I was accused of overrating The Fast and the Furious, but this low-rent sequel only makes me appreciate that muscle-car movie all the more. 2 Fast 2 Furious has half the racing scenes, twice the plot and none of the Vin Diesel. Paul Walker tries valiantly to recreate the bro bonding with Diesel substitute Tyrese Gibson, but the former model (who is actually a decent actor) is just posturing here. Meanwhile, the saggingly familiar storyline, seemingly pulled from an episode of Miami Vice, involves a vaguely Latin drug lord (Cole Hauser) and the undercover agent (Eva Mendes) who is working for him as his driving scout. Enter Walker’s Brian O’Conner, Gibson’s Roman Pearce and a climactic stunt involving a car and a boat that only serves as a hint of what could have been if director John Singleton had embraced the vehicular fanaticism of the first film.
