Iron Giant" and later doing "XXX".

At the end of the first movie, Vin's character Dominic flees away to Mexico where he wouldn't be in this sequel.

No matter, the series continues on.

"2 Fast 2 Furious" has Paul Walker reprising his role as Brian O'Conner, the one time agent who betrayed the enforcement agency by letting Dominic get away, is now a fugitive and being in a race competitions every night to make money. After being captured by the police, Brian is given a choice in either going to jail or helped the people he once work for in taking down a drug cartel dealer (Cole Hauser). Brian agrees under one condition that he gets his childhood friend Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson, Transformers) involved since he's into cars and knows his ways around tough people. They're also given an ally, the sexy Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) who's not only an undercover agent but also posing as the enemy's mistress. Time will tell when all will be revealed.

"2 Fast 2 Furious" is directed by John Singleton of Boyz in the Hood fame where he manages to bring the same energy and high expectations of the first movie. There's more cars, more chase sequences, more babes and more cameos this time around with a high octane pace.

Overall, it's good.

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.