Where are all the original cast? (2 Fast 2 Furious (DVD))

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	2 Fast 2 Furious (DVD)
Date:	20/01/09 (266 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice cars, good acting and Eva Mendes

Disadvantages: Most of the original cast do not appear in this

Written by Gary Scott Thompson, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas and directed by John Singleton "Too Fast Too Furious" was released in June 2003 and was the long awaited sequel to the fantastic "The Fast and the Furious" released in 2001.

Whilst "The Fast and the Furious" was aimed at true petrol heads the sequel "Too Fast Too Furious" was toned down a bit and aimed at a wider audience. Despite this "Too Fast Too Furious" still contains high revving, high-octane action with a variety of great cars.

****Story line****

"Too Fast Too Furious" starts where "The Fast and the Furious" finished, so for those of you that have not seen the prequel I will not divulge any more.

Once again Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is drafted to assist in another undercover assignment. Whilst this may sound predictable there is a bit of a twist here and you will only know about it if you have seen the prequel.

This time the gang are not in the cruising community, but consist of drug runners led by Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), who is the first name on the wanted list. Whilst this film is not primarily centred round the cruising culture it has stuck to its roots in that Brian has to call on the help of his old cruising buddies.

This assignment requires two people and whilst the Police Department have a partner in mind, Brian is adamant that he will only work with one person, his old friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson). Roman, being an ex-con is still tagged and has a curfew, but with a few strings pulled he is enlisted to help Brian, with his reward being the eradication of his criminal record for the successful capture of Carter.

The Police Department already have a long-term insider, customs agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes), who has managed to befriend Carter but Brian and Roman are required to provide the final piece of evidence to put Carter, and the gang, behind bars.

In order to get the final piece of evidence, Brian and Roman need to be the appointed drivers for Carter and to get this job, and prove their worth, the pair have to successfully complete a 'mini mission' against other hopeful drivers.

****Other characters****

Whilst the main characters include Brian, Roman, Monica and Carter there are loads of other characters that have quite substantial parts in this film. Other characters include:

"Police Department"

i) Agent Bilikins - Thom Barry
ii) Agent Markham - James Remar
iii) Agent Dunn - Edward Finlay
iv) Detective Whitworth - Mark Boone

"Cruisers"

i) Tej - Ludacris
ii) Suki - Devon Aoki
iii) Orange Julius - Amaury Nolasco
iv) Slap Jack - Michael Ealy

"Criminals"

i) Enrique - Matt Gallini
ii) Roberto - Roberto Sanchez

On the whole the acting is really good, however none of the other characters were really memorable. That said, I don't think that many of the main characters gave a really strong performance and were nowhere near that of Vin Diesel in the prequel.

****My opinion****

In my opinion many sequels are a let down. I think that the originals are usually good and the sequels are so hyped up by the media that when they are finally aired the public's expectations are just too high and have no chance of being satisfied.

Whilst I did not enjoy this as much as "The Fast and the Furious" this is still a good film. Unfortunately it is not totally geared toward the cruising community and street racing, nor is it aimed at the hardcore petrol heads.

Personally I don't find the story line as good as in "The Fast and the Furious" nor is there the amount of smaller 'side stories'. There is one story line and no deviations from this whatsoever.

I find it a shame that a lot of the characters in the original, all of which were really good, do not appear in this film. If I were to remake this film then I would make the sequel continue the original story and focus on the controversial relationship between Brian and Dominic's gang. "The Fast and the Furious" ended in the perfect way for this to happen.

****Sound track****

The sound track to this film consists of tunes from the rap/hip-hop genre, just like "The Fast and the Furious", by a range of artists including Ludacris, Sean Paul, Pit Bull, R Kelly and Run DMC amongst many others.

It should be noted that this soundtrack has a parental advisory warning on it.

****Bonus features****

There are a whole host of bonus features including:

i) Deleted scenes
ii) Out takes
iii) Inside 2 Fast 2 Furious
iv) Actors driving school
v) Super charged stunts
vi) Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious

****Other****

Running time - 107 minutes
Certificate - 12A
3 awards and 13 nominations

****Price and availability****

This film can be bought from many online and offline retailers. At the time of writing it can be bought new for £2.97 (plus £1.21 P&P) from Amazon. A bargain price for a good film that can be watched over and over again.

Summary: A good sequel that I would rate at 3.5 stars