MickeyMoose15
06-06-2003, 05:37 PM
Released June 6th, 2003
Director: John Singleton
Starring: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, James Remar, Devon Aoki, Thom Barry
Premise: Paul Walker returns as former cop Brian O'Conner who teams up with his ex-con pal Roman Pearce (Tyrese) to transport a shipment of 'dirty' money for shady Miami-based import-export dealer Carter Verone (Hauser), while actually working with undercover agent Monica Clemente (Mendes) to bring Verone down.
When the original The Fast and the Furious opened in theaters back in 2001, it looked to be just another action flick to keep teenagers happy at the movies until the next big hit entered the multiplexes. But The Fast and the Furious became a much bigger then anybody expected, especially its distributor, Universal Pictures. The original film, which cost only $38 million for the studio, ended its run in theaters with over $110 million. The surprise hit of the summer became an even bigger surprise on DVD. The film became one of the largest selling DVDs in the year it was released. So with these results in hand, it was a no brainer for Universal to make a follow up. Unfortunately things didn’t go the way Universal would have liked it. Rising-star Vin Diesel, who got his break out role in the original The Fast and the Furious, wanted a much bigger paycheck then Universal was willing to pay. So in the end, he ended up dropping out of the project. After Diesel dropped out, Rob Cohen, director of The Fast and the Furious, also dropped out of the sequel. But since Universal still had Paul Walker, the other star of the original, they decided to go on with the sequel without them. Will the risk pay off for Universal or will this high-octane thrill ride run out of gas?
The story goes that street racing is a big thing in the city of Miami. Watching tricked out cars race up and down the street and seeing who crashes and who crosses the finish line is a huge thrill with the people of Southern Florida. One of the big stars of the street racing scene is Brian O’Conner, who last time we saw him was racing out in Los Angles with Vin Diesel as an undercover cop. But since he let the criminal go, he was forced to leave the police department. When he is caught by the police, he is recruited by them to track down a cruel Miami import/export dealer. When O’Conner doesn’t like the partner the police team him up with, he recruits an old friend, Roman Pearce, to help him track down the dealer so they can get their records cleaned. The story for 2 Fast 2 Furious is one of the most ridiculous ones pulled out of a movie. It is certainly as worse or even more horrible then the one for the original film. Some elements are ridiculous crafted into the film and some of the chases scenes are set up in a way that are too predictable. The absence of director Rob Cohen is clearly obvious with the sequel. Though the original wasn’t a movie masterpiece, Cohen had at least some consistency. This film lacks that very dearly.
The characters of 2 Fast 2 Furious are, for the most part, just stereotypes. The rest that are not, don’t do a great job acting through this tired script. Paul Walker, who didn’t receive too many fabulous comments about his acting, or lack there of, in the original film, doesn’t do much better in the follow up but one can see improvement. The only one in the cast that shows some sign of rising acting talent is Tyrese Gibson, who plays O’Conner’s ex-con buddy, Roman Pearce. Tyrese brings a lot of well needed humor is this film that is, for the most part, fairly dry. Most of the rest of the cast aren’t really worth mentioning. Devon Aoki who plays Suki in the film isn’t given much outside of the look badass and hot at the same time argument. She has no important lines and really doesn’t do much with her role in the first place. She is basically there just for show. Same goes for Eva Mendes, though her character obviously places a more important role. But on a technical note, her character really doesn’t do too much. The rest of the cast, like it was said before, isn’t worth mentioning.
Overall, 2 Fast 2 Furious is not much of an improvement from the original but did we really expect it to be? Without the badass charm of Vin Diesel and the consistency of Rob Cohen at the helm, the project suffers greatly. The story is tired, dry and too predictable as the film progresses. For what was accomplished in the film, if anything at all, the film could have been wrapped up much quicker then the two hours it ran in. Nothing really stands out to take of big note within the film outside of the rising acting power of Tyrese Gibson. The film focuses too much on the scantily clad babes and the adrenaline powered cars to hear how ridiculous the script actually sounds. When they finish talking their “street lingo”, the lines they pop out sound cheesy and dry. But one does have to admit that with all the problems the film suffers from, the racing scenes are very well done. The special effects, as impressive as they are, still look pretty fake, which is pretty obvious. The charm of the original, if that was possible for some, was the realistic racing scenes. Most of those in the sequel are done on computer with only the actors placed in motionless cars against a blue screen in order to add the CGI later on. This was possibly the biggest disappointment of the film with nothing else expected from the sequel. The month of June looks bad enough with four horrible duds opening up next weekend but with a start like 2 Fast 2 Furious, there is only one thing to say: Disney and Pixar should make a real killing with Finding Nemo this month.
My Rating: ** out of 5 (Grade: D)
Director: John Singleton
Starring: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, James Remar, Devon Aoki, Thom Barry
Premise: Paul Walker returns as former cop Brian O'Conner who teams up with his ex-con pal Roman Pearce (Tyrese) to transport a shipment of 'dirty' money for shady Miami-based import-export dealer Carter Verone (Hauser), while actually working with undercover agent Monica Clemente (Mendes) to bring Verone down.
When the original The Fast and the Furious opened in theaters back in 2001, it looked to be just another action flick to keep teenagers happy at the movies until the next big hit entered the multiplexes. But The Fast and the Furious became a much bigger then anybody expected, especially its distributor, Universal Pictures. The original film, which cost only $38 million for the studio, ended its run in theaters with over $110 million. The surprise hit of the summer became an even bigger surprise on DVD. The film became one of the largest selling DVDs in the year it was released. So with these results in hand, it was a no brainer for Universal to make a follow up. Unfortunately things didn’t go the way Universal would have liked it. Rising-star Vin Diesel, who got his break out role in the original The Fast and the Furious, wanted a much bigger paycheck then Universal was willing to pay. So in the end, he ended up dropping out of the project. After Diesel dropped out, Rob Cohen, director of The Fast and the Furious, also dropped out of the sequel. But since Universal still had Paul Walker, the other star of the original, they decided to go on with the sequel without them. Will the risk pay off for Universal or will this high-octane thrill ride run out of gas?
The story goes that street racing is a big thing in the city of Miami. Watching tricked out cars race up and down the street and seeing who crashes and who crosses the finish line is a huge thrill with the people of Southern Florida. One of the big stars of the street racing scene is Brian O’Conner, who last time we saw him was racing out in Los Angles with Vin Diesel as an undercover cop. But since he let the criminal go, he was forced to leave the police department. When he is caught by the police, he is recruited by them to track down a cruel Miami import/export dealer. When O’Conner doesn’t like the partner the police team him up with, he recruits an old friend, Roman Pearce, to help him track down the dealer so they can get their records cleaned. The story for 2 Fast 2 Furious is one of the most ridiculous ones pulled out of a movie. It is certainly as worse or even more horrible then the one for the original film. Some elements are ridiculous crafted into the film and some of the chases scenes are set up in a way that are too predictable. The absence of director Rob Cohen is clearly obvious with the sequel. Though the original wasn’t a movie masterpiece, Cohen had at least some consistency. This film lacks that very dearly.
The characters of 2 Fast 2 Furious are, for the most part, just stereotypes. The rest that are not, don’t do a great job acting through this tired script. Paul Walker, who didn’t receive too many fabulous comments about his acting, or lack there of, in the original film, doesn’t do much better in the follow up but one can see improvement. The only one in the cast that shows some sign of rising acting talent is Tyrese Gibson, who plays O’Conner’s ex-con buddy, Roman Pearce. Tyrese brings a lot of well needed humor is this film that is, for the most part, fairly dry. Most of the rest of the cast aren’t really worth mentioning. Devon Aoki who plays Suki in the film isn’t given much outside of the look badass and hot at the same time argument. She has no important lines and really doesn’t do much with her role in the first place. She is basically there just for show. Same goes for Eva Mendes, though her character obviously places a more important role. But on a technical note, her character really doesn’t do too much. The rest of the cast, like it was said before, isn’t worth mentioning.
Overall, 2 Fast 2 Furious is not much of an improvement from the original but did we really expect it to be? Without the badass charm of Vin Diesel and the consistency of Rob Cohen at the helm, the project suffers greatly. The story is tired, dry and too predictable as the film progresses. For what was accomplished in the film, if anything at all, the film could have been wrapped up much quicker then the two hours it ran in. Nothing really stands out to take of big note within the film outside of the rising acting power of Tyrese Gibson. The film focuses too much on the scantily clad babes and the adrenaline powered cars to hear how ridiculous the script actually sounds. When they finish talking their “street lingo”, the lines they pop out sound cheesy and dry. But one does have to admit that with all the problems the film suffers from, the racing scenes are very well done. The special effects, as impressive as they are, still look pretty fake, which is pretty obvious. The charm of the original, if that was possible for some, was the realistic racing scenes. Most of those in the sequel are done on computer with only the actors placed in motionless cars against a blue screen in order to add the CGI later on. This was possibly the biggest disappointment of the film with nothing else expected from the sequel. The month of June looks bad enough with four horrible duds opening up next weekend but with a start like 2 Fast 2 Furious, there is only one thing to say: Disney and Pixar should make a real killing with Finding Nemo this month.
My Rating: ** out of 5 (Grade: D)