Review of Ride Along 2 (2016) by Patrick L — 07 May 2016

"The cinematic equivalent of low voltage".

Movie Review: Ride Along 2.

Date Viewed: January 19 2016.

Directed By Tim Story (Barbershop, Think Like a Man, Think Like a Man Too, Fantastic Four (2005) and Ride Along).

Written By Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, Based on characters created by Greg Coolidge.

Starring: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Ken Jeong, Olivia Munn, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter,.

Sherri Shepherd, Bruce McGill, Glen Powell and Tyrese Gibson.

Last year, Ice Cube brought his life story to the big screen in "Straight Outta Compton" which was universally praised by critics, became a box office hit and it earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Today, Ice Cube is back to making more formulaic buddy movies like this. "Ride Along 2" is the cinematic equivalent of low voltage, it is the sequel to the 2014 smash hit "Ride Along" which turned Kevin Hart into a big movie star. I wasn't a big fan of the first one, it was just another dumb buddy-cop movie but "Ride Along 2" is even worse. Cube and Hart had great chemistry together in the original, I will give the first movie that but it failed to deliver originality and laughs. The sequel is more predictable because it features every buddy-cop cliche you can imagine, the usual chew-down from the police chief, our two protagonists get assigned to a big case, they team up with an annoying witness, they get to the bad guy's contraband, they get screwed big time, they get their badges taken away and they make one last effort to stop the villain. See guys, I spoiled everything for you and saved you $10.00.

Do I hate Kevin Hart because he continues to make one bad movie after another? NO! I like him, he has the potential to make good movies but the scripts are always terrible. Kevin, I know you're a superstar but I think you are not handled well. Ice Cube too should know better, he played the tough-ass police chief in the "21 Jump Street" movies which pokes fun of buddy-cop movie cliches. It might have a bigger budget and cool-looking cars but "Ride Along 2" is your average January junk.

Fresh out of the police academy, Ben Barber (Hart) has now made it to the ranks but he still can't get the respect from his partner and soon-to-be brother-in-law Detective James Payton (Cube). Barber is about to get married to his long-time girlfriend and James' sister, Angela (Tika Sumpter) but he clashes with her wedding planner, Cori (Sherri Shepherd) on their arrangements. James was originally supposed to travel to Miami by himself to work on a big case but he invites Ben to join him. James and Ben are assigned to take down a big-time crime lord named Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt), they are also trying to locate his accomplice and computer hacker, A.J. (Ken Jeong).

These guys now have Ken Jeong in their club? GREAT! James and Ben also team up with a beautiful but hard-as-nails female detective named Maya (Olivia Munn). James and Ben try to use A.J. as a beacon for their operation to take down Pope but it isn't as easy as they think because he plans to set them up and I won't explain much of the story anymore because you know where this is going.

Kevin Hart mugs around, Ice Cube growls, Ken Jeong yells a lot and that goes on for pretty much the whole movie. It is lazy and poorly written but director Tim Story actually made good movies with these guys. Story directed Cube in "Barbershop" and Hart in the first "Think Like a Man" movie. The latter of which I didn't like but it wasn't as bad as the sequel. Story and his screenwriters didn't even try to come up with something that was inspiring and original, they just took old formulas that have been used thousands of times before.

"Ride Along 2" may please the fan bases for both Ice Cube and Kevin Hart but for the rest of us, it will make you beg for Eddie Murphy to come back. It's as disposable and perfunctory as it sounds.