My father was a “car guy” and an action movie fan, and yet – as far as I know – he never actually sat down and watched the 2001 race-and-chase action movie The Fast and the Furious from start to finish. A friend of his had warned him away from it: the characters mostly only drove foreign cars, and therefore the movie was of no interest to them. But I always enjoyed the “Point Break with cars” movie and watched it repeatedly, to my father’s confusion. I’m not a “car guy”, why would I like that movie? I explained that I liked it for the action scenes, especially the climatic “truck hijacking gone wrong” that brought to mind The Road Warrior. It didn’t matter to me what the characters were driving... although I did like the 1970 Dodge Charger that gets brought out at the end more than any of the other cars featured in the movie.
I enjoyed The Fast and the Furious so much, I went to see the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious (one of the most ridiculous titles of all time, and therefore also one of the greatest) on opening weekend, despite the fact that I was nursing a head cold that caused me to have to blow my nose several times throughout the film. Thankfully, there was plenty of space between me and any strangers.
The Fast and the Furious starred Paul Walker as undercover LAPD cop Brian O’Conner and Vin Diesel as street racer Dominic Toretto – who also turned out to be the electronics thief Brian had infiltrated the street racing world in an effort to bring to justice. By the end of the film, Brian and Dom had become such good friends that the cop let the thief get away before his fellow officers could catch up with them. Directed by John Singleton from a screenplay written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (who also receive story credit with the first film’s co-writer Gary Scott Thompson), 2 Fast 2 Furious finds Brian dealing with the repercussions of that decision. Diesel thought a sequel was a bad idea, so he opted out of this one. Walker returns to take the lead of this one on his own – and while the sequel could have kept things in L.A. and had Brian interacting with other characters from the first movie, including Dom’s sister Mia - who was Brian’s love interest until his profession confession messed things up – the decision was made to surround Walker with a new supporting cast. And change the scenery.
On the run from the law himself, Brian is hanging out in Miami, earning money by competing in street races organized by auto shop owner Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) – who was originally written to be Ja Rule’s minor character Edwin from the previous movie, but Ja Rule followed Diesel out the door. But we’ve only seen him race once before the authorities catch up with him... and then FBI Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry, the only person other than Walker to reprise their role from the first movie) and Customs Agent Markham (James Remar) offer him a deal. They’re trying to bring down a drug lord named Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), but they can’t prove his crimes because he and his money have never been caught in the same place at the same time. Customs has an agent undercover – Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes – and have learned that Verone is looking for drivers to make a money haul for him soon. And wouldn’t you know it, Brian just happens to be the best driver for the job. If he can incriminate Verone, his own criminal record will be wiped out. Brian takes the deal under one condition: he gets to pick his own partner.
Brian’s choice is his childhood friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), who was recently released from prison after serving a sentence for car theft... and who hates Brian for becoming a cop. But since he has his own criminal record he would like to have wiped out, he agrees to drive alongside Brian to bring down Verone.
Now, I’m sure the filmmakers intended for Monica to be Brian’s new love interest. They flirt, she kisses him, Verone gets jealous when he sees that Monica and Brian are attracted to each other. But there’s really nothing of interest going on between Monica and Brian, and the only notable thing about the Monica character is the fact that she’s attractive. Beyond that, she’s very bland. The character who really comes off as a love interest for Brian is Roman. They play out the classic romantic comedy set-up: they don’t get along at first, they’re constantly bickering. They even fight in their first scene together, tussling and rolling around on the ground together. When they have intense conversations, they get right up in each other’s faces. It almost looks like they’re going to kiss. Roman says he taught Brian a flirtation technique he uses on Monica. How exactly did he teach him that? Roman chastises Brian for getting distracted by females. These guys really come off like a bickering gay couple who are trying to resist each other for some reason. A lot has been said about the homoeroticism of Top Gun, particularly that “Playing With the Boys” volleyball scene, but 2 Fast 2 Furious ranks right up there as one of the most homoerotic action movies ever made. I find the (apparently unintentional) gayness of Brian and Roman’s interactions to be highly entertaining to watch. A memory I have from 2003 makes it all the more fun to see. One of the movie magazines, I can’t remember which one, asked a bunch of celebrities who they would “switch sexual teams” for. Not many of the answers stuck with me. I know Kevin Smith said he would let Ben Affleck “plow his anal fields of gold”, but other than that the only thing that stood out was that Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson were both asked this “switch teams” question, and they were the only two celebrities who didn’t play along. The only ones who wouldn’t “switch teams” for any man. Meanwhile, they were starring in one of the gayest movies around.
2 Fast 2 Furious is a lot of fun even beyond the homoeroticism. This sequel gets put down a lot, but I’ve always found it to be a blast to watch. The action is entertaining and plentiful, the Miami locations are nice to look at, and Singleton did a good job of directing the film. Brian O’Conner is also much cooler than he was in the first movie, because Singleton saw Paul Walker as his generation’s Steve McQueen. Cole Hauser may be the most intimidating villain in the entire Fast and Furious franchise, and participates in one of the darkest scenes in the series when he threatens a police officer by placing a rat on his stomach, putting a bucket over that rat, and then heating the bucket with a blowtorch. When the rat gets too hot, it’s going to start eating into the man’s stomach to escape. That’s one of the 2 Fast 2 Furious scenes that have stuck with me the most over the years... along with the Dukes of Hazzard-esque car jump in the climactic scene.
And while my father wouldn’t watch the Fast and Furious movies because there were too many foreign cars racing around in them, I’ve always appreciated the respect these movies have shown old school American muscle cars. Dom got his Dodge Charger – a car the season street racer said he was scared to drive – out of the garage at the end of the first movie. In this one, securing a 1969 Camaro and a 1970 Dodge Challenger is an important part of the scheme Brian and Roman come up with to properly bring Verone down.
I enjoyed 2 Fast 2 Furious when I first watched it back in 2003 with snot filling my sinuses, and I still enjoy it twenty years later. I didn’t miss Dominic Toretto, I was perfectly content with this Brian O’Conner solo adventure – and I was left wanting to see more Fast and Furious sequels. I just never imagined Universal would deliver as many sequels as they have, or that the sequels would get so big and over-the-top. I have never liked any of the follow-ups as much as I like the earlier movies, although Fast Five got close.
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