2003 | Dir. John Singleton | 107 Minutes
"Guns, murderers, and crooked cops? I was made for this, bro!"
Shortly after allowing Dominic Toretto escape from law enforcement in Los Angeles, Brian O'Conner is apprehended on the streets of Miami by U.S. Customs and the FBI. The federal agents offer to clear Brian's criminal record in exchange for his participation in an operation to bust a ruthless crime lord. With the help of reckless childhood friend Roman Pearce, genius gear-head Tej Parker, and undercover agent Monica Fuentes, Brian begins a new chapter in his life of fast cars and ridiculous stunts.
Though the film features more cars, more women in skimpy outfits, higher stakes, and attempts at comedy that mostly fall flat, it is an inferior sequel that fails to capture the excitement and the heart of the original film. Centered on the flimsily defined friendship between Brian and Roman, the undercover agent plot is dull and lifeless, and the world of 24/7 debauchery in the Miami street racing scene depicted in the film is unconvincing. Despite its shortcomings, the film still satisfies with incredible sequences of vehicular action, most notably the opening race featuring a spectacular jump from a raised drawbridge, and another incredible jump onto a boat in the finale. Sillier bits include a sequence with countless cars shuffling about in a move to confuse pursuing law enforcement, and a gag with an ejector seat pulled straight out of the James Bond playbook.
Without Vin Diesel to act against this time, Paul Walker does his best to carry this sequel and though he does his best, no actor could have brought life to this paper thin narrative. Tyrese Gibson inserts a bit of levity as Roman but most of his "snappy" dialogue falls flat. He plays well enough off of Walker but his one-liners are mostly cringe-worthy. Eva Mendes plays Agent Fuentes, love interest to Brian, and though pleasing to the eye, she offers little in the way of chemistry with Walker. Cole Hauser turns in a dead-on-arrival performance as crime boss Carter Verone, aiming for understated but coming off as mostly disinterested. James Remar does what he does best in a thankless role as confrontational U.S. Customs Agent Markham, and Thom Barry returns as FBI Agent Bilkins. Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges is appropriately charismatic in a big supporting role as Tej, while Devon Aoki doesn't have much to do except look cute and not fudge her lines as his street racing girlfriend Suki.
Lacking the edge of the original film, but featuring more of everything else, 2 Fast 2 Furious is perhaps one of the most unnecessary sequels of all-time. When all is said, this unfortunately-titled (magnificently-titled?) sequel is a colorful ride that's dumb as bricks but still an entertaining, if totally unoriginal, action film.
FRAGMENTS
- The series' habit of assigning unconventional titles to its sequels begins here, with possibly the worst and most-often parodied sequel title this side of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo
- In Japan, the title for this film is Wild Speed X2
- The filmmakers offered Ja Rule a deal to reprise his character from the first film in an expanded role but he turned down the offer, and the role of Tej was created for Ludacris (Grantland)
- Hong Kong rapper MC Jin (credited as Jin Auyeung) makes his feature film debut as Tej's mechanic Jimmy; he later appears in the excellent kung-fu comedy Gallants (打擂台) and the RZA's The Man with the Iron Fists
- The corrupt Detective Whitworth, memorably featured in a scene in which he is tortured by Verone with a rat in a heated metal bucket, is played by character actor Mark Boone Jr., who has appeared in Batman Begins and 30 Days of Night, and is perhaps best known as Bobby Munson on Sons of Anarchy
- Nice to see James Remar, forever known to me as Ajax from The Warriors first and foremost, most recently seen playing Harry Morgan on Dexter, and Chief Tonraq on The Legend of Korra
- Producer Neal H. Moritz makes a cameo appearance as a police officer during the freeway chase sequence
