Review of 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) by C.j. H — 15 May 2013

My coverage of this series continue with the sequel which has a bigger budget and bigger problems. Whereas the first at least provided some decent fun this sequel is a step backward. Also my surprise when I went to post my review to discover that over 31 million people have rated this movie and with that many people rating it's not hard to see why the series is still going.

2 Fast 2 Furious is about former cop, Brian O'Conner finally arrested after letting his leader escape the law. To avoid the consequences, he must now work with an old college friend and help the police arrest a local drug exporter. The premise while having allot more to work off with than the previous entry is even worse. It's a very formulaic film where it thinks it creating suspense around the idea the criminals will discover our hero identity, but you know where it heading because of bad writing. The plot is nearly nonexistent with some questionably bad scenes. One involving the villain threatening to kill a crooked cop with a bucket, a rat, and a blow torch. The climax is also a huge letdown with the final confrontation with our heroes and the villian ending quickly as it begins. Our hero sidekick is a complete moron. The sidekick here shoots at police officers despite being undercover among other idiotic things that surprisingly didn't make thing worse for the heroes. The protagonist and his sidekick regardless of his stupidity are the best thing about the movie. The two are given some development and are fun to see together, but hammy conversations tend to ruin that too. It's a shame that the only good aspect of the film is ruined by a nonexistent, formulaic plot.

Paul Walker was the best actor in the previous entry and delivers the same performance here. He has plenty more material to work of here on the dramatic and can make the cheesiest of dialogue serviceable. Tyrese Gibson is a loose cannon and is fun to watch. His character is infuriating at time, but Gibson chemistry with Walker is their to prevent things feeling like a drag. The other actors ranges from bland to forgettable. When the leads are not on screen expect bad acting and a lost of interest. The race scenes are underwhelming. Instead of using the bigger budget on bigger practical stunts we get video game like CGI. It looks awful and doesn't have the same punch as the original. Even the structure of the racing scenes feel too familiar to the original. As for the wretched green effect it better left unseen.

2 Fast 2 Furious is a bad sequel that fails to improve on a film that didn't much have going for it. It's a step back as bad CG replace practical stunts and a story that's devoid of much originality does away with the enjoyment it could have delivered.