2 Fast 2 Furious

"Too Fast Too Furious" redirects here. Not to be confused with Too Fat Too Furious.

2 Fast 2 Furious
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Singleton
Screenplay by	Michael Brandt Derek Haas
Story by	Gary Scott Thompson Michael Brandt Derek Haas
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz
Starring	Paul Walker Tyrese Gibson Chris "Ludacris" Bridges Eva Mendes Cole Hauser
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Edited by	Bruce Cannon Dallas Puett
Music by	David Arnold
Production companies	Mikona Productions GmbH & Co. KG Original Film
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	June 6, 2003 (2003-06-06)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$76 million
Box office	$236.3 million

2 Fast 2 Furious (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 2) is a 2003 American action film directed by John Singleton, produced by Neal H. Moritz, and written by Gary Scott Thompson. It is the second installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise, and a sequel to The Fast and the Furious (2001). The film stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Eva Mendes, and Cole Hauser. The film follows former cop Brian O'Conner, who teams up with Roman Pearce and U.S. Customs Service agent Monica Fuentes to bring down drug lord Carter Verone.

2 Fast 2 Furious marks the only film in the franchise not to feature Vin Diesel, who rejected the project in order to star in xXx (2002). The film saw a majority of shooting being done on location in Miami, and was released on June 6, 2003, grossing over $236 million worldwide from an estimated $76 million budget. The film was followed by The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006.

Plot

In Miami, Brian O'Conner makes a living by participating in illegal street races. Tej Parker organizes a local street race, involving Suki, Orange Julius, and Slap Jack, however, the race lacks a fourth driver. Tej later calls Brian, who agrees to be the fourth needed for the race. Brian wins, giving a few thousand of his winnings to Tej to show his gratitude. The police then arrive, forcing all the racers to flee. Watched by undercover U.S. Customs Service agent Monica Fuentes, Brian is caught by the agents. He is taken into custody, but given a deal by his former boss, FBI agent Bilkins, and Customs agent Markham, to go undercover and bring down Argentinian drug lord, Carter Verone in exchange for the erasure of his criminal record. Brian agrees, but only if he is given permission to choose his own partner. This prompts him to travel to Barstow, California, where he enlists the help of Roman Pearce, his childhood friend who served jail time for housing stolen cars in a garage. Roman blames Brian for his arrest, and is currently on parole. Roman agrees to help, but only for the same deal Brian was offered. Roman and Brian are later hired by Verone, who tasks the duo to obtain a package from a confiscated car located in a lot. Markham follows the duo to the lot in order to obtain the package, however, Roman relents, and shoots at Markham to help maintain his cover. He later confronts him for interference with the mission. Brian is able to gain knowledge of the plan, however, and tells Bilkins Verone's is aiming to launder his money in Miami, before escaping on his private jet.

Later, the team challenges a pair of muscle car drivers they raced when competing for Verone's hiring, for pink slips. Despite engine and power output handicaps, Brian and Roman manage to win the race and the other two cars. Meanwhile, Roman confronts Brian about his attraction to Monica and the constant threat of Verone's men. However, the two men patch up their differences, and focus on completing the mission.

After witnessing Verone torture Detective Whitworth of the Miami Police Department into giving them a window of opportunity to make their getaway, Brian and Roman are warned by Monica that they will be killed once the drop is made. However, Markham refuses to call off the job, claiming that is their one chance to catch Verone.

On the day of the mission, Brian and Roman begin transporting duffel bags of Verone's money, with Verone's right-hand men, Enrique and Roberto, riding alongside to accompany the duo. Before the window is set, Whitworth decides to call in the police to move in for an arrest of the drivers of the cars used by Brian and Roman. This results in a high-speed chase across the city. The duo leads the police to a warehouse, where a "scramble" by dozens of street racers organized by Tej disorients the police. Following the scramble, the police manage to pull over the cars, only to find out that they were driven by Tej and Suki.

As Brian approaches the destination point in a Yenko Camaro, Enrique tells him to make a detour away from the airfield to the Tarpon Point Marina exit. Meanwhile, Roman gets rid of Roberto by using an improvised ejector seat in his Dodge Challenger powered by nitrous oxide. At the airfield, Customs agents have Verone's plane and convoy surrounded, only to discover they have been duped into a decoy maneuver while Verone is at a boatyard several miles away. Verone reveals he knew Monica was an undercover agent, and purposely gave her wrong information on the destination point. When Brian arrives at the Marina, Enrique prepares to kill him when Roman suddenly appears and helps Brian kill Enrique. Verone makes his escape aboard his private yacht, but Brian and Roman use the Camaro to drive off a ramp, crashing on top of the yacht. The duo manages to apprehend Verone and save Monica.

With their crimes pardoned, Brian and Roman ponder on what to do next in Miami, with the former suggesting starting a garage. They are revealed to have taken some of Verone's money for themselves.

Cast

Further information on the characters: List of The Fast and the Furious characters

• Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective who ends up a fugitive after letting Dominic Toretto escape. He resides in Miami, and works for the FBI to clear his name.
• Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce, Brian's childhood friend who is under house arrest after serving time in prison. He blames Brian for his arrest, and works with him to help remove his criminal record.
• Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker, an ex-street racer, race host, and friend of Brian's. He arranges high-stakes street racing events in which Brian often races. He is also extremely tech-savvy, skills he deploys to help Brian and Roman evade arrest.
• Eva Mendes as Monica Fuentes, a United States Customs Service agent working undercover for Carter Verone.
• Cole Hauser as Carter Verone, a notorious Argentine drug lord who is being investigated by the U.S. Customs Service.

The cast also contains appearances from Devon Aoki as Suki, a friend of Tej. Thom Barry reprises his role as Bilkins, and James Remar features as Markham, with the duo overseeing the operation against Verone. Amaury Nolasco and Michael Ealy act as Orange Julius and Slap Jack respectively, street racers who engage in the first race, and help Brian and Roman evade capture. Mark Boone appears as Whitworth, a corrupt Miami Police Department detective. Mo Gallini and Roberto Sanchez also feature as Enrique and Roberto, Verone's henchman. Neal H. Moritz also returns, making a cameo as a police officer.

Production

Neither Vin Diesel nor director Rob Cohen returned for the film, as they both worked on xXx (2002). Ja Rule, who also appeared in the first film, turned down the film to pursue other projects. Originally, Tej was to be played by Redman, however, due to scheduling conflicts, the part was given to Ludacris.

Walker's personal Nissan Skyline GT-R used in 2 Fast 2 Furious.

The Skyline driven by Brian was actually Paul Walker's personal car, which he customized for the film. It sustained a ruptured oil pan and severe damage to all four rims from the bridge jump, but in a matter of hours, the car was in good running condition with the parts replaced. Walker personally chose all the racing cars used in the film, and the stunt when Brian power slides toward the crowd after winning the first race was performed by Walker. The stunt took several days of practice to perfect, and Walker had to convince the producers that he could do the stunt himself. Tyrese Gibson also personally designed the Mitsubishi Eclipse he drives in the film, after disliking the Barney the Dinosaur-themed design originally pitched.

Suki's custom Honda S2000 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Some of the cars in the film were re-used from the first film, most notably Slap Jack's Toyota Supra and Orange Julius' Mazda RX-7 (the latter one was seen again in Rob Cohen's The Last Ride), which were repainted versions of the first film's cars fitted with new body kits. For Slap Jack's Supra, the hood was fitted with a Lexan panel to show the engine underneath. To cut down on costs, stunt doubles of the car had photographs of the engine pasted under the Lexan panels of their hoods.

Devon Aoki did not have a driver's license or any driving experience prior to the film's production, and took driving lessons during filming. All of the cars except Suki's Honda S2000 were fitted with roll cages for the bridge jump, due to the S2000 being a convertible. It was later fitted with a remote control, and producers placed a dummy in the driver's seat.

As the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII was not available in the U.S. until four months prior to the movie's release, the stunt doubles of the car consisted of regular Mitsubishi Lancers fitted with Evolution body kits and engines, while the original production car was shipped to the U.S from Japan. Producers were also unable to obtain a Saleen Mustang used in a crash scene, instead using a Ford Mustang V6 fitted with a Saleen body kit to help replicate the original.

The yellow Dodge Viper SRT-10 seen during the audition race was originally painted red, and was among the first batch of that generation Dodge produced. Four were lent to the movie on condition that they weren't able to crash them. They were repainted back to red before they being returned to the factory. The subsequent crash involving the dark-grey Chevrolet Corvette C5 was not originally planned in the script, however, was left in the final cut.

The house in Miami used as Verone's personal mansion was owned by Sylvester Stallone at the time, and was just used for exterior and the interior shots, as the mansion was borrowed for only two days. The scene in which the Camaro was launched on the yacht was pre-recorded, as the yacht was also borrowed, and was valued at over $5 million. The producers replaced many parts with plastic duplicates, and for the shot of the jump, the car was filled with foam and launched from an improvised pad into the lake, and the actors were filmed on a green screen.

Music

Main article: 2 Fast 2 Furious (soundtrack)

The musical score was composed by David Arnold. The soundtrack was released on May 27, 2003 on Def Jam Recordings, the same record label that Ludacris was signed to.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 36% rating based on reviews from 159 critics; the average rating is 4.7/10. The site's consensus reads: "Beautiful people and beautiful cars in a movie that won't tax the brain cells". On Metacritic, the film gained a metascore of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 35 critics,.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, gave the film a positive review, remarking: "It doesn't have a brain in its head, but it's made with skill and style and, boy, it is fast and furious."

The movie received two Razzie Award nominations including Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie (All Concept/No Content).

Box office

2 Fast 2 Furious earned $50,472,480 in its U.S. opening in 3,408 theaters, ranking first for the weekend. In its 133 days in release, the film reached a peak release of 3,418 theaters in the U.S. and earned $127,154,901 domestically. The film had the 15th largest domestic gross of 2003 and the 16th largest worldwide gross of 2003; combined with the foreign gross of $109,195,760, the film earned $236,350,661 worldwide.

External links

• Official website
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at IMDb
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at AllMovie
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at Rotten Tomatoes
• 2 Fast 2 Furious at the Internet Movie Cars Database
• Film Locations