2 Fast 2 Furious

2 Fast 2 Furious
Film poster
Directed by	John Singleton
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz Co-Producer: Heather Lieberman Executive Producer: Michael Fottrell Lee Mayes
Written by	Michael Brandt Derek Haas Story: Michael Brandt Derek Haas Gary Scott Thompson Characters: Gary Scott Thompson
Starring	Paul Walker Tyrese Gibson Eva Mendes Cole Hauser James Remar Ludacris Devon Aoki Amaury Nolasco
Music by	David Arnold
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by	Bruce Cannon Dallas Puett
Studio	Original Film Mikona Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	Australia June 5, 2003 United States June 6, 2003
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States, Germany
Language	English
Budget	$75 million
Gross revenue	$236,350,661
Preceded by	The Fast and the Furious
Followed by	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

2 Fast 2 Furious (commonly known as 2F2F, The Fast and the Furious 2, and known as Wild Speed X2 in Japan) is the 2003 second installment of The Fast and the Furious film series, following 2001's The Fast and the Furious. It stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Devon Aoki, and Chris Bridges; and was directed by John Singleton. The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold.

Paul Walker returns as cop Brian O'Conner who teams up with his ex-con pal Roman Pearce (Tyrese). The duo transport a shipment of dirty money for shady Miami-based import-export dealer Carter Verone (Cole Hauser), while working with undercover agent Monica Fuentes (Mendes) to bring Verone down.

Plot

Brian O'Conner, the disgraced cop from the first film, is on the run because he let Dominic Toretto escape. He goes to Miami to start a new life. Here he makes new friends with Tej Parker, an ex-street racer, and Jimmy, a well-known car tuner as well as Suki, also a street racer. O'Conner is now known by his street name "Bullitt", and rules the streets with his Nissan Skyline, much like Toretto in the first film. He competes with fellow street racers in high stakes races to win money using the skills he learned as a member of Toretto's now disbanded team.

One night after winning a race, he is caught by U.S. Customs agents after his car is disabled by the fictional harpoon-like ESD (Electronic Disruption Device) that is deployed by Agent Markham. He is arrested and his former boss FBI Agent Bilkins makes a deal with him saying that if he accepts to take part in a mission, his criminal record will be wiped clean.

Custom Honda S2000 at the Petersen Automotive Museum with a Veilside bodykit

O'Conner and Bilkins then travel to Barstow, California where O'Conner proposes the deal to his childhood friend and ex-con Roman Pearce. Together their mission involves working undercover as street racers for a South American (Argentine) drug lord - Carter Verone, with help from Monica Fuentes, a voluptuous undercover U.S. Customs agent who liaisons as Carter's love interest. They win a highly charged "audition" race and strike a deal with Verone.

This leads to several scuffs and car sequences throughout the film, along with car races. O'Conner and Pearce begin to realize the major trouble they are in and ask Tej to arrange a race for "pink slips" with two of the racers from the audition race earlier in the film; O'Conner and Pearce win Korpi's 1969 Yenko Camaro and Darden's 1970 Challenger R/T.

Later on that night O'Conner and Pearce arrive at Verone's nightclub so Verone can torture a police detective named Whitworth into creating a "15-minute window" to keep the local police away from O'Conner and Pearce so they may transport the money. He uses a rat trapped in a heated container to scrape him. The next morning they embark on the mission in their Mitsubishis with Verone's money in the trunks and two of his henchmen riding along. During the transportation of Verone's money, Detective Whitworth decides to call in the army of police units he has waiting nearby. During the chase they lead the police to a warehouse complex. The police surround the front of the garage area so O'Conner's and Pearce's street racer friends create a "scramble" diversion allowing O'Conner and Pearce to sneak away in the Camaro and Challenger to continue their mission and Brian allow Tej to drive his Evo 7 and allow Suki to drive Roman's Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.

First to be driven out from the garage were film Dodge Rams to ram the police cars, then dozens of cars, including O'Conner and Pearce. O'Conner drives in the Yenko Camaro he won in the race, and Pearce in the Challenger RT. As they approach their destination, Pearce rids himself of one of Verone's henchman by activating a home made ejector seat made with a bottle of nitrous oxide. When the henchman riding with Brian tells of a change in destination, Brian makes a fatal slip-up and reveals himself and Monica as undercovers. Verone tells the henchman to execute Brian, but Pearce saves him at the last second. Verone tries to escape aboard his yacht after informing Monica that he knew she was an undercover U.S. Customs agent. While aboard the yacht he scolds her on her slip-up for informing U.S. Customs agents about Verone's intention to flee the country via a secluded airfield. The finale occurs with O'Conner's Camaro jumping off of a nearby ramp and landing on the top of the yacht to save Monica. At the end Verone is arrested and the duffel bags carrying his drug money are recovered by the FBI, save for an undisclosed amount secretly stolen by Pearce. Brian surprisingly shows Pearce that he himself has stolen some of the money and then Pearce does the same. Pearce decides to stay in Miami with Brian and the latter suggests opening a garage with the stolen money.

Cast

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, a former Los Angeles Cop who became a fugitive after he let his mark, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) go. He has settled down in Miami, Florida, but his old crimes catch up with him when the Custom Service use an ESD to stop his car after catching him street racing. The Custom Service now requires his help in taking down a drug lord, Carter Verone; so Brian enlists the aid of his old friend, Roman Pearce. As the film progresses, his friendship with Pearce is challenged due to the fact that he was once a cop and Pearce doesn't trust cops, and that he supposedly helped arrest him (the two later reconcile, Pearce realizing it was not Brian's fault). The situation is further complicated as he begins to have feelings for Monica Fuentes, a U.S. Customs undercover agent who helps them.
• Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, Brian's old friend who was caught by the Los Angeles Police Department with eight stolen sets of wheels in his garage two months after Brian had become a cop. Roman did three years in prison; when the movie starts, he is on house arrest in their childhood home, Barstow. He still blames Brian for his time in jail, having transferred his issues with cops onto his former friend. When first seen, he is derby racing; after Brian offers a deal that will wipe his record clean, he agrees to help take down drug lord Carter Verone. He is at once distrustful of their inside contact, Monica Fuentes, constantly warning Brian about his problems with women. As the film progresses, he comes to terms with the fact that Brian was not responsible for his arrest, and, after apprehending Verone, they open a car garage together.
• Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes, a U.S. Customs agent working undercover as Carter Verone's aide, who helps Brian and Pearce in their mission. Despite the fact that Pearce is distrustful of her, she develops a relationship with Brian and warns him that the mission at the climax of the film is a trap for him to kill them. Monica is taken captive by Verone aboard his boat after he learns that she is undercover, but Brian and Roman serve as a distraction, enabling her to take Verone down. Roman reluctantly admits that he now trusts her, and she gives Brian a meaningful glance at the end of the film.
• Cole Hauser as Carter Verone, an Argentinan drug lord who the Custom Service send Brian and Roman to get proper evidence against, as they have nothing concrete. He plans to kill the pair after they have delivered a package to him, and is extremely ruthless, torturing a detective to get a window with no cops. Brian and Pearce apprehend him by driving their Camaro onto his boat, allowing Fuentes to take him down.
• James Remar as Agent Markham, a U.S. customs agent in charge of the operation against Verone and Monica's superior.
• Ludacris as Tej Parker, a race host and old friend of Brian's. He allows Brian and Roman to stay at his garage, and helps Brian orchestrate the scramble late in the movie that allows him and Pearce to escape. After the scramble, he drives Brian's Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 so that the Custom Service will track him and Suki rather than Brian and Roman.
• Devon Aoki as Suki, a friend of Brian, Tej, and Jimmy. She is the only named female racer in the movie, and her crew is made up entirely of women. She normally drives a hot pink custom Honda S2000, but she drives Pearce's Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder after the scramble.
• Eric Etebari as Darden, a racer who Brian and Pearce challenge for the pink slips to his 1969 Yenko Camaro and Dodge Challenger R/T.
• Mark Boone, Jr. as Detective Whitworth, a Miami detective who is forced by Verone to give Pearce and O'Conner a window to deliver his package.
• Thom Barry as Agent Bilkins, Who Brian first met during his undercover work in the first movie, who has come to Miami to oversee the situation. As before, he holds a grudging respect for O'Conner's driving and street racing skills.

Music

The soundtrack was released on May 20, 2003 on the Def Jam record label. Unlike the previous soundtrack, this one featured mostly hip hop.

Reception

Reaction to 2 Fast 2 Furious was mixed, scoring a "Rotten" 36% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[1] A.O. Scott of the New York Times called it "among the most lethargic action movies I have ever seen", while Richard Roeper said "Director John Singleton [goes] through the paces with a story that was old by the second season of Miami Vice."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, gave the movie a positive review, remarking: "It doesn't have a brain in its head, but it's made with skill and style and, boy, is it fast and furious."^[2]

Box office

2 Fast 2 Furious earned $50,472,480 in its U.S. opening in 3,408 theaters, ranking first for the weekend. In its 133 days in release, the film reached a peak release of 3,418 theaters in the U.S. and earned $127,154,901 domestically. The film had the 15th largest domestic gross of 2003 and the 16th largest worldwide gross of 2003; combined with the foreign gross of $109,195,760, the film earned $236,350,661 worldwide.^[3]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2 Fast 2 Furious

• Official website
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at Allmovie
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at Rotten Tomatoes
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at the Internet Movie Cars Database