14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
Member since:02.06.2007
Reviews:180
Members who trust:82
* THE NAMES O'CONNOR *
Lately I've been getting quite a few notches on my belt.. that is when it comes to movies I have been catching free of charge on television. Last night was no different, as I found '2 Fast 2 Furious' as the late night movie on ITV2. I have seen the whole of the Fast and the Furious trilogy, but I can barely remember the third one which I only saw a matter of months ago so you can imagine how my memory fairs when it comes to the other two. It's just a matter of fact, these movies aren't memorable. They're just brainless movies that you can watch at a drop of a hat, but they aren't half entertaining.
I cannot even remember the lead character, and here I was thinking they introduce a new lead character for every movie just because they did for Tokyo Drift, but a little trip down memory lane on IMDB.com has shown me that Brian O'Connor was also the lead character in the original movie, played by Paul Walker, who hasn't exactly got the acting credentials of an Oscar winner. The way they talk about the characters history doesn't jog any memories to me about the first film, however I think this is done on purpose to try and fill in the two year gaps between
the 2001 release and this, the 2003 release. For about half an hour this just has me thinking, "Huh?!" The first big scene of the movie is a race, just as it should be, and it is pretty exciting -- not much really happens though, it just shows off Brian's abilities, and it was a welcome sight to see Amaury Nolasco in the movie who plays Sucre in 'Prison Break'.
After being caught by the police following the race, Brian has no choice but to return to his police officer past to clear his record. This will mean going undercover, and generally running into a lot of danger (that is presented in a way that only makes you half care). Brian recruits an old friend of his in Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) to help him on his mission, and in return Roman shall also get his record cleared and his house arrest revoked. The enemy of the movie is a drug lord in the shape of Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) that the police have some evidence on, but they just don't have the dirty money to prove it. If Brian and Roman can infiltrate the group as drivers to carry out their business, then that should be enough evidence to get Carter put behind bars. These two boy racers are not the only guys working undercover though, as the sexy Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) is sleeping with the enemy in quite a literal sense in a bid to also aid the police, or is she?
* QUITE FAST, QUITE FURIOUS *
From my experience with Fast and the Furious movies, it's not really the storyline that is important - that can be as unbelievable as they want it to be - but what the film really needs is nice cars doing top speeds. I think this is shown in the fact that the storyline is incredibly one dimensional, and it doesn't exactly rival the drug related stories that we have seen in favourite films of mine, such as the well put together 'Bad Boys'. Remembering the third installment of the franchise, and really enjoying that surprisingly, it's quite disappointing to see that the car scenes aren't all that they should be in this sequel. There's only about four car scenes in the whole 107 minute movie, although that's not to say I didn't like the length of the film. What the hell do they fill the rest of that time up with then? It's hard to say really, but the director certainly went for the youth vote when he hired a sexy and in the public eye cast. Ludacris, a famous American rapper, plays a big Miami character, organising all the craziest events. Suki (Devon Aoki) plays a girl racer, which is refreshing to see considering she is portrayed as a defenceless woman, has everything going for her and has even proven herself worthy enough to appear in big name movies, such as 'Sin City'.
I do believe that the 15 age certificate comes well justified, as one of the things I was actually thinking throughout the movie is what age group is suitable for this movie. Calling me deaf, but I don't actually think there was all that much swearing in the movie, and a lot of the times when guns come up in the movie they don't actually go off. The reckless driving is, as I have probably said in comments about this franchise before, a bad infulence on young drivers clearly. You cannot say that this movie does not encourage street driving, although with a message like that it does pretty well and pulling in the young crowd to the cinema seats.
Most of the race scenes do have something that defines them, such as in the first one Ludacris raises the bridge for the big finale so that it works as a ramp. The rest of them, not so great and appear to be done on a low budget. A lot of computer animation comes into the race scenes, but when it comes to the realms of realism it is good to see that they have stuck to pretty much what cars can do. It's just lucky everyone in Miami is rich and has money to splash out. The storyline is nowhere near as 'furious' for my liking, and that is why I can't really recommend this movie. As I said at the very beginning of this review, the movies are brainless but a lot of fun to watch if you're under 20 years of age.
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 has been posted in the category for the HD DVD, but mentions nothing about the new HD format. Given that this has been posted in this specialised category, I would like to know about the quality of the new format.
mushtaqquraishi 09.09.2007 14:45
i was going to watch this, i think i should now! great review!
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]")
![The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2 disc) [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78370865.jpg "The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2 disc) [DVD] [2006]")
![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]")
Sep 6th, 2007
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (90%):
off topic by (7%):
![2 Fast 2 Furious [DVD] [2003] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/70006387.jpg)
