2 Fast 2 Furious


Brian: "So, what up, man? You ready for this?"
Roman: "Come on, man. Guns, murderers, and crooked cops? I was made for this!"



release year: 2003
genre: racing action
viewing setting: home Bluray 12/28/16

synopsis: One of the characters from the first film is forced to do a job for the government.

impressions: This is high-intensity action built on an often-ridiculous premise. This time, the "good guys" constantly put other people in danger with their high-speed driving antics; when anyting goes wrong at 120+ mph, it's pretty much one or more fatalities, guaranteed. You can't just drive that fast all the time, just like you can't not work together when your lives are on the line. They finally got past that, but still, the partner (Roman) was brash and stupid, saying and doing stupid things, at least early on. Other silliness: random trash talking at high speeds when no one can hear you, and the assumption that any human being has the reaction time and reflexes to successfully drive a car at 150 mph on a non-interstate road. The scary thing is that young kids watch this movie and think that sort of thing really happens; to quote my brother: "They dream of sexy women and heists and fast cars and being macho, but in real life they don't work and they just play video games all day." Anyhow, the plot came around and all in all, I did enjoy the movie. And there's no faulting the action - good sequences include a warehouse full of sporty cars suddenly emptying onto the street, and a car driving off a ramp to land on a yacht. Of note, this installment had some American muscle cars too.

acting: Paul Walker is back as the reckless ex-cop who sort of falls for the drug lord's woman. Eva Mendes is stunning as that woman, who's actually an undercover agent. Tyrese Gibson is the old friend/enemy who gets recruited to help with the mission. Rapper Ludacris is the friend who helps out with cars and logistics; he actually does a great job acting. Cole Hauser is the ruthless, rich drug lord. James Remar is a jerk Customs agent. Devon Aoki is a cute little street racer and eye candy.

final word: Silly but action-packed and quite entertaining.

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