2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) Spoiler-Filled Review/Rant: 2+2 Is Four...Shadow.

"The Fast and the Furious" was perhaps one of the worst first installments to a franchise I have ever seen. While Vin Diesel was entertaining and it did set the groundwork for the future of the blockbuster franchise, I hated how cliched and boring it was along with being a product of its time. On top of that, it was also the debut for Paul Walker's Brian O'Connor, one of the most unlikeable protagonists in cinematic history. Despite not being a fan of the first "Fast & Furious" film at all, I was hoping that the sequels would, at the very least, be able to serve as far better pieces of entertainment. Well, the second film of the franchise did manage to achieve my wish, but not by very much.

Positives:

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Connor. This is probably the only film where I actually liked the character throughout the entire film. How is that possible? Well, it's mainly by how the sequel removes his connections to the Toretto family, which allows the character to not obsesses over Mia and their weak-ass love story. Instead, he spends more time with his old friend, Roman, which allows to have far more believable onscreen chemistry than Brian had with Dominic or Mia from the last movie.
• The debut of Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pierce. This is one of my favourite characters in the franchise and that's due to Gibson's performance as this wise-cracking hoodlum who is mad at Brian for getting put to prison despite their longtime friendship. It's weird seeing Roman only work off with Brian rather than the rest of Dominic's crew in this film, but it actually works. The sequel also marks the debut of Ludacris's Tej Parker, albeit in a small role.
• John Singleton's directing. While there's still an issue in regards to the use of CGI and a specific race scene, (which I will get into later), I enjoy whenever Singleton directs a project. He had this reputation to make films that felt gritty and somewhat low-budget in terms of the aesthetic, trying to match films made in the 1970's. While Singleton does succeed for the most part in this film, there are some problems that make it far from nearing the quality of "Shaft" or "Boyz in the Hood".
• The kickass soundtrack, particularly Joe Budden's "Pump It Up" which plays in the end credits. Far more memorable than whatever was playing in the last film of the series.
• The action/racing sequences improve from the first film with the audition race sequence being the highlight with some nice stunts and mayhem. It's also the film where the action itself gets a bit more over-the-top which adds a critical piece to the franchise identity with thanks to Walker and Gibson's banter. While all of this sounds like it easily surpasses the first film, there's a lot of baggage that burdens the experience. 

Negatives:

• The story. Although some aspects of it work and it does fit Singleton's direction motifs, it's probably one of the most forgettable. The film has Brian captured by the police after relocating to Miami for letting Dominic get away in the last movie. However, he is given the opportunity to have his criminal record erased if he can take down Argentinian drug lord, Carter Verone. Brian agrees though wants to hire his old friend Roman as his partner as well as giving him the opportunity to erase his criminal record as well. I do think that the story works for the case of forwarding Brian's journey as well as bringing Roman into the franchise, but man is the story just so bland. It's the typical cop movie template with the unlikely heroes needing to take down a drug lord in order to get good reputation back. Keep in mind that this was released the same year as "Bad Boys II", which not only featured a similar plot, but offers so much more in terms of action and comedy that it makes this sequel look like a preschool show.
• The tone and humour. While the second film of the "Fast" saga keeps adding more to the identity of the franchise, the tone is still not perfected yet. While it can be silly at times, it's taking itself just a bit too seriously due to the story being the typical cop movie template. It never feels like it's self-aware whatsoever and it never reaches its potential of being fun throughout. The humour is also pretty weak with only Roman's one-liners occasionally getting a chuckle.
• The new cast of characters that never reappear in the franchise. Although Brian, Roman and Tej do return to the future sequels, the other newcomers get left in the dust. First, there's Eva Mendes's  Monica Fuentes, a U.S customs agent who aids Brian as an undercover ally to Carter and acts as his love interest for this film. While I can tolerate the thrown-in romance (considering how generic this story is), Monica just never makes an impact and feels like a copy of Gabrielle Union's Sydney Burnett from "Bad Boys II". There's Suki, played by Devon Aoki, a Japanese street-racer with a crew consisting of women and a close friend to Tej. Suki is just there to add another hot girl to the cast and aside from the racing scene in the beginning and helping out as a diversion in the climax, disappears from the rest of the franchise. And the last character to note is the villain, Carter Verone, played by Cole Hauser. This is perhaps the worst villain of the franchise just due to how bland he is. There's no depth to his character, he never comes across as a threat, and Hauser doesn't ham up the drug lord enough to be entertaining, compared to Jordi Molla's insane performance as Johnny Tapia from the aforementioned "Bad Boys II". There are some FBI agents that grill at Brian along with Carter's enforcers who are left to monitor Brian and Roman, but they are so generic that they blend into the template this movie uses as a story.
• The cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti. Much like the first film, the cinematography is pretty mediocre outside of a few action moments. It's not as bad as Core's work as Singleton does try to make the movie look like a grungy 70's film, but it's not saying much when Leonetti starts making the film look like a music video in some pretty bad scenes along with the fact that it can look pretty cheap at times. 
• David Arnold's original score. It's actually kind of pathetic that BT's score on the first film is actually better. The music in the first film at the very least fits into that dated 2000's music video aesthetic, for better or for worse. Arnold's music is trying to be sound far less dated, but it's not memorable at all with the soundtrack being the saving grace in the audio department.
• The use of flashy CGI. For whatever reason, this film is obsessed with having racing sequences showing the inner mechanisms of the car, especially when someone uses nitrous. While other films in the franchise do show some part of a car being pushed to the limits or affected by nitrous, the CGI at the very least looks good and tangible. The CGI here looks like a screensaver on an early Window XP and although you can debate about it adding to some charm to the film, it really dates the movie and hampers the late Singleton's filmmaking as he rarely did these flashy moments in his films.
• The opening drag-racing sequence at night. Yep, just like the first film, the movie has to open up with a terribly done racing sequence with so much digital effects and wacky editing that it blurs the lines of a bad music video or an arcade game. Honestly, I actually think this race is worse than the one we see in the first film because of all the intercuts with the CGI mechanisms of the car. On top of that, the movie proves to have good driving stunts and action sequences, so it baffles me why shooting a nighttime race is hard for them.

"2 Fast 2 Furious" is a tiny step in the direction, but it's still far from being good. Although Brian is the most tolerable here, Roman's debut is nice to say alongside his banter with Brian, Singleton's directing style, improved action sequences, and an awesome soundtrack, everything else is extremely below par in the standards of the franchise. The story is just your every cop-movie cliche-filled template where two guys need to stop a drug dealer and earn good reputation back except "Bad Boys II" did it far better, the tone isn't self-aware to allow itself to make fun, the comedy is weak with only a few lines from Roman being worth a few chuckles, the new characters are extremely generic and prove forgettable as they never return to the franchise, Carter Verone is both the most forgettable and worst villain of the franchise due to how little substance he carries in his character and performance, Leonetti's camerawork still makes the film look far cheaper than it really is, the original score by Arnold is far more generic that BT's dated hip-hop/electronica music, the use of cheesy CGI whenever nitrous is being used is painfully bad, and the film still has the audacity to open the film with a horribly-edited and performed nighttime racing sequence that makes the film look far worse that it is. So, while it does do a few things better than the first film, it makes a lot of mistakes that it becomes one of the weakest films in the franchise, rival only by the first and fourth film.

Verdict: 4/10. Mediocre follow-up to a bad first impression. Has a few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable movie that's only made memorable by its silly title.