When I say that I enjoyed 2 Fast 2 Furious more than its predecessor, I guess it's kind of like saying I prefer sitting through a bad Rob Schneider movie than sitting through a bad David Spade movie. You could say that the difference is measurable, but only on a slide-scale of low standards. Both installments of the turbo-charged series are bloated attempts to cash in on that tried-and-true genre, the race movie, and both are content to rely on rapid editing and silly camera tricks to simulate action and suspense that never exists to begin with. Thinking back on movies like Days of Thunder, Cannonball Run, Death Race 2000, and Driven, there really aren't that many good car chase/car-based flicks out there. It would be interesting to see what recommendations and suggestions people have for this category, because it's starting to get a little depressing.
The original Fast and the Furious was a sleeper hit, connecting with people who enjoyed fast cars and appreciated the undeniable screen presence of rising star Vin Diesel. This time out, Diesel is missing, but that just means there are less lines about living your life "a quarter mile at a time" and "granny shiftin' not double clutchin' like you should". No, here we have Paul Walker, a decidedly Backstreet kind of fella, ending every sentence with the word, "Bro".
Walker resumes his role as Brian O'Conner, a former cop who apparently is no longer able to work the slackest job in the world. Maybe he didn't bring back enough Timbits for the rest of the squad. Anyway, some Feds (it's always the Feds) get him to work undercover by working with Roman Pearce (Tyrese). Together, they are assigned to retrieve some drug money from a wealthy slimeball (Cole Hauser), which will help the Feds's case to have him arrested. This sets up a series of Amazing Races through which the pair cause a myriad of destruction in their wake in the hopes of having their records expunged.
The movie really goes for broke. A car leaps from land across water Dukes of Hazzard-style onto a boat in one scene. In another, a fleet of race cars comes charging out of a supposedly abandoned warehouse to confront a squad of police cars. This is, of course, to help the heroes get the money for the drug lord so they can personally be handed "$100 Gs at the finish line". And then there is a torture scene which involves a man's chest, a starving rat, and an empty bucket. It must be seen to be believed.
Of course, that's precisely the problem with 2 Fast, 2 Furious. Anyone who's ever driven a car or walked down a city street or breathed oxygen will see the gaping flaws here for what they are. A movie can be outlandish only if it doesn't try to introduce elements of realism, which this movie does when it depicts police interrogation sequences or irritable dialogue that's far from witty. To think, the director here is John Singleton, whose Boyz N the Hood was refreshingly merciless in its depiction or real-life drama. O, how the mighty have fallen.
