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Fast 2 Furious" was not made for critics. Its
story is bland and uninteresting and its characters are poorly constructed,
terribly written, and badly portrayed by the actors. The only thing that saves
the piece (and the presence of salvation depends on the individual viewer,
natch) is the all-out vehicular action sequences as choreographed by director
John Singleton ("Boyz in the Hood") and cinematographer Matthew F.
Leonetti ("Mortal
Kombat 2").
Paul Walker, the pretty boy Keanu Reeves clone, returns as
Brian O'Conner, the undercover cop from the first "The
Fast and the Furious", who has since been stripped of his badge for
letting Vin Diesel's character escape in the other film. Now a professional
street racer, Brian is once again conscripted by the feds, led by the
antagonistic (and not surprisingly, not so bright) Markham (James Remar), to
infiltrate drug dealer Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) and bring him down. Aiding
Walker on the assignment is childhood pal and fellow street racer Roman Pearce
(Tyrese) and undercover agent Monica (Eva Mendes), who has been entrenched in
Verone's operations for a year now. Gee, I wonder if Monica and Brian will fall
madly in love at first sight?
If it's not already apparent by the movie's flashy and loud
30-second ads, "2 Fast" is not a very good narrative film. In fact,
it's a poor film in most respects, from the idiotic screenplay by Brandt and
Haas to the wooden acting by leads Walker and Mendes. The only good thespian of
the bunch, surprisingly, is model-turned-actor Tyrese, who manages to elicit a
number of chuckles with his bad boy role. Cole Hauser ("Pitch
Black") has little to do, and I'm hardpressed to recount what the feds
were after his character for; he's just not there long enough to matter.
Like the original, "2 Fast" understands that its
story takes a backseat to the street action. As a result we get plenty of
vehicular action involving heavily customed foreign imports and old fashion
American muscle cars. The street races are well done, with Leonetti and
Singleton constantly shifting from actual location filming to inserting
bluescreen effects and CGI work into the flow of the races. Singleton also keeps
jump cutting to close ups of the faces, hands, and feet of the individual
racers. This could have been a bit distracting, but I found it to be quite
interesting.
You cannot possibly think that "2 Fast 2 Furious"
is a movie for the brain, did you? The writing achieves a 5th grade
level competency, if that. There are so many holes in the script that it boggles
the mind. And the acting, as previously mentioned, is amateurish. I'm still
astounded that someone saw enough "talent" in Paul Walker that they
would give him a speaking role in a movie. As for the sex, there isn't any.
Because of the kid-friendly PG-13 rating, "2 Fast" teases, but never
shows.
Regardless, "2 Fast" is a high-octane action
film, completely mindless in every way, and if you were to waste time taking its
narrative seriously you would be baffled by how ridiculous it all is. Needless
to say, only action junkies need apply.
It should be noted that "2 Fast 2 Furious" is
definitely the type of movie that needs to be seen on the big screen. If I had
seen the film on TV I'm not sure if I could justify the extra star in the
movie's grade. This is one movie where a giant theater screen and loud speakers
matter.
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