2 Fast 2 Furious

"You ready for this?"

"Come on man. Guns, murderers and crooked cops? I was made for this, bro."

Brian O'Conner (Walker) is hiding in Miami, until he is arrested by the FBI. He is offered a deal, go undercover for a combined FBI and Customs Enforcement operation and have his slate wiped clean. Brian accepts, but only if he can select his partner. He chooses childhood friend Roman Pearce (Gibson). They have not spoken in years as Roman blames Brian for his incarceration, but he agrees to the chance for a fresh start.

The FBI and Customs Enforcement are trying to take down drug lord Carter Verone (Hauser). They have Customs Enforcement Agent Monica Fuentes (Mendes) undercover with Verone, but Verone needs drivers for an upcoming job. With the agents tracking their every move, Brian turns to friends Tej (Ludacris) and Suki (Aoki) for help. Can Brian and Roman repair their friendship, while staying a step ahead of Verone and the authorities?

This is the second film in the Fast & Furious franchise, following 2001's The Fast and the Furious (2001). To date there are 8 subsequent films: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast and Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Fast and Furious 6 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023).

The Good:

The stunts are good. Production values are better.

The Bad:

The acting. It's rough. Also, I complained about the characters in the first film, they are worse here: everyone is very one dimensional, with little to no personality. They try to be funnier, but it doesn't work as well as it could.

Paul Walker is the only main character to return for this film, although they do reference the previous film a few times (this is the only film that does not include Vin Dieselin some capacity). Walker has decent chemistry with Tyrese Gibson, but not enoughbto save the film.

Other Comments:

-Short film Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious directed by Phillip G. Atwell and written by Keith Dinielli is a prequel to this film. It sets up what happened to Brian after the first film and how he ended up in Miami.

-So far I'm still not impressed with the franchise. This film has the lowest rating for the franchise on IMDb.com. Somehow, despite that, they made more sequels.

-Paul Walker was a fan of streetracing and did many of his own stunts in this film.

-Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris appear in future films in the series.

-An 11th and final film is planned for the franchise.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) 108 minutes

Rating: PG-13 for street racing, violence, language and some sensuality

Director: John Singleton

Starring: Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner

Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce

Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes

Cole Hauser as Carter Verone

Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker

James Remar as Agent Markham

Devon Aoki as Suki

Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins

Edward Finlay as Agent Dunn

Mark Boone Junior as Detective Whitworth

Mo Gallini as Enrique

Roberto Sanchez as Roberto

MC Jin as Jimmy