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2 Fast 2 Furious

There was a very simple formula in The Fast and the Furious that is, on the whole, nonexistent in the sequel. The expectations for 2 Fast and 2 Furious are not high. The audience of this film will expect one thing- frequent street racing and frequent action scenes, but the sequel, however, went in a different direction and attempted to have more of a story, taking the film off-track.

2 Fast 2 Furious is directed by John Singleton, who tries to do too much with the film, instead of using what made the original successful- fast cars and more fast cars. Paul Walker returns in the sequel as Brian O'Connor, a former police officer who spends his time and makes his money street racing. The respect that is shown to him is very similar to the respect that was shown to Vin Diesel's character in the original.

Vin Diesel decided not to return, which, based on the overall product, did not seem to be such a bad decision. Many people would say that Vin Diesel's decision not to do the sequel, doomed the movie from the beginning, but this, however, is just not the case. The film does not fail because of a lack of Vin Diesel, but instead fails because of a lack of action.

2 Fast 2 Furious also stars singer Tyrese as Roman Pearce, a rebel character very similar to the character Vin Diesel played in the original. Pearce is very hostile towards O'Connor, as he feels O'Connor was responsible for his prison time. The betrayal he feels is based on their former friendship, and the discovery that O'Connor was a police officer. Tyrese was one pleasant surprise in this film, as he easily erases the memory of Vin Diesel by establishing an entertaining character, even with a script that is weak. This is something Walker fails to deliver in his character.

The film's plot focuses on O'Connor and Pearce going undercover to bring down a druglord, played by Cole Hauser. The result is very few street racing scenes, and a plot that just will not appeal to an audience. There, obviously, is not going to be very much character development in a film like this, therefore, it is essential that the film delivers in the expected areas, and 2 Fast 2 Furious fails to do this. There are a few good action scenes that I expected to see, however, there were not enough of these scenes to recommend paying full price at a movie theater.

The unoriginality and obsurdity of the plot can be expected, as this was also shown in the original, however, not delivering on what the audience expects to see is inexcusable. It would not have mattered how ridiculous the plot was if there were enough street racing adrenaline, making the audience indifferent to the plot.

2 Fast 2 Furious seemed to forget its purpose. Nobody goes to see the movie to see a weak plot about an attempt to bring down an "evil" druglord. Everybody went to see the original to see the fast cars. The original knew what its purpose was, and successfully gave the audience what they expected to see.

Much like the first film, the dialogue is very weak, however, in the original this was done in an entertaining way. The sequel needed to learn more from the original by combining the weak dialogue with more action, resulting in a more positive reaction to the weakness of the script.

Overall, 2 Fast 2 Furious does provide some action and excitement. There is one scene in the beginning, the middle, and the end that would make this movie worth seeing. Whether someone wants to see a movie that has about 20-30 minutes of excitement in a two hour film, is up to that particular individual. If there is going to be a third installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise however, there better be a check-up and some repairs because this film just seemed to stall and slowly breakdown.

Written by: Nate Tinsley

Reviewers Rating: 4.5
Reader's Rating: 7.07
Reader's Votes: 67

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