Review of Ride Along 2 (2016) by Nicholas G — 22 Mar 2016

From Kevin Hart's fast talking to Ice Cube's obnoxiously rude comments, Ride Along 2 has it all. Just one moment to capture what the whole movie was like to me is when Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Ken Jeong, and Olivia Munn are all staked out in a car and Hart and Jeong are being annoying in the back seat. Ice Cube and Olivia Munn turn around and tell them to "Shut up!" At times, throughout this movie, I just wanted to yell that through the screen to the characters because of how much the script annoyed me.

Ride Along 2 is the 2016 sequel to the 2014 comedy Ride Along. Tim Story (Ride Along/Think Like a Man/Too/Fantastic Four/Rise of the Silver Surfer) returns to direct this sequel which once again stars Ice Cube (James Payton) and Kevin Hart (Ben Barber) as soon to be brother-in-laws with the new addition of cast members Ken Jeong and Olivia Munn. Benjamin Bratt plays Antonio Pope, the villain/antagonist, in this installment. This time along the 2 main characters travel to Miami, Florida to investigate a drug dealer (Pope) who is supplying dealers in Atlanta with his product. From there Hart and Cube, meet Olivia Munn's character, Miami Detective Maya, and Ken Jeong's character, A.J., and from there chaos assumes.

I went into this movie with not very high expectations, but also not very low because I somewhat enjoyed the first film. I enjoyed the first movie, but did not think it was anything special. I didn't absolutely hate this movie infact I chuckled at some parts. Kevin Hart and Ice Cube have great chemistry you can tell even though sometimes it can be unrealistic. Benjamin Bratt does a good job with the material he was given and was a stronger villain than the first movie's villain. Also, Ken Jeong was a good addition to the cast list because most of the very little laughs I got from this film were said by his character. The plot is just a typical cliche buddy-cop comedy plot that really doesn't have anything unique. My biggest issue with the movie is its script. A lot of the comedy feels forced or added on, and Ice Cube's character can be so unlikeable at times, I sympathized for Kevin Hart's character and felt really bad for him.

In the end, this movie is just another example of a sequel that was made as a cash grab. Fans of the first movie will most likely enjoy this one (1st one is better in my opinion), but if you didn't like the original film don't waste your money to watch this one. I wouldn't recommend seeing this movie in theaters, but if it's on cable TV on a rainy day check it out.

I'm going to rate this movie:

B-.

5.7.

2 Stars.