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2 Fast 2 Furious

2 Fast 2 Furious is a 2003 action film directed by John Singleton from a screenplay by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, based on a story by Brandt, Haas, and Gary Scott Thompson. It is the sequel to The Fast and the Furious (2001) and the second installment in the Fast & Furious franchise. The film stars Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner alongside Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, and James Remar. In the film, ex-LAPD officer Brian O'Conner and his friend Roman Pearce (Gibson) go undercover for the United States Customs Service and the FBI to apprehend drug lord Carter Verone (Hauser) in exchange for the erasure of their criminal records.

"Too Fast Too Furious" redirects here. Not to be confused with Too Fat Too Furious.

2 Fast 2 Furious

Characters
by Gary Scott Thompson

  • Bruce Cannon
  • Dallas Puett

Universal Pictures[1]

108 minutes[2]

English

$76 million[3]

$236.4 million[3]

A second Fast & Furious film was planned after the box office success of its predecessor in 2001, and was confirmed with the returns of Walker and producer Neal H. Moritz. Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen, the co-star and director of the first film, were unable to return; Gibson and Singleton joined the cast in their absence in 2002. To canonically account for Diesel's departure, the short film The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) was produced and released. Principal photography for 2 Fast 2 Furious commenced in September 2002 and lasted until that December, with filming locations including Miami and the surrounding areas in southern Florida.[4][5]


2 Fast 2 Furious premiered at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on June 3, 2003, and was released in the United States on June 6, by Universal Pictures. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, but grossed $236.4 million worldwide. A standalone sequel, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, was released in 2006.

Plot[edit]

Having aided wanted felon Dominic Toretto in LA, ex-LAPD officer Brian O'Conner has escaped to Miami and is in hiding, making a living street racing in events organized by his friend, mechanic Tej Parker. Brian is arrested following a race, and offered a deal by his former boss, FBI Special Agent Bilkins and Customs Enforcement Agent Markham. They offer to clear his LA record in exchange for going undercover to help arrest drug lord Carter Verone. Brian agrees on the condition he choose his partner, deciding on his estranged childhood friend Roman Pearce. Initially, Roman distrusts Brian for being a cop and not preventing his own prior arrest, but nonetheless agrees to the same record-clearing deal.


Back in Miami, Customs Agent Monica Fuentes, who is undercover working for Verone, gets them an audience. After a test in which Brian and Roman beat six other drivers to retrieve a package from Verone's car in an impound lot, they get a job to bring a package to Verone in the Florida Keys. During the test, Markham believes they are fleeing, and nearly compromises their cover by meeting them at the lot. To prevent Markham from undermining the next job, Brian and Roman acquire a 1969 Yenko Camaro SYC and 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T in a pink slip race from two of the drivers who lost Verone's test.


At a nightclub, Verone tortures corrupt MPD Detective Whitworth into giving the men a window to make their getaway. Verone then threatens Monica, whom he saw speaking affectionately to Brian earlier at the club. Brian and Roman revisit Tej and his crew and arrange a diversion during their drive to the Keys. One morning, Brian wakes to find Monica in his house. She warns him that Verone intends to kill them once the drop is complete. Enrique and Roberto arrive, looking for her, and a confrontation ensues before Verone arrives to diffuse the situation, with Monica escaping beforehand.


On the day of the job, Brian and Roman split the money between their cars and leave. Whitworth eventually sends in the Miami police department, and a chase ensues. The pair lead the police to a warehouse where a scramble organized by Tej causes chaos. Brian and Roman elude the police in the muscle cars, while Tej and Suki, another street racer, are detained driving the GPS-tagged vehicles to lead the cops away. As Brian approaches the airfield, Enrique orders him to detour to a marina. At the same time, Roman ejects Roberto from his car with an improvised ejector seat using half-empty nitrous bottles. At the airfield, Customs surround the plane but realize they've been duped. At the marina, Verone reveals he was aware he was under surveillance and gave Monica false information. Verone orders Brian killed, and Monica onto his private yacht, intending to use her as leverage. Before Enrique can kill Brian, Roman arrives and the pair incapacitate him. Verone flees aboard the yacht, but is intercepted when Brian drives the Yenko off of a ramp and crashes into the deck. Brian, Roman, and Monica incapacitate and subdue Verone.


Their deal upheld, Markham clears Brian and Roman's record, and Roman hands over Verone's cash. Brian and Roman agree to stay in Miami and decide to open a garage together, funded by a cut of the cash they secretly kept for themselves.

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

2 Fast 2 Furious earned $52.1 million in its U.S. opening in 3,408 theaters, ranking first for the weekend above Finding Nemo.[24] The film went on to score the fourth-highest June opening weekend, behind Batman Forever, Scooby-Doo and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.[25] This was also one of three consecutive Universal films of 2003 to make an opening weekend above $50 million, with the others being Bruce Almighty and Hulk.[26] Furthermore, the film suprassed Shaft to have the highest opening weekend for a John Singleton film and XXX to have the biggest opening weekend for a Neal H. Moritz film respectively.[24] During its second weekend, it fell behind Finding Nemo, making $19.1 million.[27] Throughout its 133 days in release, the film reached a peak release of 3,418 theaters in the U.S. and earned $127.2 million in domestically. The film had the 15th largest US gross of 2003 and the 16th largest worldwide gross of 2003; combined with the international gross of $109.2 million, the film earned $236.4 million worldwide.[3]

Critical response[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, 2 Fast 2 Furious has an approval rating of 36% based on 162 reviews and an average rating of 4.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Beautiful people and beautiful cars in a movie that won't tax the brain cells."[28] On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[29] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on scale of A+ to F.[30]


Todd McCarthy of Variety magazine wrote: "While this John Singleton-directed sequel provides a breezy enough joyride, it lacks the unassuming freshness and appealing neighborhood feel of the economy-priced original."[31] Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club wrote: "Singleton abandons the underground racing subculture that gave the first film its allure, relying instead on lazy thriller plotting that's only a bag of donuts and a freeze-frame away from the average TV cop show."[32] USA Today's Mike Clark gave film 2 out of 4, and wrote "The movie is all about racing, and character be damned, though the still dazed-looking Walker and Tyrese finally get a little rapport going after a worn-out story's very rocky start." He concludes "Lack of pretension helps the viewer get over the fact that this is just another retread."[33] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 and said, "It doesn't have a brain in its head, but it's made with skill and style and, boy, it is fast and furious."[34] In 2018, Derek Lawrence of the Entertainment Weekly called it "the forgotten Fast and Furious gem" and praised the chemistry between Walker and Gibson and John Singleton's direction.[35] In 2019, Bilge Eberi of Vulture also praised the movie especially Singleton's direction.[36]


In 2014, John Singleton said:

Official website

at IMDb

2 Fast 2 Furious

at the Internet Movie Cars Database

2 Fast 2 Furious