Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:625
Members who trust:55
The original the fast and the furious was by no means a fantastic film. however it did tap into a culture and it was incredibly entertaining as a popcorn film. it also gave vin diesel the chance to flex his muscles and bring some strong headed brawn to the big screen whilst in charge of some big cars. but take away vin and you're left with this sequel.
The problem with this sequel is that it didn't really warrant one in the first place. now i'm all for big dumb fun action movies as long as they have their tongue slightly in cheek and do exactly what they say on the tin. however 2 fast 2 furious is just plain annoying man, i mean you know what i'm saying bro? in this movie we join keanu reeves, er sorry i mean brian (paul walker) man as he mooches around miami taking part in street races that happen on those miami streets in the middle of the city where there's no police and not another soul around. man at least the first film acknowledged the way street racing looks out for the cops without taking it to new levels of stupidity bro. anyway brian
gets caught and it appears he's no longer a cop as he broke the rules. however soon he's brought in to take down a local crime lord carter verone (cole hauser) but he'll only do it with the help of his childhood friend roman pearce (tyrese). but you know what man they don't have each other's asses anymore. they fell out and maybe the bad blood between them will comprimise the mission. however it doesn't matter bro as soon they're bonding again over fast cars and crazy driving stunts, wouldn't you know it man there's also a hot undercoer agent who takes brian's fancy........yo dog these bro's got each others asses.
You may wonder why I've gone a little insane and spouted 'man', 'bro' etc on some sentences. well you see this is how the majority of 2 fast's dialogue is on screen and it get's very boring very quickly. it seems that this is the way of the street in this film even though it's the street according to Roman and Brian. For some reason they seem to fast talk to each other whilst pelting down the freeway in reverse. Imaagine some of the cheesiest action films and you've got it here.
This film also seems to have forgotten it's roots and while it opens with a street race we then get very little of it for the remainder of the film. Instead this turns into the car chase in Bullitt for 90-minutes. This would be fine if this film has an inch of Bullitt's cool but it doesn't. I can't even begin to list the number of un-inspired things that are throen into this film, it's a script made by taking chunks of other succesful films and throwing them together. This means that you get the hot headed police guy who can't run a police operation without comprimising somebody's cover. You have the villains henchman barely stringing two words together and it seems they're also deaf in the final moments of the film so they don't hear Brian and Tyrese's plan even though they're sitting right next to them. Amazingly one of them doesn't even drive, I would have thought that would be a standard job requirement.
On the acting side you have Paul Walker, who's tall, blonde and has a surfer dude style. Yeah he's good looking but it's just a shame that he really isn't an actor who can carry a film at all. In the first film Vin Diesel was the star, that's why he went on to headline stuff like XxX. Without Vin, Walker is really shown up as wooden. The Vin replacement Tyrese is decent enough, he's just not given anything to really work with. Eva Mendes as well as the undercover agent is pretty hot but again her role is pretty thankless. The only one worth slightly watchable is Cole Hauser as the villain. He's got charm, menace and an interesting way of getting people to agree to his demands. I won't spoil it but let's just say that it's simple, effective, original and the highlight of the film.
The biggest question this film raises is what the hell ever happened to John Singleton? He burst onto the scene with the raw drama of Boyz In The Hood but since then he's done nothing of note, his Shaft re-make was okay but could have been a whole lot better. His direction here has some flourish in the racing scenes where he's aided by CGI but to be fair this was already set as a standard in the first movie. I would have thought that maybe Singleton could have ironed out the dialogue adn made this a bit more interesting from a story standpoint, instead this just smells like a large paycheque.
It's difficult for me to say wether it's worth the time to see this film. I liked the first one but though this was poor. Sure the action scenes are good mindless entertainment but there's nothing new here and it sorely misses Vin Diesel. It's also one of those films where they just don't have a decent ending. I'm sure they just edited in part of a Dukes of Hazzard episode. The sad thing is that this film has made over $100 million in the US alone and will no doubt inspire a third insepid adventure. I would say wait for video.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Action/Adventure - Director: Peter Jackson - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Andy Serkis
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
This category is for the box set of the first and second films
Craggles84 21.07.2003 02:31
I never really found the first film that fascinating anyway to be honest so i had no intention of going to see it and now i'll steer clear of the DVD as well. Cheers, Craig.
Mattroberts 11.07.2003 17:17
Most sequels aren't any better! I hate action films, so the first and second are certainly a no-no from me! Matt x
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drifthas all the elements that spelled success for its ... more
predecessors: Speed, sex, and minimal dialogue. The plot doesn't need explication; it's a nonsensical series of confrontations and standoffs that serve to get us fro...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
![2 Fast 2 Furious [DVD] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/86628732.jpg "2 Fast 2 Furious [DVD] [2003]")
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![2 Fast 2 Furious [HD DVD] [2003] [US Import]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/82347382.jpg "2 Fast 2 Furious [HD DVD] [2003] [US Import]")
Jul 10th, 2003
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![2 Fast 2 Furious [DVD] [2003] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/70006387.jpg)
