In a 2003 episode of SBS’s The Movie Show, co-hosts Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, stalwarts of the Australian critical landscape, review 2 Fast 2 Furious. Surprising, perhaps, is Margaret’s animated declaration that the film turned her into an “absolute fanatical revhead”, but even funnier is David’s suggestion that he can’t see the Fast and Furious franchise continuing for much longer.
Of course, it’s easy to laugh now: “You naive fool, David – they made eight more, not including the spin-off!” But such ironclad inevitability wasn’t always certain. The first four films were essentially a quartet of reboots – franchise jump-starts that rehashed stories of infiltration and assimilation in the world of street racing. Despite the slew of sequels that resist any sane naming convention, including Fast & Furious, The Fate of the Furious, F9 and Fast X, it’s 2 Fast 2 Furious that has a reputation as the franchise’s ugly duckling, a minor cross-country detour. In actuality, this detachment from the larger enterprise is the film’s strength.
Paul Walker returns in this sequel to 2001’s The Fast and the Furious as ex-LAPD police officer Brian O’Connor, now residing in Miami; at his side is newcomer Roman Pearce, played with aplomb by Tyrese Gibson. Reunited, the two old pals go undercover ostensibly to bust a drug ring, but plot scarcely registers in the film’s aspirations.
Generic lines are drawn and director John Singleton paints within them in blistering primary colours: every car is either hot pink or lime green, or else adorned in gaudy decals. Brian and Roman’s oscillating mishaps with police and cartel alike are ornamentation for the true spectacle: souped-up vehicles driving irresponsibly fast, loudly. Furiously, even! Singleton charts a nimble path through South Florida. His film-making is, like the convoy of cars that propel the narrative, bright, plastic and tactile.
Later films in the franchise embrace the digital sublime in their depiction of physically impossible, transcendent spectacle. The CGI in 2 Fast 2 Furious is beautifully expressive but there is great satisfaction in the film’s tangible textures too: blurring streets lit by neon underglows, sweat and dirt on your forehead, the shimmer of sunset on the ocean, wind flowing through your hair as you pummel down an open highway.
The skies are so blue and the sun so bright that you’re momentarily convinced Walker, in peak blue eyes blond hair pretty boy mode, can wear a white tee better than anyone you’ve ever seen on screen. His Cali-bro posturing is perfect for a character teetering in the limbo between cop and robber. His dramatic scenes might be a little dubious, but Walker pops when he’s trading quips with Gibson; the film could cross the finish line on their acerbic sense of camaraderie alone.
Protests against the franchise in its current state concern its unwieldy exponential growth under the rule of Vin Diesel, who became the sole Fast figurehead after Walker’s death in 2013. His stubborn belief in maintaining a simultaneously on- and off-screen family – perhaps derived from the deeply felt loss of his confidant – means it’s too important to let any characters die. Latter-day entries are punctuated by flashbacks, retcons and revelations such that “Fast & Furious Timeline Explained” is an all-too-common piece of reporting. In a vacuum, 2 Fast 2 Furious is thoroughly unconcerned with longevity or coherence: if it can convince you that you’re an absolute fanatical revhead for an evening, then it’s done its job.
2 Fast 2 Furious is streaming on Prime Video, Netflix, Binge and Stan in Australia, Sky in the UK and Prime Video and Peacock in the US. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
