2 Fast 2 Furious, Too Boring. Review on The Fast and the Furious 2 Movie

Directed by John Singleton (Baby Boy, Shaft), 2 Fast 2 Furious is, quite simply, too boring and unimpressive, failing to capitalize on the popularity of the first flick (good call Vin on passing this one by).

Set in Miami, officer Brian O'Conner, sans his police badge, is blackmailed by US Customs to infiltrate the Miami drugs-for-money-laundering scheme of some bad guy in order to clear his name. O'Conner (played once again by Paul Walker) teams up with childhood buddy and former partner-in-crime Roman Pearce (Tyrese) to take down the baddie ''import-export'' dealer, Carter Verone (played by Cole Hauser). Toss in, insane stunt driving, lots of eye candy - via hot rods, hot bods, and Monica Clemente and Devon Aoki - and you've got your basic summer flick. Never mind the water-thin plot and total lack of acting, complete with horrible dialogue. No, it's better you simply ignored these things and sit back and try to enjoy the ride.

Ah-ha! Therein lies the problem. You see, 2 Fast is too full of too little. The stunt driving is nonsensical. It's as if Singleton just decided ''hmm, where else can we put a next-to-impossible driving sequence?'' They're all over the place ... these guys go to the grocery store at 120 mph ... they dodge police cars at 120 mph ... they, oh, forget it. The driving sequences were uninspired and simply too unreal in some cases to be believable by anyone except the 13 to 24 year olds this film is aimed at.

In fact, the physics of some of these stunts are enough to make James Bond blush. I had to stifle a very loud ''oh, that's B.S.'' when I saw them, especially the film's opening sequence, which adds an almost cartoonish element to the entire thing - it's wholly unrepresentative of reality ... a video game of life and death and reflex. But, even worse than the beyond-Bond physics, the stunt driving is boring. They simply lacked the intensity and excitement the first film captured.

However, while the stunts may have been somewhat out of Singleton's hands, the actors surely weren't. Walker and Tyrese come off as two little punks who are just happy to be back in the game. Both are given moments in which they can move into the passing lane with their character's development, but they hit the brakes instead, and become not so much a character as a caricature of self-mockery. But, hey, no one seems to mind much, as all the rest of the cast seems to be mesmerized by all the pretty cars and hot chicks to bother trying to act.

All, that is, except for Ludacris, who plays a former racer turned garage owner, Tej. Luda's acting fit his character the best, featuring lots of money and models and cars and snappy catch phrases (ya' heard). And, between Luda and Tyrese there is quite a few moments of comic relief, thank God, or else the movie would have been a total wreck.

2 Fast 2 Furious is much like a bad car wreck - you have to look at it, but you don't have to like it or ever want it to happen to you. Poor acting, directing, boring stunts, terrible dialogue, and a shoddy script all contribute to this too terrible flick. It's simply unimpressive and not worth the time or money. Just rent the original and be happy.