2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) Movie Review

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) Movie Review

This movie is so insane and, dare I say, ludicrous, that it has this dumb fun element. While it is actually very bad and cliche-infested, I definitely enjoyed myself while watching it. The original Fast and Furious movie, which came out in 2001, is probably a better-made film. The original is also slower-paced and has a more edgy and frustrated tone. 2 Fast 2 Furious is far more fast then furious. It moves quickly over an extremely stupid storyline.

Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) gets in some trouble with the police after he gets caught street racing. Meanwhile, a powerful drug dealer is wanted by the FBI. Brian has to team up with his old pal Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) to take down the drug lord and clear their criminal records. Half the time I had zero idea what was going on. It’s not a thinking man’s movie, per say. Even though there technically is a plot, it comes far second to cheesy dialogue, car racing, and sloppy special effects. It’s also from the director of Boyz N the Hood.

This is most likely one of the least realistic movies I’ve seen that isn’t fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. Two criminals are enlisted by the FBI to do a job, and if they do the job well, their records are cleared. I know that is a thing people do in movies, but I’m not even sure if that’s legal in real life. The first huge stunt in the Fast and Furious movies happens in this film. Pearce is driving his car along the road, and then swerves off the side of the road, flies through mid-air, and lands onto the main villain’s boat. Wow. Just wow. If you’re into serious films that will make you think and belong in the Criterion Collection, then you probably shouldn’t even be reading this review.

2 Fast 2 Furious is about 20 minutes longer than it needs to be. When the final chase is happening, there are still fifteen minutes left in the movie. I mean, this is an early Fast and Furious movie. Why does it have to be so long? Even though about 60% of the characters are Asian, Black, or some other non-white ethnicity, this movie is surprisingly racist (although the franchise has come a long way from using the n-word in the first movie). There is a scene when Pearce goes up to some fake Mexican thugs and says stuff like “Unos cuatro chaco taco.” I mean, come on. And it’s considerably sexist as well. There are several moments that would NOT fly in a movie that would come out today (semi-assault is one of them, people refer to women as “potential”).

Another thing about 2 Fast 2 Furious is that it is really, really funny. The racist “unos cuatro” scene made me laugh so hard that I actually skipped back to it several times to just laugh at it some more. Some of the stunts are so preposterous they’re also laughing material. And when Suki (Devon Aoki), one of the street racers, says “Move, b*tch!” during a race to one of her competitors, it’s truly hilarious. I can’t tell if the filmmakers wanted it to be a funny movie or not. When they were making this, did they think that sounded cool or something? Because to normal audience members, it sounds like early-2000’s hip-hop artists were just trying to hard to sound appealing to this movie’s demographic. That’s another thing about this movie. Anyone who is not a street racer or is in some way involved in the street racing scene is either not worth knowing or is a cop. 2 Fast 2 Furious acts like literally everyone cool is played by some flashy-looking person and has a car with a paint job that could cause a seizure. And why are there so many of those? Look up “2 fast 2 furious warehouse.” Then go on Google images and see what I’m talking about. Like, why are there so many expendable street racers all over Fast and Furious Miami? I’m kind of glad this was set in Miami. The first one takes place in Los Angeles, which just doesn’t seem as fast or furious to me (it probably is in real life, but not in the Fast and Furious films) as Miami does. Plus, if there are tons of street racers in both L.A. and Miami, does that mean that there are lots of racers in other cities as well? Are there an equal amount of racers in Brooklyn and Chicago and San Diego as these cities? And how do all of them meet up in later movies?

Ludacris’s character has virtually zero connection with Dominic Toretto, but in the posters for other films in the franchise, they are together? Does Brian join ‘em all up or something? That is confusing me.

Safety Chart:

Violence: 7/10- Car crash violence. Hand-to-hand combat. A thug’s head is slammed against a car. A car is set on fire but no one is really hurt. Big explosions and stuff. Guns are brandished. Characters give each other death threats, arguing, etc. There is a long scene of mild torture.

Language: 6/10- Frequent but not too explicit cursing.

Drinking/Smoking: 6/10- The main villain smokes big fancy cigars and is seen smoking and clipping them often. There is a scene at a bar.

2 Fast 2 Furious is dumb cinema, but fun cinema. Very little about it is actually good, and is fairly empty when it comes to acting, story, script, effects, and aptness of thought (yes, I have read Roger Ebert’s Jason X review). But it’s so enjoyable and hilarious that I think that if you’re into this sort of thing, I would definitely recommend it. As a grade I would give it a B-. Fresh off of seeing it I would give it a C+, but I just have to acknowledge the fact that is could be one of the most fun movies I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Now I want to try out the title format with other fake movie sequels. 2 Fight 2 Club. 2 Weird 2 Science. 2 Spider 2 Man. 2 Pulp 2 Fiction. 2 Point 2 Break. 2 Toy 2 Story. All of the titles I just named are perfection.