2 Fast 2 Furious

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Without Vin Diesel and any intelligence, "2 Fast, 2 Furious" is a perfect example of a sequel that should never have been. However, with the huge popularity of the first film and the entire generation of street racing spawned by the first picture, there was no way Universal was going to not release a sequel. Director Rob Cohen did not return either. He and Vin Diesel decided to head off and film "XXX" instead of a followup to one of Vin Diesel´s first bonafide hits. Some would say that the actors were not the stars of the first film and that Cohen was not the architect. They would proclaim that Mitsubishi and Toyota were the real stars and architects of the film. I avoided travelling to the multiplexes to witness this second film and ignored it when it was released on DVD. There was always a thought that maybe those who believed that the cars truly were the stars of the show were correct and when HD-DVD arrived, I was finally able to witness for myself if Paul Walker and a few cars could drive a feature film.

Adding Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes and Ludacris is not enough to replace Rob Cohen and Vin Diesel. Even dangling a Mitsubishi Evo VII, Nissan Skyline and vintage Camaro Z/28 wasn´t enough for me to love this film. Yes, the cars were more impressive and numerous than the first film. I´m not a fan of foreign sports cars, but I have a great deal of respect for the Mitsubishi Evolution. If I ever had to purchase a four door car, the Evolution would be it. There was a powerful Z/28. I enjoyed the race with the old muscle cars, though they felt greatly out of place in this followup. It wasn´t just this race scene that didn´t quite seem to fit in the grand scheme of things; practically the entire film was a mish-mash of action sequences and car races that tried to form the semblence of a plot, but resulted in an incoherent mess that should have sunk this franchise and not resulted in a third film.

In "2 Fast, 2 Furious," Brian O´Connor has found himself on the other side of the law for allowing Dominic Toretto to escape with a car purchased through police funds. He is forced back onto the side of the law and into another undercover gig to infiltrate a drug lord in Miami and stop drug trafficing that seems to be handled with high performance cars. O´Connor strikes a deal and looks to an old friend to be his partner in the undercover operation. Convict Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) has lost his brotherly love for O´Connor when O´Connor became a police officer. Still, he is the man that O´Connor trusts the most and a very qualified driver. The FBI agrees and give the two men two very high performance cars to aid them in their operation to bring down the druglord.

Their point of contact and entry into the druglords team of drivers is through the gorgeous latino Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes). She is another undercover agent, but has been doing whatever it takes to earn the respect of druglord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser). O´Connor and Pearce must compete with other drivers hoping for a piece of the action, including Tej (Ludacris). They are given a high speed test to prove their merit and ultimately must find a way to bring down Verone, but also determine if Fuentes was fully compromised and save her from a potentially nasty fate.

The action and racing in "2 Fast, 2 Furious" is indeed fast and furious. It is however, heavily cliché ridden and quite unimaginative. Some of the themes and situations from the first film are rehashed and reused in the sequel. The writing and direction does not match up to the original, though I have more overall respect for John Singleton as a director than I do for Rob Cohen. Singleton created far better driving sequences for "Four Brothers" than he did here. Perhaps a loud and fast paced Hollywood action film is something that Singleton should have avoided in the case of "2 Fast, 2 Furious." He is a talented director and my belief is that this film was well below him and the final product is not indicative of his talent, but on the material and requirements provided.

There were a few scenes I did enjoy in "2 Fast, 2 Furious." I certainly enjoyed watching the big bad American muscle cars whip up on the foreign sports cars. They are magnificent beasts. A few others were entertaining and Eva Mendes is stunning. But in the end, this film is simply a mess and without Vin Diesel and the freshness that was associated with "The Fast and the Furious," this is a cookie cutter sequel that tries to be bigger and badder than the film is succeeds, but is among the numerous other sequels that just tarnished the good name of their pedigree.

Video:
"2 Fast, 2 Furious" is perhaps the best looking film of the trilogy. It benefits greatly from the sunny vistas of Miami. The first and third films in the series contained many darkly lit night racing scenes. This second film takes full advantage of the Miami sun and the result is a far more colorful film and a level of detail that is more consistent throughout the film. The 2.35:1 film is presented with a VC-1/1080p transfer. As was the case with the first film, this is the type of HD-DVD transfer that can be used to showcase a home theater system, but is "2 Fast, 2 Furious" the kind of film you want to own up to your friends as owning? Colors are vibrant and beautifully reproduced. Shadow detail and black levels are quite good. The film is created from pristine film stock and not a single flaw in picture quality can be found. Once again, detail was so high, that I was tempted to try to see my own reflection in the paint of the cars.

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