2 Fast 2 Furious

Year: 2003
Written by: Michael Brandt and Derek Haas / Directed by John Singleton
Starring: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes Cole Hauser and Ludacris
Details: 107 mins / Universal / PG -13

Paul Walker never did strike me as the kind of guy that could do Shakespeare or even manage to show some real emotion on camera. He’s just a pretty boy who does what he’s told and smiles while doing it. Of course, this makes him a perfect, exact fit for 2 Fast 2 Furious, a literal videogame of a movie.

Paul Walker returns as Brian O’Connor, now a fugitive cop on the run. After helping a muscle bound criminal escape into the horizon, Brian has made his way to Miami in search of chicks, sand and high stakes car racing. Soon, he’s snagged (quite easily) by the police, and he’s pulled into a complex car and drug-dealing scheme by the FBI. Of course, he can’t do it alone, and given the absence of Vin Diesel, Tyrese is just gonna have to do. Roman Pearce is a brash, braying criminal who likes to take his shirt off. And he drives in demolition derbies.

If the characters sound rather two dimensional, it’s really because 2 Fast 2 Furious is set up like a big videogame, with the plot divided by separate missions which the characters receive from “bosses” and then must complete for cash and prizes. The film really is that simplistic. There’s nary a double cross or complicated character development in the whole thing. It’s such a testosterone filled film in fact, that the male hormones spill over into weird homosexual overtones between the two macho male leads. We’re supposed to believe that Roman doesn’t want Brian to date sexy girls, because he always falls for the wrong kind of woman. I like to think that it’s more because Tyrese wants to make sweet, sweet man-love with Paul Walker.

But really the most important thing to note is that the film matches up perfectly with the need of the target audience. After all, this movie attracts a certain kind of crowd, as it isn’t exactly American Beauty. The cars are amazing, even for someone who doesn’t know shit about lowering a Japanese car and making it into a street racer. Hell, the 2 Fast 2 Furious even makes me want to get a Skyline - 500 horsepower with nitrous in a tiny car? I can see the attraction of something like this.

Singleton is a fine director (much better than uber-hack Rob Cohen) but he’s soured a bit in recent years. Nonetheless, his car chases are fun, and that’s all you can ask from a movie such as this. Hot girls are also a necessity (although in the testosterone filled world of car racing, they’re more ignored for the hot machines that are present.) But we still get hotties Eva Mendes and the sprite-like Devon Aoki. Eva Mendes absolutely smolders with an old school sense of sexuality and she’s definitely one of the up and coming actresses – along with being some pretty tasty eye candy. Devon plays a racer who looks like a living, breathing anime cartoon.

In fact, 2 Fast 2 Furious is like one big cartoon: pure action through and through. Car chases, hot girls and plenty of style - really, what’s not to like?

Movie Grade: C

Video: 5 out of 5
This is a really gorgeous transfer. The bright sunshine of Miami makes the colors of the cars and scenery pop. You really can’t get better than this.
Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

Audio: 5 out of 5
The audio on this disc is going to blow your mind. The rumble of the engines will shake the room and the cars are going to sound like their whipping around your head.
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Extras: 4.5 out of 5
It’s all good stuff, but it’s chopped up into lots of little featurettes. Let’s just list the stuff, OK?

The commentary is really great for the film nerds, because not only does Singleton know his stuff, he knows how to explain it well. He talks about technical choices in shooting and gives you plenty to think about. It’s not a great movie, but it makes you realize just how much work goes into these things. It’s also a good idea to turn on the “fact track” when you listen to the director. It’s a good way to go into information overload.

• Inside 2 Fast 2 Furious (A 20 minute featurette)
• Deleted Scenes (with intros and commentary)
• Outtakes (Tyrese is a time-wasting jackass)
• Tricking Out a Hot Import Car (Playboy bunny Dalene Curtis looks confused)
• Supercharged Stunts (A nice little featurette about all the stunt work)
• Making Music with Ludacris (On the set)

There’s also info about three of the cars in the flick and the mods that went into each of them. Plus, some funny footage of stunt driving school and people showing off. Best of all, there’s a 5 minute short film that you can view before the movie that shows what happened to O’Connor between the two films. It’s an interesting extra that’s well worth a look.

Overall: 4 out of 5
A great presentation for a fun movie. Don’t expect any spectacular plot developments. Just turn off the brain, pop in the disc and drive along.

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