The Fast and The Furious 2 Review

Published in

Rotten Apples

5 min readFeb 28, 2019

By Tyler Stephens

Now to be completely honest I’ve never really liked the Fast and The Furious 2 it lacks a lot of what made the first movie great. While it still is an entertaining movie it falls short of fan service and just a key part of what makes these movies amazing isn’t there. Now I truly believe that the missing piece is the main cast of the previous movie while Brian is still in this movie. It’s lacking Dom and his crew which really hurts this movies notability within the series. But without further a due let’s get onto the rest of the review.

Plot

The plot is unlike the previous one it has an inventive storyline, and it strays away from the previous undercover cop storyline. This movie introduces Brian as an underground street racer who was discharged from the police for letting Dom escape in the last movie. Brain now has to street race to pay his bills and has become very notable in the racing world. However, Brain is caught by the FBI during one of his races and is forced to make a choice. Either risk going to federal prison for a very long time or help them capture a drug kingpin in Los Angles. Brain decides to take the deal and enlists his childhood friend Roman to help him capture this kingpin. Roman agrees and they begin their interview with this drug dealer to become drug runners. Their task is to recover his prized Ferreira from an impound lot. Once they’ve recovered the car they got the job. And after they get the job they learn that the kingpin intends to kill them instead of paying them after they deliver their packages. They then devise a plan to steal their cargo and to arrest the kingpin. Their plan is successful and they both now are not only free but extremely rich from all the money they stole from the kingpin.

Acting

Well to be totally honest the acting isn’t amazing, but it is serviceable. The acting is good enough to have you believe in the story and each individual character’s emotions. But a big low in the acting is that Roman’s character while funny is very wishy-washy and is shallow. But to counteract this let down of a character they added in one of the best characters to ever be in the series. They blessed us with Tej he is not only funny, but he is a product of the early 2000s and is probably the most interesting character in this movie. Other than that none of the other characters are that notable Brain is just plain old Brain and there haven’t been any significant changes in how he acts.

Has the movie aged well?

Again, just like the previous Fast and The Furious, this movie is a product of the early 2000s. While the camera quality isn’t great and some of the shots and scenes are strange, it weirdly works. It creates an experience that you can only describe as a time capsule. And I think that’s one of the best things about this series as a whole it creates an experience that you can’t find anywhere else.

Cars

While the cars in this movie are cool they aren’t as cool as the previous movie’s cars were. But they didn’t cheap out on the car’s because they are still some very cool cars that any car lover would want.

1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34

So, this is an extremely cool car because of one reason alone. This car can’t be legally obtained in the US. That’s because it was never market or built in a way that is compliant with US automotive laws. But people still bought them and imported them into the US through the black market. The fact that many couldn’t own it and the fact that it came stock with 276 horsepower meant that it became a legend among racers and car enthuses a like. It is not only a beautiful car, but it is also a fast car and a legend among street racers.

2000 Acura NSX

Now I’m pretty sure this is the first supercar to be in the Fast and The Furious. While it might not be driven in this movie it is Tej’s old car that he has parked out in front of his shop. Even though it’s not driven during this movie it’s still a beautiful car and it’s the definition of cool. The Acura NSX was Honda first supercar they had built, and it was made to compete with supercars like Ferreira. Coming stock with an impressive 290 horsepower and weighing in at only 3,100 pounds It’s not only fast but it’s actually very affordable. Costing only around $92,000 it’s definitely a steal compared to the millions that you’d have to spend to get a Ferreira. This car is definitely cool it’s very rare and it was a revolutionary car for its time.

2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T Spyder

This car isn’t as cool as the previous Mitsubishi in the series but just like the last one, it is definitely unique. However, unlike the last one it’s not unique in a good way it’s ugly and doesn’t have a sports car look which really kind of ruins this car for me. What also ruins this car for me is the downright disgraceful 147 horsepower that this car has stock. While I’m sure you could increase the horsepower of this car with either a supercharger kit or a new turbo kit. It’s still sad that they choose a car that strayed away from a sporty and powerful car. This car is by far the lamest car in this movie.

Final thoughts

While this movie isn’t as fun as the previous movie it’s still a good movie. It definitely isn’t the best movie in the series and is very easily forgotten. While the characters are entertaining, and the cars are cool it lacks the original crew. But it’s still a decent movie.

7/10