“Yes, one of the worst sequel names ever. But I do kinda like their don’t-give-a-\m/ inconsistent naming convention throughout the franchise. It amuses me. Sometimes they try, sometimes they dont, sometimes they shouldn’t have.
It’s now 2003. I first saw this one in Hawaii. As a graduation present, I got to go meet up with some friends from the summer program I did the year before. One night, the guys wanted to catch a movie. This was it. We certainly left there laughing for all the wrong reasons. Yes, it is one of the weaker links in the flimsy but fun franchise. However, putting it in context, it’s not too bad.
This one tried to do what the first one didn’t: bring the action. Very thin cop drama with lots and lots and LOTS of fast cars. They certainly stepped up their game as far as quantity and, well I don’t know if I wanna say quality, but certainly creativity and density. More cars. More chases. More speed. And a boat.
Something else I hadn’t really appreciated until watching them in succession is that this does give us a chance to see some of Brian’s backstory. The first movie was all about Toretto’s crew. Brian was the outsider. We knew how Dom and his gang got together, but knew little about Brian. Here he gets to be reunited with his homeboy and we hear some of how he grew up. He’s with his team, who’s got his back. And Tyrese’s Roman certainly is no replacement for Toretto, but he’s an interesting counter character.
Yes it is a bit of a surprise that the franchise managed to continue after this clunker, but I think we’re all glad it did.”