|
2
FAST 2 FURIOUS
5/10
USA
2003 : John SINGLETON : 108 mins
The big box-office
surprise of summer 2001 was Rob Cohen’s The
Fast and the Furious, a teen-oriented action picture about illegal
street-car racers that made a big star out of Vin Diesel despite his second-billing
status behind bland lead Paul Walker. Two years later, Diesel and Cohen
have moved on to bigger if not better things in the form of the xXx
franchise. Diesel reportedly asked for $30m to appear in 2 Fast
2 Furious, which explains his absence this time - instead, producer
Neal Moritz has shifted events from Los Angeles to Miami and brought in
an almost entirely new team on both sides of the camera: Walker (his salary
demands evidently less extravagant than Diesel’s) returns as ex-cop Brian
O’Connor, who was kicked out of the force after allowing his prey – Diesel’s
Dom Toretto – to escape at the end of the last movie.
Brian has wasted
little time establishing himself as a street-racing star in Florida, where
he’s tracked down by his former colleague Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry).
The cops think Brian would be perfect to infiltrate the criminal gang
operated by Argentinian mastermind Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) and, having
fallen foul of the law – in the form of Agent Markham (James Remar) –
once too often, Brian doesn’t have much choice but to agree. With one
condition: he insists that his long-time friend – and car-racing whizz
– Roman Pearce (Tyrese) joins him in the escapade.
On paper, 2
Fast should be a cut above the first movie: as their collaboration
on the criminally underrated Baby
Boy proved, director Singleton and Tyrese (formerly known as Tyrese
Gibson) have talents beyond the wildest dreams of the very limited Cohen
and Diesel. Walker is no more charismatic or convincing than before, and
while it’s a shame there’s no sign of the first movie’s Michelle Rodriguez
or Matt Schulze, the presence of the terrific Remar – plus the amazingly
exotic-looking newcomer Devon Aoki as a no-nonsense racer – is a definite
plus.
It’s a real
shame, then, that the script simply isn’t up to scratch – there are suspiciously
strong echoes of xXx, especially as Raquel Welch lookalike Eva
Mendes’ role is virtually identical to Asia Argento’s in the Cohen picture.
Credited to Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (who collaborated with Gary
Scott Thompson on the story), the screenplay just doesn’t give these talented
actors enough to do: Remar and Aoki are especially underused. The story,
once it gets going, turns out to be disappointingly thin and, despite
one bizarrely out-of-place and over-the-top torture scene (involving a
rat, a champagne bucket and a blow-torch) Hauser’s Verone isn’t much of
a villain – his hair and face oddly ‘darkened’ in the interests of fake
ethnicity.
Of course,
as in the first movie the ‘plot’ is really no more than an excuse to string
together car races and other action sequences, and Singleton handles these
set-pieces reasonably well. When the film clicks into top gear, it’s easy
to overlook the many deficiencies (i.e. Walker) and enjoy what is very
straightforward, good-natured unpretentious entertainment. But it’s a
shame that Singleton misses the many opportunities offered by the Miami
setting: Michael Mann’s Miami Vice keyed into the area’s distinctive
neon-and-pastel aesthetics and unique heritage of architecture – 2
Fast 2 Furious, however, could be taking place in any large seaside
city.
The film could,
of course, be attacked as a glorification of extremely bad driving – as
when, during one tense highway race Brian reminds us that reverse is the
fastest gear on any car. Such shenanigans go with the territory, however,
and Brian and company are always scrupulous about wearing their seatbelts
as they execute their “Dukes of Hazzard shit”. And there is
a hilariously bald warning halfway through the end credits – and thus
unlikely to be read by target teenage audiences - reminding us that the
“stunts depicted… are dangerous” and “no attempt to duplicate” should
be made by viewers. Yeah, right.
18th June,
2003
(seen 16th June: Warner Village, Newcastle)
by Neil
Young
-
|
