'2 Fast 2 Furious' feels more like leftover 'Miami Vice' episode

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

2 FAST 2 FURIOUS (PG-13) Two Stars (Fair) More racing cars and wild stunts for auto junkies and action fans in this otherwise-mundane sequel to the 2001 hit "The Fast and the Furious." This time, the undercover cop (Paul Walker) combats a drug lord in Miami in a tale that feels like a leftover episode of "Miami Vice." Tyrese co-stars for director John Singleton. Universal, 98 minutes.

And the audience ooohs and aahs at my preview screening suggest that just looking at some of these cars can excite. (However, my idea of eye candy doesn't come equipped with hubcaps and under-the-chassis blue lights.)

As a sequel idea, "2 Fast 2 Furious" had more than a few people shaking their heads; especially since the original film never quite caught the imagination of the mainstream viewer and also because the sequel doesn't include Vin Diesel, who became a star in the first movie.

But in truth, "The Fast and the Furious" did amazing cult business, earning nearly $150 million at the box office, and achieved a somewhat mythic status among auto junkies. So, of course there's a sequel.

And, lest you forget, Diesel wasn't the star of "The Fast and the Furious." He was second billed and played the heavy. The top-billed hero was Brian O'Connor, played by the handsome, soft-spoken Paul Walker. He's back in the sequel.

Brian is now an ex-cop (because of the moral ambiguity of his final gesture in the first film). He's moved from Los Angeles to Miami, where he's active among the town's street racers. (Apparently, in Miami, as in L.A., young folks can shut down miles of city streets whenever they want for nighttime races.)

The cops enlist Brian to go undercover, this time to snag a Florida drug lord. His cover is as a high-speed automobile courier for the mobster.

Brian enlists another unlikely undercover agent to help him. Roman (Tyrese) is an old California racing friend recently paroled from prison with attitude to spare.

In the movie's climactic sequence, they race across I-95 carrying the drug lord's bundles of cash while cops, bad guys, helicopter pilots and boats all get involved.

(Ironically, if the mobster would have enlisted some normal Joe in a '96 Chevy to cart his cash at or below the speed limit, instead of two wild, attention-grabbing speedsters, there would have been no trouble. But there also would have been no movie. It's a classic example of idiotic movie logic.)

Fans of the first "Furious" will discover a sequel that basically stands alone, and doesn't add to or diminish their feelings about the original. This new film feels more like a leftover "Miami Vice" episode than an ode to street racing.

Under John Singleton's direction, the new film is more reality based, and doesn't strive for the fantasy-inducing mythic quality that typified "The Fast and the Furious." But that makes it more difficult to believe or excuse the characters' illogical behavior or outlandish stunts.

As a result, "2 Fast 2 Furious" ultimately is 2 silly, at least for a viewer without the car gene.

Rated PG-13, with profanity, innuendo, violence.