THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Fast and the Furious was an exhilarating action film in 2001. Because of its box office success, this would be the beginning of an extensive franchise that included hit or miss sequels. While I understand not everyone can get into the fun that is provided, I have a hard time denying that I get just that with 2 Fast 2 Furious.
PLOT
The 2003 sequel follows Brian O’Conner who fled prosecution in Los Angeles, after allowing criminal Dominic Toretto escape. He now lives in Miami, Florida as a street racer. After winning another organized by his mechanic friend Tej Parker, he gets recruited by his former superior Special Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) to take down drug lord Carter Verone. If he succeeds, his criminal record will be wiped clean. He agrees with the request of having a partner of his choice. He recruits Roman Pearce, a childhood friend who got arrested for housing stolen cars. He blames Brian for not helping him in some shape of form because he was a cop at the time. He puts his animosity aside when knowing that his name will be cleared too. They first meet up with fellow undercover agent Monica Fuentes, who has been romantically involved with Verone for almost a year. She issues them two cars that they use to win an audition race that impresses the crime lord. Now hired by him, he offers $100,000 if they succeed in delivering a package to him. Since their issued cars have trackers planted by agent Markham (James Remar), they need new ones. They end up winning two new cars in a tag team race against two other men that were part of the audition race. After that victory, they meet Verone and Monica at bar. In a VIP room, they witness him torture a detective on payroll to ensure their window of doing the delivery unbothered. He then calls out Monica for flirting with Brian beforehand. The following morning, she sneaks off to warn him that he and Rome will be killed after the job is done. She is then able to avoid being spotted by Verone's henchmen, under their boss' suspicion that she would be with him. When Carter appears as well, he informs the two that his henchmen Roberto (Roberto Sanchez) and Enrique (Mo Gallini) will be part of the job, riding along with them. The protagonists check in with the FBI, informing Bilkins and Markham of their knowledge from Monica that Carter will take off in airstrip when he gets what he wants. The next day, the job goes in motion as they begin transporting duffel bags of Verone's money with his henchmen. With the help of Tej, they avoid the police by orchestrating a car scramble that gives them time to switch cars. Rome moves forward by getting rid of Roberto, ejecting his seat with the switch of a button, powered by nitrous oxide. Brian almost does the same to Enrique but he is told to go elsewhere instead of the airstrip. Just as Markham leads a raid, they don't find Verone at all, meaning the given address was a ruse. Brian arrives at a dock where Verone reveals that he fooled Monica to confirm his suspicion of her. As he boards his yacht with his money and holding her captive, he orders Enrique to kill his driver. Thankfully, Brian is saved by Rome who catches up in time. Rather than calling authorities, they stop Verone by driving off a ramp that crashes right into his yacht. Shortly after that, authorities do arrive and arrest Verone. Markham keeps his promise by clearing their names whereas Bilkins and Monica thank them for their help. The film ends with Brian and Rome deciding to stay in Miami for a little longer, due to taking some of Verone's money for themselves.
THOUGHTS
I got the chance to first check this out sometime in 2010. Although nothing is ever gonna be better than the first one, I can admit these sequels are fun to watch and this one is no exception. I never expected John Singleton to direct an action film after doing well crafted dramas like Boyz N the Hood. But after doing his interpretation of Shaft, he showed up that he can hang with this genre. When seeing this film, I think he succeeded in bringing the same adrenaline rush that was there before with the races and chases. This was also the beginning for over the top moments that would occur, whether or not you think it's cool. While I'm certain driving off a ramp into a yacht sounds not possible, it definitely looked cool to see anyway. I also got to give credit to the scramble scene for its creativity and being plain practical. We don't get a lot of scenes like that when the franchise progressed, making it all the more special. Like the first film, it has my attention with a solid character driven cast. The returning Paul Walker definitely goes through a change in his life where he has taken Dom's advice on living life a quarter mile at a time. He lived it so well that he got nicknamed after the Steve McQueen character 'Bullitt'. In his second chance on being a man of the law, he still has the same morals when we last saw him, understanding someone's perspective on the other side. He claimed that he thought of Rome when he let Dom go. But he knew that wasn't enough and that led to the decision of getting his friend involved, which would complete his redemption. Knowing that their adventure wasn't over after this, you bet they had a good time in Miami with their stash of money they got from Verone's duffle bags. As for the new cast members, Tyrese Gibson fit right in and was a good choice to play Roman Pearce. We like him here because while he comes off as an egocentric glib, he has as much of a heart as his friend does. He has every right to let his anger get the best of him because he wasn't ready to accept that only he was responsible for his mistakes. He chose Brian to blame because he was only true family he ever had in his life. When he shares his acceptance to him, that was the moment where he was finally whole again. To me, the relationship between Brian & Rome taught me that it's never too late to do right by your friends. I do listen to music by Chris Bridges aka Ludacris, so I was definitely surprised to see him in a movie. In his given time, we grow a liking to Tej because he also shows off some layer of humbleness in his lifestyle. From what we see, he got along with Brian so well because they both live in the moment. He may have gotten injured from his last race, but that didn't stop him from finding new ways to have fun. Eva Mendes is pretty good as Monica, showing her to be a woman who is willing to put her life on the line to get the job done, no matter how afraid she'd be deep down. The intimate tension between her and Brian was interesting but I wish it had a way to come back around like Dom's relationship with Elena. Because of that, it makes her Fast Five cameo pointless. We get another dose of underrated villains with Cole Hauser's performance as Carter Verone. The actor is on point portraying the character to be a ruthless figure and doesn't care showing it off to get what he wants. It is a shame he never returned because he would've stirred up the pot big time if he did. I might got a soft spot for a movie, but I can also admit that there a few things that didn’t sense to the point where I understood why Vin Diesel didn’t like the script. First off, it is kinda weird how it took a while Brian get offered a race by Tej if he really needed money. The guy is a heavily skilled racer, so it’s kinda weird that it’s taken him this long to get an offer like that. Sure he gets a cool entrance, but this detail could’ve been left out. I let some moments of unrealism slide in this film, but shouldn’t Slapjack (Michael Ealy) have died in the opening of the race, considering that he went over 100mph before the bridge dive? I don’t want him to die, but it makes sense that he would than and there. I know it’s cool that Brian gets Rome involved because he trusts him, but it’s also because the FBI didn’t provide anyone with the similar knowledge. I really don’t understand why this agency gets lazy over such integral things in movies. As I keep going, it’s kind of odd how Brian drives a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse Solar GTS and gets passed by a Ford Explorer. I’m sorry, but I call bullshit on that. I get that Brian was bothered on having a tracker on his car that was placed by Markham. But I honestly think he should’ve not worried about it because if they messed with it, their deal with the FBI would’ve been called off. I was so confused on why Monica’s hair was wet when she visited Brian to warn him. I don’t believe it was from a shower because depending on how far Carter’s house was, I’d say the hair would be much damp than wet if so. It is intense that she warns him right when Carter is looking for her, but why didn’t she just tell Bilkins? It is kinda pointless warning her crush in person when she could’ve relayed the message to someone else. On top of that, Carter didn’t even notice her escape the boat from the skylight. For a guy so suspicious about his trophy girlfriend being disloyal, it’s kinda weird how he didn’t when he was walking towards it. And lastly, it was smart for Brian and Rome to switch cars with Suki (Devon Aoki) and Tej, but I think it would’ve been smarter for them to leave the cars anyway. Had they done that, their friends wouldn’t be arrested for aiding and abetting. Ignore all said flaws and youre still gonna have a good time. In short, 2 Fast 2 Furious is a really fun sequel for what become an insane franchise. If you loved the first film, I assure you that this one is also worth the time.
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